History seminar series - Jacobs and Darwin and History, oh my!

Nipissing’s History Seminar Series this week features Serena Kataoka, who will discuss Post-Darwin Thinking: from Evolution to History, on Friday, November 23 at 2:30 p.m. in room A226.Kataoka teaches in Nipissing's Political Science department and is a doctoral candidate in Political Science at the University of Victoria.
According to Kataoka, the influential ideas of Jane Jacobs on urban planning attempt to follow Charles Darwin's theory of evolution, modifying Darwinian ideas of "mutation" and "natural selection" into a theory of "urban evolution." However, Kataoka observes that Jacobs' thinking is heavily determined by pre-Darwinian notions of "progress." This presentation draws on Kataoka's fieldwork in the Bridgeview neighborhood of Vancouver, and will gesture toward ideas of change that question Darwin's rational explanations of why one thing survives over another, focusing instead on the contingency of history.
The lecture is free of charge and all are welcome.