Introduction
Science and Culture is a resource intended for college and secondary students to engage with scientific concepts, facts, and history as they relate to society in the United States and globally. We created this resource specifically for students in our first-year writing classes to develop informed analyses and arguments. However, the multimodality, diversity of voices, and range of topics should appeal to anyone interested in exploring these themes.Our diverse students, whether or not they are science majors, benefit greatly from understanding the broader culture of academic inquiry and their place as scholars within it. Science and Culture allows students to see particular knowledge debates across natural and social sciences, humanities, and creative arts as happening in the contexts of people who share ideas, argue claims, and through cooperative processes come to agreement over time about what constitutes knowledge. Science, like the arts, is imperfect and ever-evolving but also represents our best effort as humans to understand ourselves and our world. The themes in this volume have been cultivated to engage readers not merely as receptors of information but as active participants in this ongoing process of knowledge building.
Without dismissing the wealth of information and understanding of the world that science has given humanity, it’s important to begin by questioning the assumptions that underlie modern Western science. As such, Unit 1: The Culture of Science explores questions of objectivity, the relationship between science and the humanities, the role of Indigenous knowledge, and how scientists are grappling with racism, past and present.
Unit 2: Communicating Science examines various ways that scientists must communicate their ideas to various and sometimes skeptical public audiences. While the topics in this unit might seem quite diverse—from COVID-19 to climate change, chimpanzees to science fiction cinema and virtual museums, they share a common interest in inviting us to think about how scientists communicate their ideas in engaging and interactive ways.
In recent decades, science has made great strides in deepening our understanding of life on planet Earth, questioning out-dated assumptions that prioritizes human life and devalues animals, fungi, and plant life as lesser beings. Recognizing animal studies as a vibrant interdisciplinary field, Unit 3: Life on Earth—Our Non-Human Kin opens up new pathways for understanding the natural world not as separate from us but as intimately intertwined with human life.
As Western medicine continues to develop new strategies for protecting and enriching human life, today’s health providers are developing a greater appreciation for the value of traditional knowledge. Unit 4: Biomedical Science presents non-Western and Indigenous perspectives on health while at the same time considering cutting-edge science and technological advancements. By juxtaposing these topics, we hope that students will gain a deeper ethical engagement with the power and perils of biomedical approaches across traditions and cultures.
Changes are good that you’ve heard a lot about climate change in recent years. It is a global concern, yet one that often feels abstract or distant from everyday life. For those living near the Earth’s poles, however, the effects of climate change are readily apparent and already impacting daily life. By shining a light on this situation, Unit 5: Arctic Ice invites us to understand our interdependence with the global environment in a visceral way. Like the selections in all the units, the scholars, filmmakers, educators, and artists included here are raising their collective voices to inspire change.
