Shenna87P79423 at 06:45, 25 December 2025

2025-12-25T06:45:57Z

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{{short description|Professor}}
{{Infobox scientist
| name = Banumathi Subramaniam<ref name="Rausher">{{cite web|title=Rausher Lab|url=https://people.duke.edu/~mrausher/formstud.htm|website=Duke University|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref><ref name="Stanford">{{Cite book | chapter-url=https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/feminist-science/ | title=The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy| chapter=Feminist Perspectives on Science| publisher=Metaphysics Research Lab, Stanford University| year=2018}}</ref>
| image =
| birth_date =
| birth_place = India
| death_date =
| death_place =
| nationality =
| field = Plant biology, feminist science studies<ref name="Stanford"/>
| work_institutions = [[University of Massachusetts, Amherst]]
| alma_mater = [[University of Madras]], [[Duke University]]
| doctoral_advisor = [[Mark D. Rausher]]
| awards = [[Michelle Kendrick Prize]] (2020), [[Ludwik Fleck Prize]] (2016), [[Outstanding Academic Title]] (2015)
}}

{{external media | width = 210px | float = right | headerimage= | video1 = [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kd4PnKBdf1U “Life (Un) Ltd: Banu Subramaniam”], [[UCLA Center for the Study of Women]] }}

'''Banu Subramaniam''' is a professor of women, gender and sexuality studies at the [[University of Massachusetts, Amherst]].<ref name=":22">{{Cite web|title=Banu Subramaniam|url=https://www.umass.edu/wgss/member/banu-subramaniam|website=www.umass.edu|access-date=2020-05-04}}</ref> Originally trained as a plant evolutionary biologist, she writes about social and cultural aspects of science as they relate to experimental biology.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web|title=4S Prizes {{!}} Society for Social Studies of Science|url=https://www.4sonline.org/prizes/fleck2016|website=www.4sonline.org|access-date=2020-05-04}}</ref> She advocates for activist science that creates knowledge about the natural world while being aware of its embeddedness in society and culture.<ref name="UCLA2">{{cite web|title=Banu Subramaniam|url=https://uclacsw.blogspot.com/2014/10/banu-subramaniam.html|date=October 16, 2014|website=UCLA Center for the Study of Women}}</ref> She co-edited ''Making Threats: Biofears and Environmental Anxieties'' (2005) and ''Feminist Science Studies: A New Generation'' (2001).<ref name=":4">{{Cite book|last1=Hartmann|first1=Betsy|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7RxvAAAAQBAJ|title=Making Threats: Biofears and Environmental Anxieties|last2=Subramaniam|first2=Banu|last3=Zerner|first3=Charles|date=2005-11-01|publisher=Rowman & Littlefield Publishers|isbn=978-1-4616-6574-8|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":5">{{Cite book|last1=Mayberry|first1=Maralee|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BhBjLRHkCBkC|title=Feminist Science Studies: A New Generation|last2=Subramaniam|first2=Banu|last3=Weasel|first3=Lisa H.|date=2001|publisher=Psychology Press|isbn=978-0-415-92696-6|language=en}}</ref> Her book ''Ghost Stories for Darwin: The Science of Variation and the Politics of Diversity'' (2014) was chosen as a [[Choice Reviews|''Choice'' Outstanding Academic Title]] in 2015 and won the [[Society for Social Studies of Science]] [[Ludwik Fleck Prize]] for [[science and technology studies]] in 2016.<ref>{{Cite web|title=4S Prizes {{!}} Society for Social Studies of Science|url=https://www.4sonline.org/prizes/fleck2016|website=www.4sonline.org|access-date=2020-05-26}}</ref><ref name=":12">{{Cite web|title=Ghost Stories for Darwin awarded Fleck Prize|url=https://www.press.uillinois.edu/wordpress/ghost-stories-for-darwin-awarded-fleck-prize/|website=Illinois Press Blog|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-05}}</ref> Her most recent book, ''Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism'' (2019),<ref>{{Cite book|last=Subramaniam|first=Banu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kLyLvQEACAAJ|title=Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism|date=2019|publisher=University of Washington Press|isbn=978-0-295-74558-9|language=en}}</ref> won the Michelle Kendrick Prize for the best book from the [[Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts]] in 2020.<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |last= |title=Award Winners {{!}} Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts |url=https://litsciarts.org/award-winners/ |access-date=2022-04-22 |language=en-US}}</ref>

==Early life and education==
Subramaniam grew up in India<ref name="Hammonds2">{{cite journal|last1=Hammonds|first1=Evelynn|last2=Subramaniam|first2=Banu|date=2003|title=A Conversation on Feminist Science Studies|journal=Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society|volume=28|issue=3|pages=923–944|doi=10.1086/345455|s2cid=146221022}}</ref> and received a baccalaureate degree from Stella Maris College at the [[University of Madras]].<ref name="Appoint20015">{{cite news|date=December 13, 2001|title=Four New Faculty Join UMass Amherst College of Humanities and Fine Arts|work=News|agency=UMass Amherst|url=https://www.umass.edu/newsoffice/article/four-new-faculty-join-umass-amherst-college-humanities-and-fine-arts|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref> She then attended [[Duke University]], where she studied evolutionary plant biology, receiving a Ph.D. in evolutionary genetics.<ref name="Hammonds2"/> Her Ph.D. thesis was ''Maintenance of the Flower Color [[Polymorphism (biology)|Polymorphism]] at the W Locus in the Common [[morning glories|Morning Glory]], Ipomoea purpurea'' (1994).<ref name="Subramaniam2">{{cite book|last1=Subramaniam|first1=Banu|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=KG1zAwAAQBAJ&pg=PA266|title=Ghost stories for darwin : the science of variation and the politics of diversity.|date=2014|publisher=Univ Of Illinois Press|isbn=978-0252080241|page=266|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|title=temp\formstud|url=https://people.duke.edu/~mrausher/formstud.htm|website=people.duke.edu|access-date=2020-05-26}}</ref> While completing her Ph.D., she also earned a graduate certificate in [[women's studies]].<ref name="Appoint20015"/>

