Nature on Display Syllabus

Nature on Display History 1820G Brown University Department of History Time: T/Th 1-2:30pm Fall, 2016 Professor: Lukas Rieppel Office Hours: T 3-4, Th 10-11 Sharpe House, 305 [email protected] COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course will explore the radically different ways in which people have represented the natural world over time, examining sources from a variety of context and time periods spanning the 16th to the 21st century. We will look at the depiction of nature in extremely diverse places, genres, and media: everything from natural history encyclopedias, cabinets of curiosity, and the theater to wildlife preserves, nature documentaries, and national parks, as well as phylogenies, mathematical models, and the rise of “big data.” As we make our way through the course, we will mine these encounters to explore our changing attitudes towards nature and the place we humans occupy in it. We will also use our discussions to think through the difficult and complex question of what, if anything, distinguishes nature from other parts of our world. Field Trips: I will try to arrange for us to take two field trips during the semester. Depending on timing, this will hopefully include a visit to the John Hay Library, where we will examine a collection of anatomical atlases and the RISD Nature Lab, where we will complete a “personal taxonomy exercise.” I will also encourage you to visit the Roger !1 Williams National Memorial, a small national park just down the hill from Brown, on your own time. Assessment: Project description, 1-2 pages (5%) Final Project (40%) Take-Home Midterm (15%) Final Exam (30%) Participation (10%) Deadlines: Take-Home Midterm: Oct. 27 Project Description: Nov. 1 Final Project: Dec. 8th Project Presentation: Dec. 8th Participation: Your participation is a vital part of this course. Please come to class having completed the assigned reading, ready to engage in a lively and informed discussion. Disabilities: Please contact me by the end of the second week if you have a documented disability so that we can make the necessary accommodations. Final Projects: You may choose either one of two options for your final project: 1. A term paper of 7-10 pages and a “visual presentation.” The essay can be on any topic that interests you, so long as it resonates with the main themes of the course. The visual presentation involves you communicating the main argument & ideas of your paper in some form other than writing. The precise medium is up to you: a poster, a lecture & slide show, etc. 2. A creative project and 2-3 page “artist’s statement.” This option encourages you to think creatively about the themes of the course and comment on these in an artistic medium of your choice — dance, poetry, film, photography, painting, collecting, sculpture, etc. In addition, I will ask you to write a brief 2-3 page “artist’s statement” in which you explain how you would like a viewer to approach your work, taking care to explicitly discuss how it relates to the main themes of the course. In either case, we will meet for one of our regular class times during reading period so you have a chance to share your paper presentation / creative project with the rest of the class. We'll talk more about this as the semester winds on, but the idea will be to take about 5 minutes to share the main ideas / arguments from your final paper or creative project. I will also ask you to turn in a 1-2 pages description of your final project in class on Nov. 1. This does not have to be a polished piece of writing. Just something informal to give me a sense of where you are heading with your paper / project. It's mainly !2 intended to make sure we are all on the same page, and so I can give you any advice / help / feedback that I may have. Exams: In addition to your term paper, this course will have two exams. The first is a short, take-home midterm examination that will be due in the middle of the semester. The second will be a somewhat longer, final examination that will take place during the final examination period. Readings: Each week, I have chosen one or more texts as required readings. Everyone is expected to have read these sources thoroughly and come to class prepared to engage in a discussion based on familiarity with the arguments they present. Workload: The total of in-class hours and out-of-class work for all full credit courses at Brown is approximately 180 hours over the length of a 14-week semester. In this class, students seeking to maximize their learning can expect to spend 42 hours in class (3 hours per week, 14 weeks), 84 hours reading (approx. 6 hours per week, 14 weeks), 10 total hours on response papers, 12 hours reviewing for the midterm, 12 hours researching and writing the short paper, and 20 hours reviewing and studying for the final (or writing the final paper.) Actual times will vary for each student; final grades are not determined by the amount of time a student spends on the course. Writing Resources: You are encouraged to make use of Brown’s Writing Center, whose main offices are located in room 213 of the J. Walter Wilson Building. You can schedule an appointment to receive help and feedback on your writing here: http://www.brown.edu/ Student_Services/Writing_Center/appointments/. A Note On Plagiarism: Plagiarism and cheating are serious offenses. Anyone suspected of such infractions will be referred to the Dean’s Office. Office Hours: I will hold weekly office hours on Tuesdays from 3-4pm and Thursdays from 10-11am in Sharpe House, room 305. Please sign up for an appointment using this hyperlink in google calendar. Email to make an alternative arrangement if you absolutely cannot make