Neuroscience is hot — not only for scientists, but also for scholars in the humanities and social sciences. Jenell Johnson looks into emerging “neurodisciplines” such as neurohistory, neuroethics, and neuroeconomics, to determine where this trend is headed, what it might produce, and whether it represents a new frontier in transdisciplinary inquiry.
Oh, and she also writes about zombies.
Jenell originally hails from Minnesota. She received her Ph.D. from Penn State University’s English department.
Welcome Janelle! Tell us about your work and research interests.
I work in the rhetoric of science and medicine, and also work in the semi-new field of disability studies. Most of my recent research concerns how non-experts interact with psychiatry and neuroscience: as patients, as members of the public, as academics from non-scientific fields. And yes, I've written about zombies.
Why are you excited about being at UW-Madison?
I'm really excited to visit the Center for Investigating Healthy Minds in the Waisman Center.
What courses do you teach?
Rhetoric of Health; Rhetoric of Technology; Classical Rhetoric; and Limits of the Human: The Rhetoric and Politics of Human Definition.
What can students expect from you in the classroom?
An engaged professor committed to your learning; an engaging atmosphere that makes learning enjoyable. I try to really connect the material I teach with student’s lives and interests.
If you could give your students one piece of advice, what would it be?
Get to know your professors and TAs – although we’re happy to answer questions, we also love it when you come to office hours just to talk about the course material. It’s the best way to make a big campus feel smaller.
What’s the most-thumbed book on your shelf?
Michel Foucault’s Discipline and Punish. I promise that says nothing about my teaching style, though.