From Calgary, Alberta, Grace Elander knew she wanted to go to King’s since middle school, but once here her academic journey didn’t quite go as planned. Rather than pursuing classics, as she originally intended, a single essay changed her trajectory by showing how we can look to historical and philosophical accounts to understand today’s climate crisis. Now, she is graduating with a Bachelor of Arts with combined honours in the History of Science & Technology and Environment, Sustainability and Society.
What inspired you to pursue the History of Science and Technology program?
When I first came to King’s, I thought I would do the Foundation Year Program (FYP) and then go into classics. However, classics never felt quite right. On one of the last days of FYP, Dr. Stephen Boos gave a lecture on William Cronon’s essay “The Trouble with Wilderness; or, Getting Back to the Wrong Nature.” This paper changed my life, and I immediately went to the King’s advisory office and asked how I could keep doing that forever. They pointed me toward HOST, and I’ve been in love with the program ever since. Cronon’s paper showed me how we can look to historical and philosophical accounts to understand our current climate reality, a subject I continued to pursue throughout the last four years, including in my honours thesis.
What’s one thing from your time at King’s that you’re especially proud of?
My honours thesis. I researched and wrote on Francis Bacon’s Novum organum, and how his work in natural philosophy can be applied to the modern environmental crisis. Primarily, I sought to answer whether control over nature necessitates violence towards nature. I got to engage with ecofeminist narratives, religious and technological inspirations in the early modern period, and modern earth systems science to begin to develop an ethical framework for what I call the ‘Age of Control,’ where our ability to engineer the planet can lead to human and natural flourishing. This work was a direct continuation of what initially drew me to HOST, and I can’t wait to keep working on it in grad school and beyond!
Thinking back to who you were when you received your acceptance letter, what would you tell her?
I knew I wanted to go to King’s since middle school and never had any doubt that I would get in and love it, but of course, it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows. To younger Grace: Pick your friends well. Follow your heart. Talk to professors and peers and learn from everyone you meet. Be kind, intelligent and brave. You will find your calling and those who will stand by your side all the while.
Pick your friends well. Follow your heart. Talk to professors and peers and learn from everyone you meet.
Where do you hope your degree takes you next?
Following a much-needed gap year, I hope to continue pursuing the history and philosophy of science in grad school and beyond. I would love to be a professor one day (perhaps at King’s?) and teach students like me, with a love for the natural world and academia. I also want to continue to research and work on topics related to my Honours thesis, and maybe even write a book one day…
