At a Snail’s Pace: Animals, Society, and Technosciecne

 What is the relation between animals and knowledge? The “non-human” emerged as a central category in the global history of science and technology. Out of the the multiplicity of meanings of the non-human, this course focuses on animals, and explores the role of non-human lives and bodies in the historical attempts to understand nature and the world. It will examine the place of animals in different cosmologies, in the construction of technological systems and environments, as well as their role and the challenges they posed in defining the contours of human. We will utilize studies in the history of science, science and technology studies (STS), environmental history, and anthropology to define the role of animals in the understanding of time and space. During course period, we will review examples from different worlds of meaning and practice such as the laboratory, the natural history museum and zoological collections, the agricultural field, and the archeological site. We will use a variety of temporal and geographical lenses to think about the animals as tools, as object of learning, as basis for global revolutions, and as resources for doing other things - 4 hours X 7 meetings - will be calculated as 2 points for transcript