January 2018
Rayna Rapp – Banking on DNA: The New Non-Invasive Prenatal Tests in Comparative Perspective
Irving Institute for Clinical and Translational Research 622 West 168 Street, Room 10-405A&B Speaker: Rayna Rapp, Professor of Anthropology, New York University Qualitative social scientists have produced powerful and nuanced analyses of the benefits and burdens experienced by pregnant women and their supporters when accessing reproductive technologies. What lessons can be drawn from this ethnographic corpus that will help us to situate the social and cultural tensions now spreading with the rapid expansion and uptake of the new non-invasive prenatal tests?…
Find out more »New Books in the Arts & Sciences: Celebrating Recent Work by Thomas Dodman
From the late 17th through the late 19th century, nostalgia denoted a form of homesickness so extreme that it could sometimes be deadly. What Nostalgia Was unearths that history. Thomas Dodman traces the invention of nostalgia as a medical diagnosis in Basel, Switzerland, its spread through the European republic of letters and into Napoleon's armies, its subsequent transformation from a medical term to a more expansive cultural concept, and its shift in meaning in the colonies, where Frenchmen worried about racial and cultural mixing came to view moderate homesickness as salutary. Thomas Dodman is an Assistant Professor in the Department of French. David Bell is a Professor of History at Princeton. Emmanuelle Saada is an Associate Professor of History and French at Columbia.
Find out more »Eliza Brown – Diagnosis without Bodily Material: Stunted Multiplicity and the Specters of Disease
This workshop series is primarily designed to assist advanced graduate students with their ongoing research projects. The workshop aims to expose participants to original approaches to social studies of science and technology, but also to expose students to solutions to common challenges of academic work.
Find out more »Nadine Burke Harris – The Deepest Well: Healing the Long-Term Effects of Childhood Adversity
A pioneer in the field of medicine, Dr. Nadine Burke Harris is a leader in the movement to transform how we respond to early childhood adversity and the resulting toxic stress that dramatically impacts our health and longevity. By exploring the science behind childhood adversity, she offers a new way to understand the adverse events that affect all of us throughout our lifetimes.
Find out more »Adrianna Bagnall – The Rise of Social Intelligence: Interdependent Indicators for the Measurement of Mental Deficiency
This workshop series is primarily designed to assist advanced graduate students with their ongoing research projects. The workshop aims to expose participants to original approaches to social studies of science and technology, but also to expose students to solutions to common challenges of academic work.
Find out more »“Swim Team”: A Medical Humanities Film Series
The Heyman Center is hosting a film screening of Swim Team, an award winning feature documentary about a New Jersey YMCA based, community swim team made up of kids on the autism spectrum. The film follows three of team’s star athletes, boys on the cusp of adulthood, when government services become scarce.
Find out more »Center for Science and Society Welcome Back Lunch
Join the Center for Science and Society for an informal lunch-time meet and greet to celebrate the new semester and new year! Chat with students, postdocs and faculty interested in History of Science, Science, Technology and Society studies, and interdisciplinary collaboration between the sciences, humanities, arts and social sciences. Learn more about our growing community and ongoing projects, as well as upcoming events and funding opportunities.
Find out more »Michael Mauskapf – The Social Foundations of Creativity: Evidence from Popular Music, 1955 to 2000
Creativity is central to cultural production, but what makes certain producers more likely to innovate than others? More specifically, what are the different sources of social influence that drive variation in creative output, and through what mechanisms do these sources operate?
Find out more »James Delbourgo – The Origins of Public Museums: Hans Sloane’s Collections and the Creation of the British Museum
In 1759 London’s British Museum opened its doors for the first time – the first free national public museum in the world. But how did it come into being? This talk recounts the overlooked yet colorful life of the museum’s founder: Sir Hans Sloane. The little-known life of one of the Enlightenment’s most controversial luminaries provides a new story about the beginnings of public museums through their origins in imperialism and slavery.
Find out more »February 2018
Joonwoo Son – Governing Economy through Indicators: Transformation of Use of Indicators in Japanese Economic Planning, 1960-1965
This workshop series is primarily designed to assist advanced graduate students with their ongoing research projects. The workshop aims to expose participants to original approaches to social studies of science and technology, but also to expose students to solutions to common challenges of academic work.
Find out more »