All posts by Bruce J Hunt

13 February 2026 — 12:00 noon — GAR 4.100

Meg Perret (Texas A&M) 

“Migration Is Natural: Conservation Biologists and the U.S.-Mexico Border Wall”
This paper examines the entangled histories of conservation biology and border militarization in the U.S.-Mexico borderlands. In particular, I consider how the construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall during the Trump presidency shaped biodiversity conservation in the region. Using archival research and oral history interviews, I analyze the production and circulation of scientific research about the environmental effects of the construction of border barriers through national parks and the consequences for the endangered species that live there. While scholars in environmental studies have examined the co-construction of border militarization and environmental policy and advocacy in the borderlands, they have not closely attended to how U.S. immigration policy has influenced the production of scientific knowledge in conservation biology. Drawing upon frameworks from science and technology studies and environmental humanities, this research investigates how scientific knowledge production shaped and was shaped by political controversies and social movements surrounding the environmental consequences of border militarization. I consider how U.S. immigration policy has reconfigured relationships among conservation biologists, environmentalists, migrant justice advocates, and other borderlands communities.
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Dr. Meg Perret is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Global Languages and Cultures at TExas A&M University and an affiliate with the Women’s and Gender Studies Program. She completed her Ph.D. in History of Science with a secondary emphasis in Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies from Harvard University. Her research examines how narratives about nature shape our collective futures.

16 January 2026 — 12:00 noon — GAR 4.100

Odile Lehnen (Durham University)

“A Seat at the Table: Collaborative Observation in the Herschel Household”
A familiar depiction of the Herschel siblings’ astronomical work presents William Herschel at the telescope in the garden and Caroline Herschel seated at a desk, pen in hand, recording observations. In 1783, working in this manner, the Herschels embarked on a systematic campaign to observe the sky region by region and catalogue nebulae and star clusters. By the time they completed this endeavour in 1802, they had catalogued 2500 celestial objects. Caroline’s role in this collaboration is still largely perceived as that of a passive scribe. This talk challenges this prevailing perception through a close analysis of the siblings’ observing process. This involves examining their observing space and coordinated actions within it. I will pay particular attention to the objects on Caroline’s desk, many of which were made out of paper and functioned not merely as records but as practical observing instruments facilitating both the inscription and retrieval of information. Some examples include her observing journals, a heavily annotated star atlas, and various printed and manuscript star catalogues. Studying these sources as material objects reveals Caroline’s skill and agency in crafting paper machines tailored to the siblings’ specific observing practice.
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Odile Lehnen is a PhD student at Durham University in the UK, holding an AHRC collaborative doctoral award partnered with the Library of the Royal Society of London. In her work she offers a new perspective on Caroline Herschel’s scientific achievements by focusing on Herschel’s use of paper machines for the accumulation and production of astronomical knowledge. This emphasis underscores Caroline Herschel’s agency as a collaborator of her brother, William Herschel, and as an observer in her own right. Odile received an MPhil in History and Philosophy of Science and Medicine from the University of Cambridge and a BSc in Science and Society from University College London.