Past Events
Workshop:
The Politics of Care in Technoscience
April 18-21, 2012
The aim of this workshop is to examine the complexities, affinities, and politics of care in technoscience research. Feminist technoscience scholars have always been unabashedly vocal about what it is they care about in technoscientific cultures. And yet, care has historically been stigmatized as feminized labour. Recuperating care and its associated affects, we aim to turn care into an effective means for political engagement. Invited workshop participants include both established and emerging scholars in feminist technoscience studies. The questions we place at the centre of this workshop are “what do we care about?” and “how can we actualize a feminist politics of care?” Through this inquiry we hope to imagine futures for feminist scholarship that can foreground our entanglements in technoscience.
Organizers:
Aryn Martin, Associate Professor, Sociology/STS, York University
Natasha Myers, Assistant Professor, Anthropology/STS, York University
Ana Viseu, Assistant Professor, Communications & Culture/STS, York University
For more information about this workshop, click here.
Public Lectures:
Science and Society in Victorian India
Prof. Deepak Kumar
Tuesday April 3rd, 12:30-2:00 pm
203 Bethune College
The Victorian era is one of the most fascinating periods in India’s history; it witnessed a cultural encounter of a kind never seen before. New scienti c ideas and new tools met age-old but time-tested traditions and practices. What was the nature of this encounter? What sparks did it ignite? What was the impact? These are some of the questions this talk would try to address. This period saw the emergence of several Indian interlocutors who pondered over this give and take and even attempted a synthesis. Could they succeed? Nevertheless this period did see the growth of a ‘culture’ of science and the seeds of modern India are to be seen here.
Deepak Kumar teaches history of science and education at the Jawaharlal Nehru University. For more than three decades he has worked and published on the science, society and government links in the context of colonial India. He is known for his book Science and the Raj (2nd Ed., OUP, Delhi, 2007) which has been translated in several Indian languages. This semester he is teaching at the York University Department of History, as ICCR Visiting Professor.
For a flyer with the details of this event, click here.
“Surely You Are Cooking, Mr. Feynman!”
Science in the Kitchen and its Metaphors
Massimiano Bucchi
Tuesday March 6th, 12:30 – 2:00 pm
320 Bethune College (The Delaney Gallery)
The leading science show of Italian television, Superquark, has been running for some years now a short section on “Science in the Kitchen”. In this section, as the title says, the viewer is invited to learn about the chemical and physical secrets taking place in a kitchen. The ideology of ‘science in public’ lying behind this section is interesting for a number of reasons.
It does not offer, as much ‘public science’ tries to do, ‘the wonderful’, ‘the miraculous’ or in general, something quite beyond the everyday experience, leaving the TV spectators with their mouth wide open. Rather, it inserts science into one of the fields that to the people’s experience most clearly embed everyday life: the kitchen. Thus, science colonizes an area that is generally recognized as the privileged territory of common sense. It shows how ‘easy’ science is, how relevant it is even to the simplest and most trivial routines, how fun it can be. Scientific knowledge is not presented in antithesis to common sense, it does not seek to subvert it as it has become typical of public presentations of science especially since the huge public impact of this century’s revolution in physics. Science is here placed alongside common sense, ready to take it by the hand and ‘upgrade’ it by enlightening the theoretical significance of unconsciously adopted practices.
Apparently only a curious and funny aspect, the metaphor of cookery as science is revealing of a significant, although often neglected, ideology of the relationship between science and common sense. Furthermore, when read in parallel with the complementary metaphor of science as cookery, extensively used in scientific debates to criticize the opponents’ theories and results, the metaphor adds another important angle to our understanding of the strong connections existing between public communication of science and core scientific practice.
Massimiano Bucchi is Professor of Science and Technology in Society at the University of Trento, Italy. His publications include Science in society (London and New York, Routledge, 2004), Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology (with B. Trench, London and New York, Routledge, 2008), Beyond Technocracy. Citizens, Politics, Technoscience (New York, Springer, 2009) and essays in journals such as History and Philosophy of the Life Sciences, Nature, New Genetics and Society, and Science. He has served as advisor and evaluator for several research and policy bodies, including the US National Science Foundation, the Royal Society, and the European Commission. He is a member of the editorial board of the journal Public Understanding of Science and chairs the international committee organizing the XIIth World Conference on Public Communication of Science in Technology in Florence (2012).
For a flyer with the details of this event, click here.
“There are no organisms, just complex multi-species individuals. So what are the bearers of adaptation?”
