When the universality of scientific knowledge was taken for granted, the international dimensions of scientific practice often followed as a corollary. Today, historians have transformed these assumptions into research questions. In what senses has past science been universal and international? How has it come to be so, or to appear so? We now see the international character of science as an accomplishment, requiring various kinds of work, and connecting rather than transcending the localities in which knowledge is produced – internationalism is itself necessarily local. This symposium examines how the internationality of science has been achieved, what forms it has taken, how it has been idealized, and what on-the-ground practices and technologies have sustained it.
Dear SIGCIS members
I'm writing -- inevitably, far too close to the deadline -- to gauge
whether there is interest in offering a symposium submission to the 25th
International Congress of History of Science and Technology in Rio de
Janeiro, Brazil, 23-29 July 2017, <http://www.ichst2017.sbhc.org.br/>.
This is the successor to the 24th Congress held in Manchester in 2013,
for which I co-chaired the Local Organising Committee and which was the
single largest conference in the field to date, with over 1750
participants. The 2013 programme was strong on computing and related
themes -- see
<http://www.ichstm2013.co.uk/programme/guide/m/discipline.html#a3> --
and included
a mathematical, algorithmic and machine-focused symposium, organised by
Maarten Bullynck, Liesbeth De Mol and Marie-José Durand-Richard; a
symposium on COMECON technology, put together by Helena Durnova and
Slawomir Lotysz for ICOHTEC (whose annual meeting occurred as a
satellite to the Congress, as will again happen in Rio); and a symposium
on computing applications in various contexts which I organised along
with Miguel Garcia-Sancho.
The Congress has a more global reach than most forums in the history of
science and technology, and tends to be inclusive in its programming
selection. There will be a separate call for stand-alone papers, but the
call for symposia closes relatively soon, on Saturday 30 April. A
"symposium" in Congress parlance is a 90-minute thematic session, or
group of linked sessions (the largest symposia run for four sessions a
day over several days!) consisting of papers and, optionally, commentaries.
The symposium call does not require individual paper titles/abstracts,
or a definite list of contributors, but does require an indicative
contributor list and a short general abstract. One inviolate rule is
that the organisation of the symposium must be a collaborative effort
between at least two contributors representing different countries.
If anyone is interested in contributing or collaborating, I'd be
grateful if you would let me know directly. (I'd also be interested to
hear news of any proposals for Rio which have already been settled,
whether for the Congress or ICOHTEC call.)
All best
James
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