The Race and Queer-Feminist Theory in Physics reading group was founded to create a space to discuss the relationship between different kinds of critical theories with the philosophy of physics. We want to understand how physics has been and continues to be shaped by the histories and sociologies of those who have constructed it, and notably those who have been prevented from participating in that construction. For more details and for an archive of our readings, visit https://sites.google.com/uci.edu/rqft/home.
Spring 2024: RQFT meets on Mondays from 12-1 pm in Frederick Reines Hall, Room 2153. On odd weeks we are discussing the week’s reading; even weeks are informal coffee hours. Email unity@uci.edu to be added to the email list to receive readings and meeting reminders.
Readings:
April 29, 2024: Science as Social Knowledge by Helen Longino, Chapter 5: “Values and Science”.
April 15, 2024: Science as Social Knowledge by Helen Longino, Chapter 1: “Good Science, Bad Science”.
Feb. 21 & March 4, 2024: “How well-intentioned white male physicists maintain ignorance of inequity and justify inaction”, Melissia Dancy and Apriel K. Hodari.
Feb. 5, 2024: “Finding the Invisible Workers in Astronomy: The Case of Mount Wilson Observatory, 1900-1930”, Eun-Joo Ahn, Historical Studies in the Natural Sciences, 2022.
Nov. 14 & Nov. 28, 2023: “(Baby) Steps Toward Feminist Physics”, Barbara L. Whitten. Journal of Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering, 2012.
Oct. 24, 2023: “Science, Time, and Mauna a Wākea: The Thirty-Meter Telescope’s Capitalist-Colonialist Violence, Parts I and II”, David Maile. The Red Nation, 2015.
Summer 2023 – Oct. 11, 2023: The Disordered Cosmos, Chanda Prescod Weinstein.