Prof. Frédéric Bouchard
Département de philosophie
Université de Montréal
Tuesday February 14th, 12:30-2:00
203 Bethune College
Organisms have always played a privileged role in our understanding of biological phenomena. Explicitly or not, biologists and philosophers have assumed that what made organisms special contra other types of organization (e.g. genes, genomes, groups, species, etc) was their relatively high structural/material homogeneity (they are made of the same type of material and have a shared origin) and functional integrity (the organism is a functional whole acting as one system). Developments in microbiology and in symbiosis research weaken the appeal of these intuitions. Most organisms are in fact composites of multiple species and the apparent superiority of organisms over other types of organisation needs re-appraisal. In this presentation, I will examine how various philosophy of biology accounts of biological individuality (J. Wilson, R. Wilson, D.S. Wilson and Sober, J. Dupré) fare against these developments. I will argue that the primacy of organisms needs to be replaced by the primacy of complex multi-species individuals and analyse the consequence of this for how we understand biological adaptations.
After completing a BA and MA in philosophy at the Université de Montréal, Frédéric Bouchard completed a PhD in philosophy at Duke University (Ph.D. 2004). He went on to pursue a post-doc followship at the IHPST, University of Toronto. Frédéric Bouchard has been a professor at the Philosophy department, Université de Montréal, since 2005, as well as researcher at the Centre interuniversitaire de recherche sur la science et la technologie (CIRST). As a philosopher of science and a philosopher of biology, his research interests focus on the theoretical foundations of evolutionary biology and ecology.
For a flyer with details of this event, click here.
“The Jewish Leonardo? A Sixteenth-Century Jewish Inventor and the Quest for the Secrets of Nature”
Daniel Jütte, Harvard Society of Fellows
Noon, Thursday October 27 – 203 Bethune College
This talk explores the story of Abramo Colorni, a late Renaissance Italian-Jewish inventor, alchemist and “professor of secrets.” Praised in his time as one of the most famous Italians alive, Colorni was admired by both Christian and Jewish contemporaries. The talk will discuss how Colorni gained such fame and why he was coveted by major courts all over Europe. Through the lens of Colorni’s life it is possible to gain a new understanding of the role that Jews played in the early marketplace of secrets and science.
Dr. Daniel Jütte is Junior Fellow at the Harvard Society of Fellows. He studied history and musicology and received his Ph.D. from the University of Heidelberg. His main area of interest is early modern and modern European history. In particular, his work has focused on the history of science, Jewish history, and music history.
For the event poster, click here.
Workshops:
Contextualizing Aboriginal Health Information Communication Technologies
An Inter-Disciplinary National Workshop to Explore the Intersections of ICTs, Aboriginal Health and Identity
October 14-15, 2011
Strong in their own right, Aboriginal health and wellness issues, concerns and approaches remain marginalized within national, regional, and local health care systems and practices. Further, these concerns are being addressed in a piecemeal fashion as Communications Technologies emerge at the forefront of the management and control of Aboriginal health and, arguably, identity. This Workshop is a space to address and engage critically in a discussion of these and other emerging issues, priorities and critical research questions in Information Communication Technologies (ICTs).
The Workshop takes as its starting point that, like the health system in general, ICTs are not neutral in their design, implementation or acceptance and are based on a particular—and contestable—vision of health. At this Workshop, we will focus on the social dimensions, impacts, challenges and choices, as well as policy and implementation gains and gaps as communications technologies become embedded in Aboriginal communities across Canada.
The goal of the Workshop is to bring together Aboriginal and inter-disciplinary academic perspectives to advance the practical and theoretical domains of health ICTs in Aboriginal Canada towards integrative research designs and towards improving the questions we ask as community members, activists, practitioners and researchers.
The Workshop will ultimately result in a co-authored document that will highlight the priority research questions developed through our discussions as well as a commitment to develop appropriate research initiatives and reporting modalities as determined by the participants of the Workshop. This document will serve as a key component towards the development of a national research initiative on these issues. The post-Workshop document will be posted online and distributed widely, with a post-Workshop invitation for feedback and dialogue. This workshop is also supported by the Situating Science Toronto Node, the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies, and the Associate VP, Research.
