Science and the history of science have traditionally been seen by many as a predominantly (male white) European phenomenon. Over the past few decades, this image has been challenged in numerous ways. Recent Anglophone fiction has produced a number of stories about the roles and contributions which slaves and colonised subjects made to scientific inventions and discoveries, but also about the conditions and injustices that they suffered in the process, and which prevented their achievements from being recognised. In our course, we will closely analyse and discuss two such novels:
Ezi Edugyan, Washington Black (2018)
Petina Gappah, Out of Darkness, Shining Light (2019)
Set respectively in Southeastern Africa and in the Caribbean, North America and the Arctic, and with London and the British Empire as constant points of reference, these are two moving and exciting stories, which invite us also to engage with historical connections between Science, Exploration, Colonisation and the Slave Trade. These analyses will be framed by engagements with historical backgrounds and critical approaches (such as postcolonial science studies).
One of the authors, Petina Gappah, is scheduled to come to Oldenburg for an international conference in May 2021, so participants will have a chance to encounter the author of one of the texts we will be analysing in the course.
Prüfungsform: The standard prescribed format for this course is „Referat mit schriftlicher Ausarbeitung“. Participants requiring credits for this course under particular circumstances should contact me for alternatives.
Course Requirements:
Active participation (including, but not limited to an oral presentation) and
a term paper of ca. 10 pp. based on the topic of the presentation (deadline March 15, 2021).
Alternatives / special circumstances to be discussed with the course leader.