Topics in Writing & Rhetoric: In the Margins: Race, Gender and the Rhetoric of Science

Every day a new headline alerts us to the lack of race and gender diversity in the tech sector in Silicon Valley. At the same time, science and technology are often lauded as objective systems capable of producing color- and gender-blind truths and social good for all of us. This course pushes beyond the headlines and the hashtags to think about the complex relationship between gender, race and science. Together we will research chronically understudied voices and contributions in the history of science and technology and have the opportunity to read and participate in some of the efforts to highlight their stories through a Wikipedia edit-a-thon and final research project. We will also rigorously think through why the historical and current under-representation of women and people of color matters for the questions that are asked, methodologies that are used, and science and technology that is eventually produced. This course fulfills the advanced PWR requirement for the Notation in Science Communication (NSC). Prerequisite: first two levels of the writing requirement or equivalent transfer credit. For topics, see https://undergrad.stanford.edu/programs/pwr/courses/advanced-pwr-courses.