Dr. Jonathan Wald
Anthropologist of climate, science, and other horrors (he/him).
Lecturer at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Department of Science and Technology Studies.
Postdoctoral Research with the Ethnography Lab,
Concordia University.
About Me
I'm Jonathan Wald. I hold a Ph.D. Anthropology from McGill University. From 2017 to 2018, I worked with a team of climate scientists advising the government of the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. I’m interested in how traditional notions of science, politics, and ethics are undermined by the climate crisis, especially for those working within bureaucratic institutions in the midst of rising authoritarianism. To highlight the moments of unthinkablility and creativity which emerged, I turn to horror writers and films which provide a range of techniques for presenting weirdness, surrealness, and experiences of limitation.
What I’m good at:
Teaching: I am interested in how to invite new audiences into conversations with science studies and anthropology and how our work addresses the concerns of potential students.
Theory: My undergraduate degree was in philosophy, but as I’ve moved into anthropology, I’ve become increasingly critical of abstraction. This background is something I grapple with in my research and has allowed me to help colleagues by clarifying complex theory without jargon or “dumbing down.”
Educational History
2022
Ph.D., McGill University
My dissertation, titled "Eco-Horror: Facing Climate Change in Minas Gerais, Brazil" builds on participatory observation with state climate scientists in Minas Gerais to examine how the climate crisis and raising authoritarianism overwhelm traditional modes of science and politics. It was supervised by Eduardo Kohn, Sandra Hyde, and Kregg Hetherington.
2015
M.A., University of California, Berkeley
Sociocultural Anthropology. My thesis, supervised by Paul Rabinow, Lawrence Cohen, and Bill Hanks, examined the history and potential of an empirically-grounded study of a priori ethics.
2013
B.A., McGill University
Joint honours in Philosophy and Anthropology. My honours thesis, supervised by Hasana Sharp and Tobias Rees, examined the concept of "critique" in the works of Michel Foucault, Jürgen Habermas, and used case studies from the histories of the International Committee of the Red Cross and Médecins Sans Frontières.
Teaching
Fall 2023
STSO 4560: Gender, Science, and Technology
An upper-level seminar working through Feminist STS and philosophy. Students then use these perspectives to conduct their own collaborative STS research.
Fall and Winter 2023
STSO/INQR 1100: Science, Technology, and Society
An introductory course in Science and Technology Studies designed for STEM students. Using classic and contemporary texts in STS, it focuses on developing communication skills for younger students.
Fall and Winter 2023
STSO 2300: Environment and Society
A mid-level environmental STS course that serves as a core class for RPI's sustainability program. It draws from STS, environmental anthropology, and Indigenous studies to expand student conceptualizations of "the environment."
Winter 2023
INTD 497: Governing Complex Ecosystems
An upper level, interdisciplinary investigation of the concept of "ecosystems" and other ways of framing complex ecological networks with a special emphasis on the practical consequences of these framings.
Winter 2021 and 2023
ANTH355: Theories of Culture and Society
A mid-level course intended for anthropology students examining historical and contemporary social theory. In particular, my class is designed to teaching students how to use theory in addressing their own questions about the world.
Fall 2022
INTD497: Experts, Science, and the Politics of Development
This upper level, hands-on course explores the challenges facing experts from a range of sciences as they struggle to advise development projects around the world. This class encourages students to be self reflective on the value of education and knowledge in practice.
Summer 2020 and Fall 2022
ANTH202: Sociocultural Anthropology
An introductory course which provides an overview of the questions, history, methods, and theory of sociocultural anthropology. This class encourages student to think about current events through an anthropological lens.
Summer 2019, 2022, and 2023
ANTH227: Medical Anthropology
An introductory course intended for students in both the arts and sciences, this class encourages students to examine the medicine in multidisciplinary and multicultural ways.
Winter 2020 and 2022
ANTH343: Anthropology and the Animal
A mid-level course which explores multispecies ethnography as an entry point for posthumanist anthropology. Students are encouraged to expand the traditional scope of anthropology by using animals to rethink topics like gender, race, science, and horror.
Writing
Genocide and a Tapeworm: Flusser's Post-Catastrophic Fabulism
Flusser Studies
https://www.flusserstudies.net/current-issue
Eco-Horror: Facing Climate Change in Minas Gerais, Brazil
Dissertation submitted for Ph.D. in Anthropology, McGill University
Horror
Environmental Humanities, Living Lexicon
Indefinite Accounting: Inventorying Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Minas Gerais, Brazil
Fieldsights Hotspot Series, the blog of the Society for Cultural Anthropology
https://culanth.org/fieldsights/indefinite-accounting-inventorying-greenhouse-gas-emissions-in-minas-gerais-brazil#_ftnref1
A Philosophical Anthropology of Order Itself
Science as Culture
https://doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2021.2012649
Breaking the Cosmic Speed Limit?: A Case Study for Science and Technology Studies
Showing Theory to Know Theory: Understanding Social Science Concepts through Illustrative Vignettes
https://ecampusontario.pressbooks.pub/showingtheory/chapter/science-and-technology-studies/
Eco-Horror: Facing Climate Change in Minas Gerais, Brazil
Platypus: The CASTAC Blog
blog.castac.org/2020/02/eco-horror-facing-climate-change-in-minas-gerais-brazil/.
Review of Peter Sloterdijk’s Philosophical Temperaments: From Plato to Foucault
Foucault Studies
rauli.cbs.dk/index.php/foucault-studies/article/view/5250
A Haptic Anthropology of Science (Myers’s Rendering Life Molecular: Models, Modelers, and Excitable Matter)
Current Anthropology
www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/687564
Two Models of Culture, Two Models of Toleration
Pensées Canadiennes
penseescanadiennes.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/Pens%C3%A9es-Canadiennes-Volume-11-2013.pdf