office hours (e.g. you have a class that meets during that time). !3 COURSE TIMETABLE Week 1: Introduction & Overview Lecture 1: The Nature / Culture Divide (Sept. 8) Suggested / Optional Reading: Lukas Rieppel, “Nature,” Political Concepts: A Critical Lexicon, Issue 3.5, 2016. Week 2: The Encyclopedic Style Lecture 1: Herbals, Bestiaries & Encyclopedias (Sept 13) Selections from Edward Topsell, The Historie of Foure-Footed Beastes: Describing the True and Liuely Figure of Euery Beast, With a Discourse of their Seuerall Names, Conditions, Kindes, Vertues, (Both Naturall and Medicinall), etc. Lecture 2: Cabinets of Curiosity (Sept 15) James Delbourgo, “Triumph of the Strange,” in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Dec. 9th, 2013. Week 3: Medical Atlases and Public Dissections Lecture 1: The Anatomical Theater & The Medical Atlas (Sept 20) Ferrari, Giovanna. 1987. “Public Anatomy Lessons and the Carnival: The Anatomy Theater of Bologna,” in Past and Present, No. 77: 50-106. Katharine Park, “Introduction” and “The Empire of Anatomy,” in Secrets of Women: Gender, Generation, and the Origins of Human Dissection, Zone Books, 2010, 13-39, 207-259. Lecture 2: Field trip to the Hay Library (Sept 22) !4 Week 4: Nature in the Globe Lecture 1: The Tempest part 1 (Sept 27) Lecture 2: The Tempest part 2 (Sept 29) William Shakespeare, The Tempest, edited by Stephen Orgel, Oxford University Press, 2008. Week 5: Discovering, Collecting, Mastering Lecture 1: The Measure of All Things: BioProspecting and Linnaean Classification (Oct 4) Caroli Linnaei, Regnum Animale, 1735 [classificatory chart of the animals]. Browse through: Linné, Carl von. A General System of Nature. Translated by William Turton, James Monroe, and William Turton. London: Lackington, Allen, and Co, 1802. Lecture 2: Travel Fiction (Oct 6) Haggard, H. Rider. King Solomon’s Mines. London: Cassell & Company, 1885. Week 6: Putting Things in their Places Lecture 1: Towards a Natural System of Classification (Oct 11) Louis Agassiz, “General Sketch” and “Classification & Creation,” in Methods of Study in Natural History (Boston: Tricknor and Fields, 1864), pp. 1-15, 41-72. Lecture 2: Field Trip to the RISD Nature Lab, Personal Taxonomy Exercise (Oct 13) Week 7: Museums & Parks Lecture 1: Modern Museums & Gardens (Oct 18) Lukas Rieppel, “Museums and Gardens,” in A Companion to the History of Science, by Bernard Lightman (ed.). NJ: Wiley, forthcoming (2015). !5 Lecture 2: Municipal Parks(Oct 20) ****Please visit Roger Williams National Memorial on your own time.**** Week 8: Photographing & Documenting Lecture 1: National Parks (Oct 25) Theodore Roosevelt, “The Vigor of Life,” in Theodore Roosevelt: The Rough Riders and An Autobiography (NY: The Library of America, 2004): 280-308. Lecture 2: Landscape Painting & Photography (Oct 27) Talbot, William Henry Fox. The Pencil of Nature. London: Longman, Brown, Green, & Longmans, 1844. [Look high quality versions of the images online; a modern reprint of original edition is also on reserve at the Rock.] Walton, Kendall L. “Transparent Pictures: On the Nature of Photographic Realism.” Critical Inquiry 11, no. 2 (1984): 246–808. ****Deadline: Midterm Exams due in class Oct 27th**** Week 9: Habitat Dioramas Lecture 2: Optical Illusions & Habitat Dioramas (Nov 1) Lynn Nyhart, “Science, Art and Authenticity in Natural History Displays,” in Soraya de Chadarevian and Nick Hopwood (eds.), Models: The Third Dimension of Science, p. 307-339. Lecture 2: NO CLASS ON NOV 3 ****Deadline: Term paper précis due in class Nov. 1st**** !6 Week 10: Objectivity & Authenticity Lecture 1: The Image of Objectivity (Nov 8) Daston, Lorraine, and Peter Galison. “The Image of Objectivity.” Representations, no. 40 (1992): 81–128. Lecture 2: Accessing deep time (Nov 10) Doyle, Arthur Conan. The Lost World. New York: Hodder & Stoughton, 1912. Week 11: Picturing Evolution & Ecology Lecture 1: Wildlife Documentaries (Nov 15) Gregg Mitman, Reel Nature: America’s Romance with Wildlife on Film, Cambridge, Mass: Harvard UP, 1999, pp. 1-108. Lecture 2: Evolutionary Trees & Ecological Networks (Nov 17) Darwin, Charles. “Introduction” and “Recapitulation and Conclusion,” in The Origin of Species, London: John Murray, 1859, pp. 1-6, 459-490. Odum, Howard T. “This World System,” in Environment, Power & Society. NY: Wiley, 1971, pp. 1-25. Week 12: Thanksgiving Break ****No class—enjoy Thanksgiving!**** !7 Week 13: Peoples on Parade Lecture 1: Colonial Encounters Brought Home (Nov 29) Sadiah Qureshi, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I Bring You…,” “Recruiting Entertainers,” “Interpreting Exhibitions,” and “Transforming ‘Unfruitful Wonder,’” in Peoples on Parade: Exhibitions, Empire, and Anthropology in Nineteenth-Century Britain, Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2011, pp. 1-12, 126-221. Lecture 2: Representing Human Difference in the Genomic Age (Dec 1) Luca Cavalli-Sforza, “The Human Genome Diversity Project: past, present, and future,” in Nature Reviews Genetics, vol. 6, 2005, p. 333-340. John Novembre and Sohini Ramachandran. “Perspectives on Human Population Structure at the Cusp of the Sequencing Era,” in Annual Reviews of Genomics and Human Genetics, 2011, No. 12, pp. 245–74. Week 14: Visualizing Quantitative Information Lecture 1: Modeling Complexity & Visualizing Big Data (Dec 6) Godfrey-Smith, Peter. “Models and Fictions in Science,” Philosophical Studies, 143 (2009): 101-116. David Hoffner, “What Does Big Data Look Like?,” Wired Magazine, available online at http://www.wired.com/insights/2014/01/big-data-look-like-visualization-key-humans/. Lecture 2: Final Project Presentations (Dec 8) ****Deadline: Final Papers due in class Dec. 8th**** !8