My research focuses on the intersection between evolutionary biology and political behavior. Darwin's 1859 theory of natural selection was infused with political meaning for both naturalists and political activists in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The industrial revolution and ascendancy of the laissez faire capitalist state upended the social structures that had existed for centuries resulting in vast inequalities and a growing class of urban poor. For the marginalized and oppressed in England, Europe, and Russia the science of evolution undermined the authority of church and state, revealing a natural world that was in constant flux as organisms adapted to a changing environment. The "great chain of being" that dictated a natural hierarchy of order was now destroyed and the future human ecosystem was within each individual's ability to create. However, for those in positions of privilege, using biological theory as a basis to upend the existing social order was a dangerous development that had to be crushed. For them, evolution justified the status quo and promoted a competitive ethic of individual vs. individual and nation vs. nation with the most "fit" rising to the top of the hierarchy.
The evolution of cooperation became the intellectual battleground between these conflicting political forces that was best articulated by the Russian naturalist and anarchist Peter Kropotkin in his Darwinian theory of mutual aid. Following Kropotkin's journey from prince and celebrated naturalist to dangerous radical on the run across Europe, my project is a transnational history that details how popular social movements led to a political conflict over who would control Darwin's ideas. The nineteenth century emphasis on Darwinian competition, rather than cooperation, was the outcome of a political struggle and not, as has largely been assumed by critics of the theory, an inherent feature of natural selection. My study connects modern approaches in the history of science with the growing literature on the history of social movements and combines their methodologies to address key issues about the social fabric within which scientific ideas are generated.
International relations; changes in the nation-state system; the emergence and impact of major political ideologies; genocide; decolonization; the globalization of trade; and the dynamics of economic, social, cultural, and environmental change in a global context.
(Cross-listed with PHIL 364, 001) Darwin and the science of evolution in nineteenth and early twentieth century.
This course will critically examine the transnational history of evolutionary theory (including human evolution) from the publication of Darwin's On the Origin of Species until the present day.
Instructor: HIST 367, Section 201: Europe in the Age of Enlightenment, University of British Columbia, Jan. 5 - April 10, 2015
Instructor: HIST 368, Section 921: Europe in the Nineteenth Century, University of British Columbia, May 13 – June 20, 2013
Guest Lecturer: “Generation of Monsters: Apes and Empire in the Age of Enlightenment,” University of British Columbia, HIST 102: World History: 1500-The Present – Dec. 1, 2011
Teaching Assistant: HIST 303: The Canadian West, University of British Columbia, Aug. 2010 - May 2011
Guest Lecturer: "Conservation and Indigenous Peoples in the US and Canada," University of British Columbia, HIST 303: The Canadian West - March 8, 2011.
Guest Lecturer: "US Cold War Nuclear Policy," University of British Columbia, HIST 402: Problems in International Relations - Oct. 26-28, 2010.
Guest Lecturer: "United States Indian Policy: 1776-1876," University of British Columbia, HIST 303: The Canadian West - Oct. 26-28, 2010.
Teaching Assistant: HIST 102: World History from 1500 to Twentieth Century, University of British Columbia, Aug. 2009 - May 2010.
Teaching Assistant: BAA 144L: Primate Field Biology, Duke University, Feb. - May 2008.
Teaching Assistant: BAA 171: Primate Sexuality, Duke University, Aug. - Dec 2007.
Guest Lecturer: "Philosophy and Human Evolution," Washington State University, ANTH 468: Sex, Evolution & Human Nature - Feb. 13, 2007.
Teaching Assistant: ANTH 468: Sex, Evolution & Human Nature, Washington State University, Aug. - May. 2006-7.