Tools and (Re)Sources for the History of Biology (S)
This two-week intensive seminar introduces master’s students to the historian’s craft as applied to biology, with a focus on botany and zoology. Through lectures, workshops, and hands-on sessions students will explore how scientific knowledge is constructed, stabilised, and contested over time. The course emphasises working with primary sources (manuscripts, illustrations, specimens), digital humanities tools, and postcolonial perspectives, especially the silencing of Indigenous knowledge in natural history collections. Students will engage in collaborative projects, critical reflection, and creative assignments, culminating in a final project that synthesizes historical methods with contemporary debates.
Learning Objectives
- Identify and apply key methods in the history of science and biology, including historical epistemology and archival research.
- Analyse primary sources (texts, illustrations, specimens) as historical objects.
- Work with herbaria as historical manuscripts, understanding their materiality, provenance, and cultural context.
- Critically assess the colonial legacy of natural history collections and the silencing of indigenous knowledge.
- Utilize digital humanities tools for annotation, mapping, and visualization of biological data.
Collaborate on interdisciplinary projects that bridge science and humanities. - Communicate historical arguments through writing, digital exhibits, and curatorial statements.
- Reflect on the ethical and political dimensions of biological knowledge production.
Assesment Breakdown
- Daily Reading response on each day's readings, due by 8.30am each day; 20%
- In-Class Participation; 15%
- Herbarium manuscript analysis, due week 2; 20%
- Post-seminar reflection, due 4 December 2026; 10%
- Final Project, due 10 January 2027; 35%