This conference aims to facilitate discussion of aspects of Linnaeus’s work and its legacy in relation to two main themes and the possible relations between them: (i) the meaning and impact of Linnaeus’s work on the human ‘races’; (ii) the place and function of the concept of sex in Linnaeus’s work.

The objective is to understand these aspects of Linnaeus’s work in their appropriate scientific and historical contexts, and to understand and assess their influence in the social and cultural context of contemporary debates on the history of the idea of  ‘race’ and decolonial approaches to natural history and sex & gender in science (including the plant sciences). Organised by Stella Sandford, CRMEP.

Speakers include:
Malin Ah-King (Stockholm University, Evolutionary Biology and Gender Studies)
Patricia Fara (Cambridge University, History and Philosophy of Science)
Miranda Lowe (Principal Curator (Crustacea) and Museum Scientist, Natural History Museum)
Stella Sandford (CRMEP, Kingston University)
Josias Tembo (Radboud University, NL/University of Pretoria, SA, Philosophy)