==Career==
Subramaniam has held academic appointments at [[Harvard University]], [[Northeastern University]], the [[University of Arizona]], the [[University of California, Irvine]], and the [[University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill]], where she directed the Women in Science program.<ref name="Appoint20015"/> In 1995, she was awarded a [[National Science Foundation]] grant for a faculty-student action project for graduate women in science and mathematics.<ref>{{Cite web|title=NSF Award Search: Award#9553439 - MPWG: Breaking the Silences: A Faculty-Student Action Project for Graduate Women in Science and Mathematics|url=https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=9553439&HistoricalAwards=false|website=www.nsf.gov|access-date=2020-05-26}}</ref> In 2000, she received a [[National Science Foundation]] grant to study soil communities and their effects on [[invasive plant species]].<ref name="NSF2000">{{cite web|title=POWRE: Impact of Soil Communities on Invasive Plant Species in Southern California|url=https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0075072|website=National Science Foundation|access-date=15 February 2017}}</ref> In 2001, she joined the department of women's studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst as an assistant professor.<ref name="Appoint20015" /> While at the University of Massachusetts, she was named a Distinguished Faculty Lecturer and awarded the Chancellor's Medal, which is the highest faculty honor for service to the university.<ref name=":22"/>

She has co-edited the books ''Making Threats: Biofears and Environmental Anxieties'' (2005) and ''Feminist Science Studies: A New Generation'' (2001).<ref name=":4" /><ref name=":5" /> Her book ''Ghost Stories for Darwin: The Science of Variation and the Politics of Diversity'' (2014) is a "radically interdisciplinary feminist treatment" that examines the experimental practices of science through the histories of [[eugenics]] and [[genetics]], and the ways in which historical ideas have informed our thinking about [[Difference (philosophy)|difference]].<ref name="Illinois2">{{cite web |title=Ghost Stories for Darwin The Science of Variation and the Politics of Diversity |url=http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/24mxq3dr9780252038655.html |access-date=14 February 2017 |website=University of Illinois Press}}</ref> ''Ghost Stories for Darwin'' explores the ghosts of racism and sexism that work to place limitations on who can be a knower, how one can come to know, and what can be known.<ref name=":04">{{Cite web |title=4S Prizes {{!}} Society for Social Studies of Science |url=https://www.4sonline.org/prizes/fleck2016 |access-date=2020-05-04 |website=www.4sonline.org}}</ref> She writes at the intersection of the social and the scientific to question how we understand variation and diversity, and her work encourages disruption of binary disciplinary thinking.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Shattuck-Heidorn |first=Heather |date=2016 |title=Ghost Stories for Darwin: The Science of Variation and the Politics of Diversity |journal=Journal of the History of Sexuality |volume=25 |issue=1 |pages=209–211}}</ref> Her most recent book is ''Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism'' (2019), which explores the interactions of [[religious nationalism]] and science in India.<ref name=":42">{{Cite web|title=Banu Subramaniam's New Book Published|url=https://wgs.fas.harvard.edu/news/banu-subramaniams-new-book-published|website=wgs.fas.harvard.edu|language=en|access-date=2020-05-11}}</ref> ''Holy Science'' includes case studies that consider the interconnections of science and religion, how they are shaped by their social contexts and structures of power, and how their aims can converge.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism|url=https://publicseminar.org/essays/holy-science/|last=Subramaniam|first=Banu|website=Public Seminar|language=en-US|access-date=2020-05-17}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal|last=Perur|first=Srinath|date=2019-07-24|title=Science and the rise of nationalism in India|url=https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-02243-x|journal=Nature|language=en|volume=571|issue=7766|pages=476–477|doi=10.1038/d41586-019-02243-x|doi-access=free}}</ref> Her current work in feminist science studies is focused on decolonizing botany by looking at post-colonial studies and biology.<ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Subramaniam|first1=Banu|last2=Rivers|first2=Daniel Lanza|date=2019|title=Feminist Science Studies and the University: A Conversation with Banu Subramaniam and Daniel Lanza Rivers|url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00497878.2019.1603986?journalCode=gwst20|journal=Women's Studies|volume=48|issue=3|pages=246–260|doi=10.1080/00497878.2019.1603986|s2cid=202250516|url-access=subscription}}</ref>

==Awards==
Subramaniam received the 2016 [[Society for Social Studies of Science]] [[Ludwik Fleck Prize]] for [[science and technology studies]] for ''Ghost Stories for Darwin: The Science of Variation and the Politics of Diversity'' (2014).<ref name=":0" /> ''Ghost Stories for Darwin'' was also selected by ''[[Choice: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries|Choice]]'' as an [[Outstanding Academic Title]] in 2015.<ref name=":12"/> ''Holy Science: The Biopolitics of Hindu Nationalism'' (2019) was awarded the Michelle Kendrick Prize for the best book from the [[Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts]] in 2020.<ref name=":3" />

==References==
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[[Category:1966 births]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Historians of science]]
[[Category:Women science writers]]

Banu Subramaniam - Revision history

Shenna87P79423 at 06:45, 25 December 2025