Course Syllabus

Inclusive Science: Barriers and Benefits

  

Semester & Location:	Fall 2026 DIS Stockholm
Type & Credits:	Elective Course - 3 credits
Major Disciplines:	Philosophy, Gender Studies
Prerequisite(s):	None
Faculty Members:	Susan Castagnetto (current students please use the Canvas Inbox)
Time & Place:	TBD

Course Description

"...different eyes seeing different things, combined with the courage to act on what is seen, bring enormous benefit to learning, to scholarship, to knowledge, and to the betterment of the human condition...A different question, coming from a different standpoint, can open up windows that would otherwise remain closed." --Ursula Franklin, physicist, metallurgist, peace activist, feminist

While good science is thought to be value-free, scientific inquiry nonetheless reflects the values and interests of the cultures and societies that produce it and those who are allowed to participate. In Franklin's words, research is a social enterprise. In this class, we will examine how cultural, social, and political values and interests have shaped scientific knowledge production and who has been allowed to participate, as well as the benefits that greater inclusiveness can bring.

Women and people of color were long excluded from scientific institutions yet contributed to scientific knowledge from the margins in ways often unacknowledged. We will consider some of those contributions, as well as historical barriers to participation, how some barriers continue to exist for women and people of color, and how they can be dismantled. This will include a look at Scandinavia, a forerunner in gender equality but still without full representation in STEM fields. We will also consider how science benefits from the interests and perspectives of the marginalized, which includes asking new questions, bringing new approaches and methods, uncovering biases, and opening new areas of inquiry. Importantly, we will ask, how does broad inclusiveness in science better enable us to develop solutions to real-world problems, solutions that benefit all?

The class will address specific topics and issues such as environmental science and climate change, reproductive health and medicine, scientific research on sex and gender, and the relation between science, war, and militarism, including comparisons of the U.S. and Scandinavia. While the focus will be on gender, we will be considering race, class and ethnicity, and we will also give attention to indigenous science.

The class will visit relevant institutions, including Stockholm's Karolinska Institute, and students will meet with scientists to conduct interviews about their career paths and current research.

Course material is interdisciplinary and is from a variety of sources and perspectives, both academic and popular, including firsthand accounts from scientists. Material will include films, podcasts, and guest speakers. Students are also encouraged to bring relevant news items to class.

 

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

· Carefully read texts to identify and critically evaluate arguments and positions and discuss them both orally and in writing.

· Identify the assumptions and values underlying scientific work and knowledge systems.

· Understand the ways in which sexism and racism have shaped who participates in science and how that has shaped scientific investigations.

· Think critically about what constitutes scientific knowledge and the meaning of objectivity in science.

· Think critically about why we should trust science and be able to explain this to others.

· Understand how different knowledge systems address real-world problems and the benefits of using different knowledge systems to do so.

· Make connections across issues and readings.

· Work collaboratively on a research project.

 

Faculty

Susan Castagnetto is director of the Intercollegiate Feminist Center for Teaching, Research and Engagement at The Claremont Colleges and is Senior Lecturer in Philosophy at Scripps College. She teaches courses in Philosophy and Gender & Women's Studies at Scripps College and Pomona College. In her academic and community-based work, she seeks to bring theory and practice together to support real world change for social justice. She has been involved in a variety of community organizations addressing prison reform and abolition, adoptee rights, consumer advocacy, and domestic violence. She holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from Stanford University.

 

Readings

Readings will be drawn from the following list and may include others not listed.

