STS 2621 - Gendering Religion, Science and Technology

(crosslisted) AMST 2621, FGSS 2621
(KCM-AS)

Spring. 4 credits.

C. Rock-Singer.

There are several “just-so stories” about science and religion: the world’s religions are parallel systems of belief in the supernatural; science has a set method that produces universal truths; and religion and science are in perpetual conflict. This course will challenge these understandings by introducing students to the study of religion, science, and technology, as well as to ways to think about their relationships. To bring these categories down to earth and unsettle engrained scholarly and popular narratives, our approach will be to gender the study of religion, science, and technology. To do so, we will not simply “add women and stir,” to borrow a phrase from feminist historians; rather, we will query how gender, sexuality, and embodiment shape the very construction of knowledge itself.