LCC 3302: Science, Technology, and Ideology
Instructor: Carol Colatrella
This course will consider the development and reception of science and technology in
Denmark and their relation to Danish culture, socialist politics, and ideologies of social
welfare and gender equity. Specific topics include scientific careers and their literary
representation, gender equity in labor, national identity and cultural politics in museum
installations, and energy production and environmental politics.
Before the course begins, watch Babette’s Feast (1987; dir. Gabriel Axel) and Italian for
Beginners (2000; dir. Lone Scherfig), purchase books, and download readings.
Books to buy (*indicates Required; excerpts of others will be provided):
*Alan Cutler (2004). The Seashell and the Mountaintop: How Nicolaus Steno solved an
ancient mystery and created a science of the earth. Plume (Penguin).
Exhibiting Cultures: The Politics and Poetics of Museum Display (1991). Eds. Ivan Karp
and Steven Lavine. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Books.
*Michael Frayn (2000). Copenhagen. Anchor Books.
Joshua Gilder and Anne-Lee Gilder (2004). Heavenly Intrigue: Johannes Kepler, Tyco
Brahe, and the Murder of One of History’s Greatest Scientific Discoveries. Doubleday.
Thomas S. Kuhn (1970). The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2nd ed. University of
Chicago Press.
*Lisa C. Roberts (1997). From Knowledge to Narrative: Educators and the Changing
Museum. Washington, D. C: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1997.
Syllabus:
Unit 1--Formation of Ideology: History and Cultural Values
What are the core concepts of Danish cultural identity? How have Danish cultural values
influenced political actions and legislation (i.e. WWII resistance and social welfare) in
the twentieth-century? How do these cultural constructs affect current policies of gender
equity, childcare, and support for the arts, particularly the film industry?
Class 1: Excerpt (the Jante Law) from Aksel Sandemose, A refugee crosses his tracks
(1933). See
http://www.faqs.org/faqs/nordic-faq/part2_NORDEN/section-5.html
Garrison Keillor (1998): 'Civilized Denmark', National Geographic, July: 50-73.
Richard Hill (1995): We Europeans. Europublications. 'The Danes. The entrepreneurial
extroverts': 215-221.
Class 2: Daniel Levine (1978): "Conservatism and Tradition in Danish Social Welfare
Legislation, 1890-1933: A Comparative View" Comparative Studies in Society and
History 20 (1): 54-69.
Niels Finn Christiansen and Klaus Petersen (2001). "The Dynamics of Social Solidarity:
The Danish Welfare State, 1900-2000.” Scandinavian Journal of History 26(3): 177-197.
Valerie Polikow, Who Cares for the Children? Denmark’s Unique Public Childcare
Model. http://www.pdkintl.org/kappan/kpola974.htm
Class 3: Myrna Goodman (1998): "Foundations of Resistance in German-Occupied
Denmark" in Resisting the Holocaust, Ruby Rohrlich, ed., Berg: Oxford, NY: 213-36.
Old Denmark in Cyberspace. [Brief history of Denmark with photos] http://www.bok.dk/dk/history.php
Class 4: Mette Hjort (1996) “Danish Cinema and the Politics of Recognition,” PostTheory:Reconstructing Film Studies. Eds. D. Bordwell and N. Carroll. University of
Wisconsin Press.
Discussion of Babette’s Feast (1987) and Italian for Beginners (2000).
Turn in journal assignment noting initial observations of Denmark and connections with
readings.
Unit 2—History of Science in Denmark and Literary Representation of Scientists
We will learn about Danish achievements in science and investigate the cultural contexts
of science in analyzing astronomist Tyco Brache’s contributions to Johannes Kepler’s
discoveries, the anatomist Nicolaus Steno’s development of geological theory, Niels
Bohr’s atomic discoveries and by considering the literary representation of their
achievements.
Class 5: Thomas S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. 2nd ed. University of
Chicago Press, 1970, chapter 6: “Anomaly and the Emergence of Scientific Theories”
and chapter 7: “Crisis and the Emergence of Scientific Theories,” 52-76.
Class 6: Joshua Gilder and Anne-Lee Gilder, Heavenly Intrigue: Johannes Kepler, Tyco
Brahe, and the Murder of One of History’s Greatest Scientific Discoveries. Doubleday,
2004.
Class 7: Alan Cutler, The Seashell on the Mountaintop: How Nicolaus Steno Solved an
Ancient Mystery and Created a Science of the Earth. Penguin, 2004.
Class 8: Excerpts from Richard Rhodes (1995). The Making of the Atomic Bomb. Simon
and Schuster.
Michael Frayn (2000). Copenhagen: A Play. New York: Anchor Books.
Writing assignment: Discuss the characterization of Brahe, Steno, or Bohr in relation to
their representations.
Unit 3—Case Study: Technological Innovation and Environmental Politics
How do Danish cultural values, along with factors, affect economic development and
governmental regulation of technologies, specifically regarding energy and the
environment?
Class 9: Andrew Jamison (2001). The Green Revolution: Environmental Politics and
Cultural Transformation. Cambridge University Press. Chapter 2: “Social Movements
and Knowledge Making,” 45-70.
Laurence Baroni and Jess Clayton, “Environmental and Social Policies.” The Student’s
Guide to European Integration. Polity Press, 2003: 204-217.
Class 10: David E. Nye (1999). “Path Insistence: Comparing European and American
Attitudes toward Energy,” Journal of Intellectual Affairs. 53.1. Fall: 129-148.
David E. Nye (1999). Consuming Power: A Social History of American Energies. MIT
Press. Chapter 9: “Choices,” 249-264.
Class 11: Matthias Heymann (1998). “Signs of Hubris: The shaping of wind technology
in Germany, Denmark, and the US, 1940-90,” Technology and Culture. 39.4: 641-670.
Class 12: Rinie van Est (1999). Winds of Change: A Comparative Study of the Politics of
Wind Energy Innovation in California and Denmark. International Books. Chapters 8 and
9: 195-262.
Research/writing assignment on current Ministry of Environment and Energy policies,
social influences helping to formulate them, and their environmental and social effects.
Unit 4- National Identity, Ideology, and Museum Installations
In this unit, we apply ideas from scholarship on museum exhibits to consider the
technologies of museum installation and their ideological development and reception.
Class 13: Tony Bennett (1995). Birth of the Museum: History, theory, politics.Routledge.
Chapter 7: “Museums and Progress: Narrative, ideology, performance,” 177-208.
Irit Rogoff (1994). “From Ruins to Debris: The Feminization of Fascism in GermanHistory Museums,” Museum Culture: Histories, Discourses, Spectacles. Eds. Daniel
Sherman and Irit Rogoff. University of Minnesota Press: 223-249.
Classes 14 and 15: Exhibiting Cultures: The Politics and Poetics of Museum Display
(1991). Eds. Ivan Karp and Steven Lavine. Washington, D. C.: Smithsonian Books. Read
essays by Ivan Karp, “Culture and Representation” (11-24); Svetlana Alpers, “The
Museum as a Way of Seeing” (25-32); Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett, “Objects of
Ethnography” (386-443) and Kenneth Hudson, “How Misleading Does an
Ethnographical Museum Have to Be?” (457-464).
Class 16: Lisa C. Roberts (1997). From Knowledge to Narrative: Educators and the
Changing Museum. Washington, D. C: Smithsonian Institution Press.
Writing assignment: analysis of cultural politics of museum display.