Semester:
Offered:
Professor Janet Browne
Tuesday 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM; Thursday 10:30 AM - 11:45 AM
Lecture course for undergraduates. This course aims to unpack human ideas about the concept of “nature”. We shall include indigenous ways of thought whenever possible. We concentrate on the way that "nature" is displayed in museums, zoos, botanic gardens, film, national parks, etc. ranging from the 17th century to the present and what these displays have to say about us and the societies in which we live. We shall also think about media and imagery, illustrations in books, and early wildlife film. The course hopes to enlarge your understanding of the complex relations between display, entertainment, and scientific knowledge as well as the natural history tradition in North America. Visits will be made to the Natural History Museum, the Ernst Mayr library, and archives at Harvard. The final project is an electronic ‘display’ compiled by the class.