S2 Ep 6 - Sarah Qidwai on 'Science and Colonialism'

Today's guest is Sarah Qidwai, a Postdoctoral Researcher in the history of science who focuses on British Imperialism, Science and Colonialism, the relation of Science and Islam, as well as the history of evolutionary biology. Sarah’s dissertation focussed on how the Muslim polymath, Sir Sayyid Ahmad Khan, engaged with science and science popularisation. 

In this week’s episode Sarah introduces us to the topic of Science and Colonialism – a crucial area of research for understanding many of the features of modern science, as well as reconfiguring our understanding of its history – expanding our vision and challenging many traditional Eurocentric notions of what it takes to really come to grips with understanding this thing we call science.

Transcript of the episode is now available here: https://www.hpsunimelb.org/post/sarah-qidwai-transcript-s2-e6

Resources related to the episode:

• Sarah's Website:  https://sarahqidwai.com/
• Sarah's Article: 'Re-examining Complexity: Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Interpretation of 'Science' in Islam' in Rethinking History, Science, and Religion (2019)
• Sarah's Article: 'Darwin or Design? Examining Sayyid Ahmad Khan's Views on Human Evolution' in The Cambridge Companion to Sayyid Ahmad Khan (2019)
• Marwa Elshakry's Book: Reading Darwin in Arabic, 1860-1950
• Sujit Sivasundaram's Article: On Global Histories of Science, Isis: Vol 101, No 1
• Further reading: The Routledge Handbook of Science and Empire

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast with current producers, Samara Greenwood and Carmelina Contarino. You can find more about us on our blog, website, bluesky, twitter, instagram and facebook feeds. Music by ComaStudio.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne.

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