This course provides an introduction, at the graduate level, to the new perspectives reshaping the field of history of science.  The focus is primarily on recent developments in historical methods, with examples drawn from studies of European and American science and technology in the period from the Renaissance to the present.  Themes will include: science in early-modern culture, theories of social construction of scientific knowledge, the influence of philosophy and literary theory in science studies, feminist and gender analyses of modern science and technology, the role of science in modern culture, and the making of large-scale technological systems.  All previous knowledge will be relevant, but none will be assumed.

Instructor: Professor Jan Golinski   Email: jan.golinski@unh.edu
Office: Horton 301D     Phone: 862-3789
Classes: W  4.10-6.00     Horton 445
Office hours: M  11.00-12.00, F  2.00-3.00, and by appointment
Instructor’s web page: http://www.unh.edu/history/golinski/index.html

Required books (available from UNH Bookstore and Durham Book Exchange):

Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions  (3rd ed., Chicago, 1996, ISBN: 0226458083).
Mario Biagioli (ed.), The Science Studies Reader  (Routledge, 1999, ISBN: 0415918685).
Mario Biagioli, Galileo, Courtier  (Chicago, 1994, ISBN: 0226045609).
Jan Golinski, Making Natural Knowledge  (Cambridge, 1998, ISBN: 0521449138).
Michel Foucault, Power/Knowledge  (Pantheon Books, 1981, ISBN: 039473954).
Steven Shapin and Simon Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air-Pump  (Princeton, 1989, ISBN: 0691024324).
Christopher Lawrence and Steven Shapin (eds.), Science Incarnate  (Chicago, 1998, ISBN: 0226470148).
Bruno Latour, Science in Action  (Harvard, 1988, ISBN: 0674792912).

Assignments:
 Attendance and participation in the seminar classes is essential.  To encourage thorough reading of the materials and thoughtful contributions to discussions, you are required to write six short reports on the readings marked *.  These will be collected at the end of each class but not graded immediately.  I shall write comments on the reports and hand them back for rewriting before they are graded.  The reports will comprise 30% of the grade.  Another 30% will be assigned for an essay review (c. 1500-2000 words, due 20 October) of a monograph in a relevant field.  The choice of monograph will be yours, in consultation with me, excluding those we will be reading in the course.  The remaining 40% will be awarded for the final paper (c. 3000-4000 words, due Monday 13 December).  Final papers may take the form of historiographical surveys of a particular area of scholarship or pieces of primary research.  By the date of our first consultation (27 October), you should have decided upon a topic and prepared a preliminary bibliography.

Schedule of classes:

1 Sep  Introduction: Disciplines, Approaches, Resources

8 Sep  Pioneers (I): Thomas Kuhn
  Reading: Kuhn, Structure of Scientific Revolutions *

15 Sep  Pioneers (II): The Strong Program and SSK
  Reading: Golinski, Making Natural Knowledge, intro., chap. 1.
  and Biagioli, Science Studies Reader, chaps. 7 (Collins), 19 (Latour), 25 (Pickering), 30 (Rouse)

22 Sep  Pioneers (III): Michel Foucault
  Reading: Foucault, Power/Knowledge (extracts) *
  and Golinski, Making Natural Knowledge, chap. 2(ii)

29 Sep  Early-Modern Science (I)
  Reading: Shapin and Schaffer, Leviathan and the Air-Pump (extracts) *

6 Oct  Early-Modern Science (II)
  Reading: Golinski, Making Natural Knowledge, chap. 2(i)
  and Biagioli, Galileo, Courtier (extracts) *

13 Oct  Gender and Identity
  Reading: Lawrence and Shapin, eds., Science Incarnate (extracts) *
  and Biagioli, Science Studies Reader, chaps. 2 (Biagioli), 11 (Hacking)

20 Oct  Gender and Sexuality
  Reading: Biagioli, Science Studies Reader, chaps. 1 (Barad), 12 (Haraway), 16 (Keller), 24 (Martin), 35 (Turkle), 36 (Wylie)

27 Oct  CONSULTATIONS (I)

3 Nov  The Laboratory and the World
  Reading: Biagioli, Science Studies Reader, chaps. 10 (Galison), 17 (Kohler), 18 (Latour), 28 (Rheinberger), 31 (Schaffer),
  32 (Shapin), 34 (Traweek)
  and Golinski, Making Natural Knowledge, chaps. 3, 5

10 Nov  Technology and Modernity
  Reading: Latour, Science in Action (extracts) *
  and Biagioli, Science Studies Reader, chaps. 4 (Brain/Wise), 14 (Hughes), 15 (Kay), 26 (Porter)

17 Nov  Language and Culture
  Reading: Biagioli, Science Studies Reader, chaps. 8 (Daston), 13 (Hart), 21 (Lloyd)
  and Golinski, Making Natural Knowledge, chaps. 4, 6

1 Dec  CONSULTATIONS (II)

8 Dec  Conclusions: History and Science Studies
  Reading: Golinski, Making Natural Knowledge, coda