Texts:

Alvord, The Scalpel and the Silver Bear: The First Navajo Woman Surgeon Combines Western Medicine and Traditional Healing, Bantam (2000)

Strager, If I Am Right, and I Know I Am: Inge Lehmann, the Woman Who Discovered Earth’s Innermost Secret, Columbia University Press (2025)

Articles:

Carson, excerpts, The Silent Spring, Houghton Mifflin Company (1962)

Cohn, “Sex and Death in the World of Defense Intellectuals,” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 12, no. 4 (Summer 1987)

Dweck, “Is Math a Gift? Beliefs That Put Females at Risk,” In S. J. Ceci, & W. M. Williams (Eds.), Why Aren’t More Women in Science? Top Researchers Debate the Evidence. Washington DC: American Psychological Association (2006)

Franklin, “Research as a Social Enterprise: Are We Asking the Right Questions?,” The Royal Society Lecture, November 6, 2002, published in Ursula Franklin Speaks: Thoughts and Afterthoughts, McGill-Queens University Press (2014)

Ginty, “How Environmental Pollutants Are Causing Reproductive Problems,” Alternet, December 20, 2006

Harding, “Is science multicultural? Challenges, resources, opportunities, uncertainties,” Lederman and Bartsch, The Gender and Science Reader, Routledge (2001)

Joel and Fine, "Can We Finally Stop Talking About 'Male' and 'Female' Brains?," The New York Times, December 3, 2018

Merchant, excerpts, The Death of Nature: Women, Ecology, and the Scientific Revolution, HarperOne (1990)

Moss-Racusin et al., "Science faculty's subtle gender biases favor male students,' Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (2012)

Nowell, "'We’re Creating Miscarriages With Medicine': Abortion Lessons From Sweden," The Nation, July 16, 2025

Oreskes, “Why Trust Science” and "Values in Science" in Oreskes, Why Trust Science?, Princeton University Press (2019)

Seag, "Women in Arctic Research: A Brief History," The Arctic Institute, March 19, 2019

Seager, “Rachel Carson Died of Breast Cancer," Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, vol. 28, no. 3 (Spring 2003)

 

Field Studies

We will do two field studies. Possibilities include visits to science-related museums (The Nobel Museum, The Cell, The Science and Technology Museum) and/or the Karolinska Institute Centre for Gender Medicine.

 

Approach to Teaching

I aim to bring a sense of community to the classroom, one in which we create knowledge together. Although I occasionally lecture on difficult readings or concepts, the class is primarily a seminar, and students are active participants. To encourage community-building and getting to know each other, we begin class with a very brief "check-in" led by students. Discussions take different forms, both with the full class and small groups. I like to combine theoretical or academic readings with related short readings from popular sources, so typically we would have several readings in a class session. I provide questions about the readings for students to think about beforehand. I encourage students to ask questions and to listen openly to what other students say. I also encourage students to read critically but open-mindedly, and to bring what they are learning to their own lives and to understanding the world outside the classroom, as well as to how they can get involved in making change. Overall, I aim for class to be fun!

 

Expectations of Students

Students are expected to be active participants in the class: to come to class having carefully done the reading, prepared for discussion, to participate in discussions, and to periodically write short reading responses that we will use in discussion. Students will also take the lead on class openings and on some discussion leading. Assignments will encourage students to think critically about course material and to apply it to issues and problems. Students will also engage in a research project with other students and present their research to the class. Students will also meet and interview a working scientist, writing up their interview, and they will do a writing assignment demonstrating an understanding and critical analysis of course material. Throughout the course, students will be encouraged and expected to listen to others' perspectives open-mindedly and to engage respectfully in class discussions and collaborative work.

 

DIS Accommodations Statement 

Your learning experience in this class is important to me.  If you have approved academic accommodations with DIS, please make sure I receive your DIS accommodations letter within two weeks from the start of classes. If you can think of other ways I can support your learning, please don't hesitate to talk to me. If you have any further questions about your academic accommodations, contact Academic Support acadsupport@disstockholm.se

 

Evaluation

Class work includes participation, periodic short writing (e.g., reading responses), conducting/writing up an interview with a working woman scientist, doing a group research project and presenting it to the class, as well as submitting a written report on the project, and a medium-length writing assignment (about 5 pages).

 

Grading

Assignment	Percent
Class participation	10%
Informal writing	15%
Interview project - interview with a woman scientist and write-up - 25%	25%
Group project	25%
Writing assignment	25%

 

Academic Regulations

Please make sure to read the Academic Regulations on the DIS website. There you will find regulations on:

• Course Enrollment and Grading
• Academic Expectations and Honor Code

 

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