Keyword Midconference Plenary Lecture by Harriet Ritvo (MIT), noon-1:30, 501-CL

April 21, 2016 - 12:00pm to 1:30pm

As part of this year's CLST Distinguished Lecture Series on the Keywords theme that runs concurrently with the Annual Common Seminar Colloquium, Harriet Ritvo, Arthur J. Conner Professor of History, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, offers, in her lecture “Talking about Species,” a fascinating glimpse into how keywords can be applied to the history of science. According to her, “Species has been used to refer to plant and animal kinds since at least 17th century, and it has been a problem, as both a technical and a vernacular term, from the beginning.” Her books include The Dawn of Green (2009), The Platypus and the Mermaid (1997), The Animal Estate (1987), and Noble Cows and Hybrid Zebras (2010).  Introductions and discussion by this year's CLST Common Seminar Instructors Jonathan Arac and Colin MacCabe, Arjuna Parakrama (formerly, University of Peradeniya), and the other two Distinguished Lecturers, Stephen Heath (Jesus College, Cambridge), and Alan Durant (Middlesex University). 

Supported by additional funding from the Provost's Year of the Humanities Program, the Humanities Center, and the Keywords Project (Pitt and Jesus College, Cambridge).