Today on The HPS Podcast, Thomas Spiteri speaks with Dr. Surekha Davies, historian of science, art and ideas, and author of the new book Humans: A Monstrous History (University of California Press). Surekha’s research explores how ideas about humanity have been shaped by encounters with what did not seem to fit. She draws on visual, material and textual sources to show how people have imagined and defined the human across time.

In this episode, Surekha:

Traces her path into HPS, from Star Trek dreams to Renaissance studies
Explains why visual and material sources are crucial to understanding early modern science
Introduces her book Humans: A Monstrous History
Tell us about how monstrosity functioned as an epistemic tool for organising knowledge and drawing conceptual boundaries
Examines how these ideas influenced concepts of gender, race and empire

If you’ve ever wondered how the strange and unfamiliar shaped science, culture, and our understanding of humanity, this episode is for you.

Relevant Links:
Surekha Davies Website
Humans: A Monstrous History ((University of California Press, 2025)
Renaissance Ethnography and the Invention of the Human: New Worlds, Maps and Monsters (Cambridge University Press, 2016).

Thanks for listening to The HPS Podcast. You can find more about us on our website, Bluesky, Instagram and Facebook feeds.

This podcast would not be possible without the support of School of Historical and Philosophical Studies at the University of Melbourne and the Hansen Little Public Humanities Grant scheme.

Music by ComaStudio.
Website HPS Podcast | hpsunimelb.org

S5 E2 - Surekha Davies on Humans: A Monstrous History