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Modern science has certain dominant characteristics - international, state-funded, mathematically-characterised and technocratic, it claims view-from-nowhere objective knowledge.
These characteristics were brought to dominate in the late 18th and 19th centuries, otherwise known as the age of globalisation, revolution and reform. This module is concerned with reframing canonical analyses of the late 18th and 19th century origins of modern science with the critical insights of radical and decolonising traditions. The aim of the module is to develop the relevance of these histories to present day global concerns and to support students to develop marginalised lines of research.
Course Objectives:
The course content aims to:
- Introduce canonical literature in radical theoretical frameworks.
- Show the urgent necessity of those radical theoretical frameworks.
- Support students to develop marginalised lines of research.
By the end of this module students should be able to:
- Appreciate the central importance of the insurgent uprisings of the Black Atlantic in shaping modern science and modernity in general.
- Understand the colonial origins and character of the ‘view from nowhere’ knowledge ideal epitomized in geospatial mapping.
- Understand the role of extreme forms of labour extraction and fossil fuel capital in the origins of modern physics and of anthropogenic climate change.
- Apply critical awareness of the above objectives to appreciate the necessity of decolonizing and insurgent theoretical frameworks.
- Apply critical awareness of the above objectives to take a revisionary look at canonical case studies.
- Apply critical awareness of the above objectives to identify and begin to develop new or marginalized lines of research.
UCL Module Catalogue: Science and the Global System (HPSC0144)