English Dept Faculty Candidate Talk

Emily West (PhD, McMaster University) will speak on writings by and about the Restoration scientist Robert Hooke to analyze how modern forms of technology and gender were mutually defined across the long eighteenth century. Hooke was known for his design and use of scientific instruments: in particular, the microscope, which he popularized with his bestselling collection of microscopical observations, Micrographia (1665). Dr. West will show how Hooke’s theorization of these instruments in Micrographia articulates a new form of masculine ability premised on the interdependence of body and technology, a form for which his own body acted as a kind of public experiment. Dr. West will then trace how the “Mechanick Genius” Hooke embodied proved a resilient model for English masculinities in the context of intensifying global exploration and colonial exploitation.

Ticket Information
Free & open to the public

Event Sponsor
English, Mānoa Campus

More Information
S. Shankar, (808) 956-3087, engchair@hawaii.edu, Dr. West on English masculinities in long 18th C (PDF)

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