#4 Charlotte Sleigh Talks About What Makes Us Human | WeAreSTS

Professor Charlotte Sleigh talks about the STS1Book for 2021, a book she has co-written with Professor Amanda Rees. It’s called "Humans". In our conversation, we talk about the book and some of its main ideas. We also talk about the book as one in a long series of projects Charlotte has undertaken in the general area of “animal studies,” a research topic in STS that has evolved in important ways in the past ten years. For example, Charlotte is an highly praised expert on the cultural history of ants, both in terms of scientific research and in terms of different cultures around the world. She’s also currently president of The British Society for the History of Science, one of the top global organisations supporting research, writing, and discussion in this area. One of the projects Charlotte mentioned was: Stone, Christopher D. “Should Trees Have Standing?–Towards Legal. Rights for Natural Objects.” Southern California Law Review 45. (1972): 450-501 This was later developed into a book: Stone, Christopher D. Should Trees Have Standing? Law, Morality, and the Environment. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010. Our interview was recorded in 2021 just after Charlotte arrived in STS as Lecturer (Teaching) in Social Studies of Science. This appointment is in addition to her role as an Honorary Professor. For more about Charlotte: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/people/charlotte-sleigh Also, check out the book’s co-author, Dr Amanda Rees: https://www.york.ac.uk/sociology/our-staff/academic/amanda-rees The book we discussed: Amanda Rees and Charlotte Sleigh. 2020. Humans (Reaktion Books). ISBN 978-1-78914-214-3. The STS1Book programme is an initiative by UCL Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) that asks all students and staff to read one book in common during the year. This serves as a foundation for interdisciplinary conversations and debate within our community. Each year we try to bring the authors into the department to work with our students to interpret the work and also simply to meet important practitioners in the subject. Find out more about the STS1Book programme: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/about-sts/sts1book-programme For more about the British Society for the History of Science: https://www.bshs.org.uk   Featuring Interviewee: Professor Charlotte Sleigh, STS Honorary Professor and Lecturer (Teaching) in Social Studies of Science. Twitter: @KentCHOTS https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/people/charlotte-sleigh Interviewer: Professor Joe Cain, UCL Professor in History and Philosophy of Biology. Twitter: @profjoecain https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/cain   Music credits “Rollin At 5,” by Kevin MacLeod This music is available free via the service FilmMusic.io https://filmmusic.io/song/5000-rollin-at-5 The license is available: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/   Production information Editing and post-production for this episode by Professor Joe Cain. “WeAreSTS” producer is Professor Joe Cain.   Podcast information “WeAreSTS” is a production of the Department of Science and Technology Studies (STS) at University College London (UCL). To find out more, and to leave feedback about the show, visit us online: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/podcast Talk about us on social media. Twitter: @stsucl #WeAreSTS STS students and staff can get involved with our podcast in quite a number of different ways: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/sts/wearests-five-ways-students-can-be-involved