Joy of Science

So, last week I posted the Week 4 Joy of Science reading summaries and since then...nothing. No JoS discussion posts. What's up with that? I'd say procrastination, but then you'd ask, "why?" I seem to be having an extraordinarily difficult time writing up my discussion of these readings; I know some of the reasons why, which I'll mention in one of the discussion posts, but I'm not really sure why. Writer's block? Weather too nice, would rather play in the garden? But suddenly there are a zillion other things I'd rather blog about, and it's been stormy the last two days, so those can't…
Welcome to Week 4 of our course on "Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science". This post will be a presentation of the summaries for each of this week's assigned readings. If you were not able to do the readings or couldn't get access to the books, I hope this post will give you a good flavor of what the week's readings were all about. You can reference the course syllabus for more details about the readings in the whole course and the course structure. Here's the initial post about the course. And here are some guidelines about how I'll post on readings and what we should strive for in…
Yeah, so I promised you the reading summaries for today, and they aren't ready. What's my excuse? I haven't had that many migraines in the past week, only two. Oh, I've been playing in the garden, and I went on a garden tour on Saturday instead of working on the readings all day, and blah blah blah...let me tell you, Donna Haraway makes my brain hurt. I don't know who put this week's readings together but I oughta smack them one. It's a nightmare. Oh, wait, that would be me. Well, I shall be slogging along the rest of the day and you can expect something more or less coherent tomorrow…
Hey, I bet you thought I forgot all about this course, didn't you???? No, I didn't! Just lots of stuff going on in the personal life that has made it difficult for me to give the attention needed to the next set of readings, which are very....dense. However, now I'm ready to go! Let's say next Tuesday, June 5, for putting up the reading summaries, with the discussion entries to follow throughout the week. Okay??? And then hopefully we will be back on a more regular schedule.
This is the third of several discussion posts for Week 3 of Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science. You can find all posts for this course by going to the archives and clicking on Joy of Science in the Category section. This post deals with the readings by Subramaniam and by Margolis, Fisher, & Miller (MFM). (Summaries are available here.) I really wish that all of you could read "Snow Brown and the Seven Detergents". There is actually a pdf version on the internet but I'm not linking to it because it seems to be a pirated version. First of it, it attributes authorship to Sue Rosser…
This is the second of several discussion posts for Week 3 of Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science. You can find all posts for this course by going to the archives and clicking on Joy of Science in the Category section. This post deals with the readings by Margolis, Fisher, & Miller (MFM), and Hynes. (Summaries are available here.) Why might women want to become scientists or engineers? Do their motivations and interest differ from that of men? If so, is the difference in intensity or in kind? In the two papers by Hynes and by MFM, we read about women's early interest in science…
This is the first of several discussion posts for Week 3 of Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science. You can find all posts for this course by going to the archives and clicking on Joy of Science in the Category section. This post deals with the readings by Margolis, Fisher, & Miller (MFM), and Ginorio, Marshall, & Breckinridge (GMB). (Summaries are available here.) "Feminism is not a unitary concept", Ginorio, Marshall, & Breckinridge (GMB) tell us. There have been many efforts to categorize different types of feminism. GMB refer to one of the most well-known, Alison Jaggar…
Welcome to Week 3 of our course on "Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science". This post will be a presentation of the summaries for each of this week's assigned readings. If you were not able to do the readings or couldn't get access to the books, I hope this post will give you a good flavor of what the week's readings were all about. You can reference the course syllabus for more details about the readings in the whole course and the course structure. Here's the initial post about the course. And here are some guidelines about how I'll post on readings and what we should strive for in…
So, a million years ago, before my blogging break, I had begun the Joy of Science class. I never did post my third discussion entry for the second week of class...I think it is a lost cause at this point. We'll just skip over that and move on to the third week of class. Why don't we say something like two weeks from now, which I think is Wednesday April 4th? I think I can have the readings done and prepare some discussion by then. If you look at the syllabus, you'll see that week three is once again comprised of readings all from the Building Inclusive Science special issue of Women's…
This is the second of three discussion posts for Week 2 of Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science. You can find all posts for this course by going to the archives and clicking on Joy of Science under in the Category section. This post deals with the reading by Fox. What do women need to succeed in science? Does what they need differ from what men need? If so, why? What constitutes a good environment for women in science? What constitutes success? Will having more women in science affect the way that science is done? The reading by Fox addresses most of these questions for the case…
