The modern histories of science and medicine have a distinctive scholarly tradition with a rich body of methods and debates borne of the subject's interdisciplinary origins and interest. This honours level course invites students to develop a critical understanding and capacity for analysis in these fields and to examine important topics in current research.
Students will encounter and practice canonical and emerging methods, frameworks, and debates in the history of science and medicine. They will work collaboratively to engage and contextualize the current literature and will develop skills in the historical analysis of modern science and medicine. The course's content will be relevant to a range of degree subjects and learning goals and will connect to contemporary questions about science and medicine in society. Class discussions and directed learning will bring students to the forefront of current scholarship, equipping them to consider open questions and unresolved challenges in the field.
The course is discussion based with an expectation of regular independent reading as preparation for collaborative exploration.
2022-24 Topic: This year's topic is the history of quantification and statistics in modern science and medicine. The topic has been a recurring focus of some of the most exciting and transformative scholarship in the history of science and medicine, including a variety of recent works that we will engage alongside major earlier contributions.
The course appears in DRPS as STIS10015.
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
The course meets once per week on Thursdays from 9am to 10:50am.