90063 - History, Science and Society (1) (LM)

Learning outcomes

The aims of the course is to refine the student’s analytical skills and demonstrate: the ability to interpret both the primary and secondary literature so as to contextualise the history of scientific thought in relation to the history of philosophy, intellectual and cultural history, social and political history and the institutional history of the time; to carry out archival and bibliographical research making use of databases, online catalogues, and bibliographical inventories; to contribute to class discussion with a series of coherent and properly justified comments about the assigned themes (via short presentations and class discussion); to produce a series of written outputs (reviews, reflexive notes, essays) with the appropriate scholarly apparatus (footnotes, bibliography, illustrations), particularly in view of their dissertation.

Course contents

Painted Nature: Natural museums, scientific collections and commerce in the Age of Discovery. Two case studies.

How did the tomato become one of the staples of Italian cuisine? How did cocoa, corn, or the potato arrive in Europe? What kind of interest did this generate in naturalists and merchants? Were European governments interested in these rarities as curiosities or as commodities? How did the European worldview change following the discovery of new lands? These are some of the questions that the course will try to address placing the development of new scientific theories and their artistic representations within the broader context of commerce and exploration of new lands in Asia, Africa and America. The two case studies that we will explore are situated in Italy and in England and will introduce the figure of the Bolognese naturalist Ulisse Aldrovandi and the Londoner Hans Sloane. Both naturalists have left us a conspicuous legacy, but both the context and the period in which they lived provide us with distinctive portraits.

 

The  programme of our classes will be articulated roughly as follows: 

Lecture 1: Introduction to the course

Lectures 2-4 New routes: in search of new scientific paradigms. 

Lectures 5-8 To experience: travelling, testing and collecting 

Lectures 9-12 Dealing with new information: recording, classifying, reforming

Lectures 13-14 Networks of power and exchange

Lecture 15 The death of natural history: the emergence of new sciences

 

Readings/Bibliography

One among these books:

James Delbourgo, Collecting the World: the life and curiosity of Hans Sloane (Penguin, 2017)

or:

Paula Findlen, Possessing Nature: Museums, Collecting, and Scientific Culture in Early Modern Italy (California UP, 1996)

or:

Giuseppe Olmi, L'inventario del mondo. Catalogazione della natura e luoghi del sapere nella prima età moderna (Il Mulino, 1992)

Available in PDF at: https://books.fbk.eu/media/pubblicazioni/Monografia_17.pdf

The following introductory article:

"Commerce and the Representation of Nature in Art and Science" in Pamela H. Smith and Paula Findlen, Merchants and Marvels: Commerce, science and art in early modern Europe (Routledge, 2002), pp. 1-25.

One among the following articles:

Alix Cooper, "The Museum and the Book: The Metallotheca and the history of an encyclopaedic natural history in early modern Italy," Journal of the History of Collections, Volume 7, Issue 1, 1995, Pages 1–23, https://doi.org/10.1093/jhc/7.1.1

or:

David Price, "John Woodward and the Surviving British Geological Collection from the Early Eighteenth Century," Journal of the History of Collections, Volume 1, Issue 1, 1989, Pages 79–95, https://doi.org/10.1093/jhc/1.1.79

or:

Claudia Swan, "Making Sense of Medical Collections in Early Modern Holland," in Making Knowledge in Early Modern Europe: Practices, Objects and Texts, 1400-1800 (Chicago UP, 2008), pp. 199-213, and notes.

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Those students who cannot attend at least 2/3 of the classes, should also read: 

Sachiko Kusukawa, Picturing the Book of Nature: Image, Text, and Argument in Sixteenth-Century Human Anatomy and Medical Botany (Chicago: The University of Chicago Press, 2012).

Teaching methods

The course will be delivered as a seminar. A brief lecture by the professor will be followed by a discussion on the primary and secondary sources assigned for every class. Students' preparation and participation in class discussion are crucial to the success of the course.

Students will be assigned individual presentations based on specific images, articles/texts, or specimen. Each presentation will last 10 min max.

If the COVID-19 situation permits it, there will be two site visits during the semester.

Assessment methods

Assessment:

For those attending classes: 50% coursework (essay: 3000 words, on a topic agreed with the professor); 30% oral exam; 20% presentation in class.

For those NOT attending: 50% essay; 50% oral exam

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Criteria for evaluation:

The course aims to meet the following objectives:

-to demonstrate adequate knowledge of the main aspects of the course;

-to demonstrate the ability to approach critically both the primary and the secondary sources so as to situate the primary sources within the historiographic debate that emerged over time;

-to demonstrate the ability to elaborate a coherent and organic analysis both in writing and orally around a specific theme, aspect, or question (both textual and historiographical), with the aim of reaching some original conclusions based on the evidence in the text(s);

The oral exams will start with the discussion of the essay and proceed to test additional knowledge and skills.

The criteria adopted for the evaluation of the candidate and their work are the following:

1. familiarity with the content of the texts;

2. the ability to understand and analyse the texts;

3. the ability to construct an argument and use evidence appropriately to support it both in writing and orally.

The assessment aims at assessing the methodological and critical skills acquired during the semester. The examination will focus on the student's command of both the primary and the secondary literature. The student will be invited to discuss the texts covered during the course and to contextualise them in their historical period. Top marks (28-30) will be given to students who demonstrate a thorough knowledge of the material discussed in class and contained in the texts, critical and analytical skills, and the ability to express ideas and concepts clearly and cogently. Those students who will demonstrate a good knowledge of the material but tend to repeat it mechanically rather than demonstrate full understanding and the ability to build connections and present an argument will be rewarded with average to high marks (23-27). Students who demonstrate superficial knowledge, gaps in preparation, poor critical and analytical skills and difficulties of expression will receive average to low marks (18-22). Severe lacunae in one or more areas listed above could lead to the student repeating the exam.

Teaching tools

Slides; images; museum visits.

Office hours

See the website of Monica Azzolini