This is the first of three discussion posts for Week 2 of Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science. You can find all posts for this course by going to the archives and clicking on Joy of Science under in the Category section. This post deals with the readings by Rayman & Stewart, Bix, and Benckert & Staberg. What do women need to succeed in science? Does what they need differ from what men need? If so, why? What constitutes a good environment for women in science? What constitutes success? Will having more women in science affect the way that science is done? Two of this week'…
I've had a lot of down time lately because of health issues. Migraines, of course, but also now chronic neck/shoulder pain caused by the migraines. I've been working on the discussion entries and I will have them up soon, but I don't know when. I can't spend a lot of time on the computer at one stretch because it causes the neck/shoulder area to become even worse. So - maybe today, maybe tomorrow. In the meantime, if you've read the reading summaries (or, heaven forbid, if you did the actual readings!) and have anything you'd like to say about them yourself, please feel free to post…
Welcome to the Week 2 of our course on "Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science". This post will be a presentation of the summaries for each of this week's assigned readings. If you were not able to do the readings or couldn't get access to the books, I hope this post will give you a good flavor of what the week's readings were all about. You can reference the course syllabus for more details about the readings in the whole course and the course structure. Here's the initial post about the course. And here are some guidelines about how I'll post on readings and what we should strive for in…
I know I promised you all that tomorrow, Tuesday the 27th would be the second day of the Joy of Science class - and I may still get the reading summaries posted by tomorrow. But there will be a bit of a delay in getting the discussion posts up. I've just been out of commission too much in the past week with migraines and with neck and shoulder pain from the migraines. I hope I will have everything up by Wednesday. Stay tuned!
I hope everyone is enjoying the course so far. I'm having a good time, and I'm looking forward to some of the readings coming up. Speaking of which, all the readings for week 2 come from Building Inclusive Science: Connecting Women's Studies and Women in Science and Engineering special issue, Women's Studies Quarterly (28:1-2). You can find the full list of readings on the syllabus. Week 2 takes place two weeks after week 1, on Tuesday, February 28. I figure we all need a little break inbetween and I need to allow time for migraines and such. Plus time to actually do the readings and…
This is the third of three discussion posts for Week 1 of Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science. You can find all posts for this course by going to the http://scienceblogs.com/thusspakezuska/archives.php>archives and clicking on "Joy of Science" under in the Category section. This post deals with the readings by Hubbard, Spanier, and Keller, as well as the NSF report "Beyond Bias and Barriers". Ruth Hubbard, Bonnie Spanier, and Evelyn Fox Keller each made the transition from practicing scientist to feminist critic of science. Hubbard addresses an issue that bothered me greatly when I…
This is the second of three discussion posts for Week 1 of Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science. You can find all posts for this course by going to the archives and clicking on "Joy of Science" under in the Category section. This post deals with the readings by Silverman and by Wenneras & Wold, as well as the NSF report "Beyond Bias and Barriers". These readings deal with two major issues that dog women throughout their careers in science and engineering: the wage gap and gender bias in peer review. Lest you think the data in the Silverman piece are out of date, consider the…
This is the first of three discussion posts for Week 1 of Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science. You can find all posts for this course by going to the archives and clicking on "Joy of Science" under in the Category section. This post deals with the readings by Eisenhart & Finkel and Brainard & Carlin. "Women (Still) Need Not Apply" by Eisenhart and Finkel and "A Six-Year Longitudinal Study of Undergraduate Women in Engineering and Science" by Brainard and Carlin seem to be in conflict with each other. Can "compensatory strategies" like women in engineering (WIE) programs make…
On the syllabus, I listed some questions for consideration when analyzing the readings for this week: Why might women want to become scientists or engineers? Would their possible motivations differ from, or be in addition to, things that might make men want to become scientists or engineers? I tried to keep these questions in mind as I wrote my discussion pieces for this week. If they inspire you for any of your comments, that's cool. The discussion piece will appear in several posts, as I find I am too wordy for one post. And in that regard, let me just say that the professor has got…
Welcome to the first day of our course on "Feminist Theory and the Joy of Science". This post will be a presentation of the summaries for each of this week's assigned readings. If you were not able to do the readings or couldn't get access to the books, I hope this post will give you a good flavor of what the week's readings were all about. You can reference the course syllabus for more details about the readings in the whole course and the course structure. Here's the initial post about the course. And here are some guidelines about how I'll post on readings and what we should strive…