HIS 3995-01 (Fall 2001) Dr. Jeffrey Johnson

Women in Modern Science & Technology SAC 440, X97404

MWF 10:30-11:20, Tolentine 215 Hrs.: MW 9-9:45, W 3-4

Website: http://www11.homepage.villanova.edu/jeffrey.johnson/

Email: Jeffrey.Johnson@villanova.edu

AIM OF THE COURSE: This writing-enriched course is designed to improve your writing while examining issues related to women and gender in modern science and technology. The course will consist of three major parts, in each of which we will use methods of social history, psychohistory, and the history of science and technology, with attention to feminist as well as other perspectives:

1) women and gender in modern (since 1600) scientific theories and research, as well as technological and medical practice (with attention to causes and consequences of differences in the perception of male vs. female bodies, minds, and activities)

2) women in modern scientific professions (professional career obstacles and opportunities, strategies for advancement, development of professional groups, networking, etc.)

3) women as creative scientific workers (analyses and case-studies of similarities and differences in styles and patterns between men and women; special problems confronting women)

MATERIALS: include the following books, plus reserve or on-line readings:

Londa Schiebinger, The Mind Has No Sex? Women in the Origins of Modern Science

Evelyn Fox Keller & Helen E. Longino (editors), Feminism and Science

Ruth S. Cowan, More Work for Mother: the Ironies of Household Technolog

Pnina Abir-Am, H. Pycior, & N. Slack (eds.), Creative Couples in the Sciences

Minerva, Vol. 39, no. 2, 2001: Special issue on Women in Science (currently on order; will be available at the bookstore in approximately 3-4 weeks)

WORK AND EVALUATION:

Attendance and discussions (15% of total grade): The class will meet three sessions per week for a combination of informal lectures, discussions of the current readings, and occasional student presentations (see below). Please read each assignment BEFORE coming to the class in which we will discuss it. This is not a class for passive listening; no participation = no discussion grade.

Papers (35%): Written work will include two 1-2 page short essays (5% total) and one 5-7 page paper (30%), on topics taken from one of the three major areas of the course, as specified in consultation with the instructor. Guidelines for evaluating papers will be discussed in class.

Oral presentations (10%): You will also present your essay findings in discussions, and your longer paper in a short (8-10 minute) oral report at the end of one of the three parts of the course.

Examinations (40%): a mid-term in-class essay (20%) and a final essay examination (20%).

Late work and make-ups: In case you must miss an assignment or test, contact Dr. Johnson (preferably by leaving a message on his voice mail) BEFORE it is due. If you then provide an adequate WRITTEN excuse (such as illness -- travel plans that conflict with the final examination schedule will NOT be an acceptable excuse), you may make up the assignment without penalty within a week after you return; you will be penalized one letter grade for each additional week.

Plagiarism and cheating: WILL NOT be tolerated in any form. If you claim credit for work that is demonstrably not your own, this is plagiarism, and you will be disciplined according to Villanova's policy of academic integrity (normally an F on the assignment for a first offense). To give proper credit to others’ work in your papers, you must cite sources you use (guidelines to be discussed). If you are uncertain how to do this, please consult with Dr. Johnson BEFORE your paper is due.

OUTLINE AND READING SCHEDULE:

Part One: Women as subjects and objects in science and technology (7 weeks)

Week 1 (8/27-8/31): The problem: science and the construction of gender

Mon.: Introduction (Assignment for Friday: read the Time (Aug. 20) paper or on-line profiles, "America's Best: Science & Medicine" (at: http://www.cnn.com/SPECIALS/2001/americasbest/); in a 1-page essay drawing evidence from any 3 or more of these profiles, answer the question: "does gender matter in contemporary science and medicine?" We will discuss your answers on Friday)

Wed.: What is science? What is gender?

Fri.: Contemporary science: does gender matter? (short essays due: see above)

Week 2 (9/3-9/7) Gender theories from ancient to early modern science

Mon.: Labor Day Holiday

Wed.: Catholic Aristotelianism: dominant views on nature and gender before the Scientific Revolution (Schiebinger, 160-170; Keller & Longino, ch. 3) (assignment for Friday: in a 1-page essay based on the reserve readings, evaluate the theories and evidence used to condemn Walpurga in 1587; we will discuss your answers on Friday)

Fri.: Terrors of a feminine nature: radical hermetic theories and witchcraft hysteria in early modern Europe: (reserve: Krämer & Sprenger (1486); Judgment of a Witch (1587); essays due)

