Dinomania: Dinosaurs in Culture and Science

Catalog description

The cultural and scientific history of dinosaurs as simultaneously an object of scientific knowledge and of popular culture. Attention will be paid to early dinosaur discoveries and interpretations, the competitive exploration for dinosaurs in the US West and other exotic places, the origin and international spread of dinomania, dinosaurs as cultural icons, and the ways that dinosaurs have been represented in the media and in public museums. This course will include critical discussion of how natural science is done, how ideas about dinosaurs are culturally embedded, and how and why those ideas change over time.