This module is not currently running in 2024 to 2025.
By looking at how science and its practitioners have been represented in or made use of humour, caricature and satire, we gain an important perspective on how science and society have interacted as the former came to dominance as an authoritative source of knowledge. Friends and enemies of science have used humour and satire to gain sympathy or call its claims into question. Where science has provoked hope, fear, admiration or suspicion, where it has been deeply involved in political or military endeavour, where it has overstated its claims or fed visions of a better future, satire has cast popular and elite opinions into sharp relief. From Thomas Shadwell's The Virtuoso and Gulliver's Travels, Georgian and Victorian caricature, science fiction and Cold War film, to The Simpsons and the Infinite Monkey Cage, science and the men and women who have produced it have proved to be fertile sources for comedy and biting wit.
• One essay based on a primary source (2000 words – 35%). This will ensure deep engagement with and critical examination of the primary sources examined during the course.
• Participation in online forums (2000 words total) and seminars discussions (20%). This will ensure a consistent engagement with the seminar readings and development of peer-to-peer learning.
• One essay (3000 words – 45%). Through the essay, students learn to research a subject, engage with the historiography, and formulate and present their own opinions.
• Patricia Fara, Science a Four Thousand Year History (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2009)
• Charlotte Sleigh, Literature and Science (Basingstoke : Palgrave Macmillan, 2011)
• Ruben Quintero, A Companion to Satire: Ancient and Modern (Wiley-Blackwell, 2006)
• Richard Scully and Marian Quartly (eds), Drawing the Line: Using Cartoons as Historical Evidence (Melbourne: Monash University ePress, 2009)
• Rosalynn Haynes, 'From Alchemy to Artificial Intelligence: Stereotypes of the Scientist in Western Literature', Public Understanding of Science 12 (2003), 243-53
• Joseph M Gilde, 'Shadwell and the Royal Society', Studies in English Literature 10 (1970), 469-490
• Gregory Lynall, Swift and Science: the Satire, Politics and Theology of Natural Knowledge, 1690-1730 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012)
• J.G. Paradis, 'Satire and science in Victorian culture', in Bernard Lightman (ed.), Victorian Science in Context (University of Chicago Press, 1997), 143-75.
See the library reading list for this module (Canterbury)
The intended subject specific learning outcomes
Students participating in this module will:
Gain knowledge the contested and changing nature of the relationship between science, scientific practitioners and wider publics in Britain and the USA from the late 17th century to the present
Gain knowledge and a critical understanding of a representative sample of science historiography
Be introduced to the role of satire in the public sphere and how it can reflect and influences opinion
Gain an understanding of key themes explored by historians of science in exploring the relationship of science with the public
Gain an understanding of how the historical methodologies used by historians of science translate into written histories
Gain critical perspective on how science is portrayed in various media, and to apply these concepts in the classroom and beyond
Be able to evaluate and make use of a range of written and visual sources for understanding the impact of science on wider culture and vice versa
The intended generic learning outcomes
Students will have:
enhanced their ability to express complex ideas and arguments orally and in writing, skills which can be transferred to other areas of study and employment
enhanced communication, presentational skills and information technology skills
practice working both independently – for example in preparing for seminars and research and information-gathering for essays – and within groups, being encouraged to interact and cooperate through the forum and within seminars
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