GROUP ONE PAPER TOPICS TO BE ANNOUNCED

Week 3 (9/10-9-14) Nature, gender, & evolution in modern scientific theories

Mon.: Redefinition of gender in nature and in science (Schiebinger, 119-159, 170-178)

Wed.: Gendered and racial views of anatomy in the 18th century (Schiebinger, 178-213; Schiebinger in Keller & Longino, ch. 9)

Fri.: Biology, race & gender in the 19th-20th centuries (Keller & Longino, chs. 6, 7, 8, & 10; reserve: Gilman, "The Yellow Wallpaper"; see http://www.kino-eye.com/yp/whyiwrote.html for Gilman's own story; http://www.library.csi.cuny.edu/dept/history/lavender/wallpaper.html for story)

Week 4 (9/17-9/21) Women's scientific education and work in early modern Europe

Mon.: Academic vs. salon traditions (Schiebinger, ch. 1)

Wed. Aristocratic women and science (Schiebinger, ch. 2)

Fri.: Women in scientific and medical crafts (Schiebinger, chs. 3-4)

Week 5 (9/24-9/28) "Complementary spheres": medicine and domestic technology

Mon.: Theories of complementarity (Schiebinger, ch. 8)

Wed.: Early domestic technology (Cowan, ch. 1-2)

Fri.: Effects of the Industrial Revolution (Cowan, chs. 3-4)

GROUPS TWO & THREE ESSAY TOPICS TO BE ANNOUNCED

Week 6 (10/1-10/5) In-class presentations, Part One

Mon.: Reports, group 1 (to be scheduled)

Wed.: Reports, group 1 (continued)

Fri.: Reports, group 1 (concluded)

Week 7 (10/8-10/12) Domestic technology concluded; In-class essay

Mon.: Forgotten alternatives; 20th century household technology (Cowan, ch. 5-7 & postscript)

Wed.: Review

Fri.: Midterm in-class essay (Oct. 12)

FALL BREAK (10/15-19)

HIS 3995-01 (Fall 1998) Women in Modern Science, Syllabus (p. 3) Dr. J Johnson

Part Two: From exclusion to professionalization in modern science and technology (4 weeks)

Week 8 (10/22-10/26) Professionalization and the exclusion of women

Mon.: Women scientists as exceptions in a professionalizing landscape of science (Schiebinger, ch. 9) GROUP 1 ESSAYS DUE (10/22)

Wed.-Fri.: Scientific professionalism vs. feminism? (Guest speaker [if available]) (Schiebinger, ch. 10, Keller & Longino, ch. TBA)

GROUP 3 ESSAY TOPICS TO BE ANNOUNCED

Week 9 (10/29-11/2) Women, science, and society: International case studies

Mon.- Fri.: Read Minerva special issue, pages TBA

Week 10 (11/5-11/9) U.S. women, science and the feminist movement

Mon. - Fri.: guest speakers (if available) (Keller & Longino, ch. TBA; Minerva, pages TBA)

Week 11 (11/12-11/16) Group 2 reports

Mon. - Fri.: Reports, group 2 (to be scheduled)

Part Three: Women as creative individuals and collaborators: biographical cases-studies (4 weeks)

Week 12 (11/19) 20th century creativity in physics

Mon.: Successful and failed collaboration: the Curies, the Einsteins, Hahn & Meitner (Pycior, introduction, chs. 1-2, 13; reserve)

Wed.-Fri.: Thanksgiving Holiday

GROUP 2 ESSAYS DUE (Monday, 11/19)

Week 13 (11/26-11/30) 19th and 20th-century creativity in biology and medicine

Mon.: Patterns of successful collaboration (Pycior, chs. 3, 4, 6, 9, 15)

Wed.: Patterns of unsuccessful collaboration (Pycior, chs. 11, 12)

FILM: "Angels and Insects" (place and time TBA)

Fri.: Barbara McClintock, Rosalind Franklin (reserve readings)

Week 14 (12/3-12/7) In-class Presentations, Part Three

Mon. - Fri. : Group 3 reports (to be scheduled)

Week 15 (12/10-12/11-12/13) Collaborations in other fields; conclusions

Mon.: Astronomy (Pycior, chs. 5, 8, 16) GROUP 3 ESSAYS DUE (Monday, 12/10)

Tues. [=Friday this week]: The social sciences & mathematics (Pycior, ch. 7, 14, 17)

Wed.: Final discussion & review

Fri.: Reading Day (no class)

Finals Week (Dec. 15-21) Date and time of final examination will be announced