ANTH 114 SC - Science, Medicine, and Colonialism

This seminar examines the role of empire in shaping medical and scientific knowledge and practice. Beginning in the eighteenth century, as major scientific developments were unfolding in Europe and the United States, these regions were engaging in colonial expansion in Africa, Asia and the Americas. These two processes were often linked. Colonial aims influenced medico-scientific paradigms, and emergent scientific knowledge shaped how colonizers governed and controlled populations. This course examines these intertwined historical processes and how they laid the foundations for medico-scientific research and practice today. Drawing on anthropological and historical texts, we examine key themes such as scientific racism, hygiene and morality, and the regulation of indigenous knowledges. Throughout, we engage with concepts of the postcolonial and the settler colonial to help us understand the complexity of connections between past and present.

Course Credit: 1.0
Offered: Every year

Please refer to the course schedule on the Scripps Portal for current course offerings and details.