Conveners:
Naomi Adelson, Associate Professor (Medical Anthropology), York University
Cynthia Alexander, Associate Professor (Political Science), Acadia University
Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: New Perspectives on Victorian Science and Culture
May 6 – 7th, 2011
Ever since the 1970’s, when Robert Young and Frank Turner treated T. H. Huxley, John Tyndall, and their allies as posing an effective challenge to the authority of the Anglican clergy, scholars have found the term “scientific naturalism,” or “evolutionary naturalism,” to be a useful shorthand for referring to an influential group of like-minded elite intellectuals. But over the years, questions have been raised about the cohesiveness and the cultural status of scientific naturalism. Is the term elastic enough to include both the idealist and romantic Karl Pearson as well as the hard-nosed materialist Charles Bastian? Just how powerful were the scientific naturalists if they disagreed amongst themselves on key issues, and if, as many recent studies have suggested, they were confronted by a host of effective opponents in addition to Anglican clergymen, including North British physicists, Oxbridge trained gentlemen of science, self-trained popularizers of science, philosophical idealists, spiritualists, feminists, anti-vivisectionists, and socialists? Indeed, how far were the practices and writings of scientific naturalists actually shaped by their interchanges with such myriad opponents?
In this workshop we hope to explore new perspectives on the British scientific naturalists, re-examining their interactions with each other and with other groups within the larger culture. Speakers included Ruth Barton, Peter J. Bowler, Gowan Dawson, James Elwick, Jim Endersby, George Levine, Bernard Lightman, Ted Porter, Joan Richards, Michael Reidy, Jonathan Smith, Robert Smith, Matthew Stanley, Michael Taylor, and Paul White. The workshop is sponsored by York University, SSHRC, and by Situating Science.
Below are some pictures from the event:
Intersections: New Approaches to Science and Technology in 20th C. China and India
April 7 – 9th, 2011
The 3-day workshop “Intersections: New Approaches to Science and Technology in 20th C. China and India” took place at York University in Toronto, on April 7-9, 2011. This workshop is unusual in that it is not intended to discuss and critique existing empirical papers. Instead, it aims to “midwife” a series of collaborations exploring core problems in the history of modern science through the lens of China and India. It brings together twenty innovative China and India scholars who are interested in producing new, co-written papers at the intersection of their expertise, where they can make not only empirical but methodological contributions. “Intersections” will provide scholars with the rare chance to exchange ideas, share resources, and establish a structure for carrying out and coordinating their collaborations. At the end of the workshop, we will present concrete proposals for research to the York community, and begin planning to put these proposals in motion.
Below are some pictures from the workshop:
Public Lecture:
“Paradox: The Art of the Scientific Naturalists”
4:00-5:30 pm; May 6, 2011.
The Delaney Gallery (320 Bethune College)
Public Lecture by George Levine, Professor Emeritus of English at Rutgers University, distinguished scholar of Victorian science and author of such works as Darwin and the Novelists,Dying to Know, and Darwin Loves You.
Part of the “Revisiting Evolutionary Naturalism: New Perspectives on Victorian Science and Culture” workshop presented by the Institute for Science and Technology Studies. Also sponsored by: the Department of Humanities; The Office of the Vice President, Research and Innovation; the Office of the Dean, Liberal Arts & Professional Studies; and the SSHRC Situating Science initiative.
See the poster for this event here.
Public Lecture and Panel Discussion:
“Access Denied: Medicine, Trust, and Experimental Treatments”
March 14th, 2011, at 7:00pm in Northrop Frye Hall at the University of Toronto’s Victoria College.
The Institute for Science and Technology Studies presents an event of the Toronto Node of Situating Science, and the Canadian Centre for Ethics in Public Affairs, in the ongoing lecture series Science and its Publics: A Multi-part Series Examining the Roles of the Public in the Translation and Understanding of the Knowledge of Science. Access Denied asks: Do patients with advanced disease have a right to new and unproven medication? Patient advocates in HIV, cancer, and most recently, multiple sclerosis, have pressed for easing access to experimental therapies. Yet, such efforts come in direct conflict with policies that protect patients from fraudulent or unwarranted health claims. In this public forum, we will examine the intersections of science, patient self-determination, and patient protection.
The keynote speaker for this panel discussion is Dr. Jonathan Kimmelman, Associate Professor in the Biomedical Ethics Unit, McGill University; the other panelists include Dr. Kerry Bowman (University of Toronto), Dr. Samuel Ludwin (Queen’s University), and Dr. Anthony Lang (Toronto Western Research Institute).
Admission is free to this event, with a reception to follow. You can also watch this event live online, at the CCEPA website.
Panel Discussion:
“What is the Future of STS?”
William J. Turkel (University of Western Ontario), Michelle Murphy (University of Toronto), Sergio Sismondo (Queen’s University), Darrin Durant (York); Moderated by Natasha Myers (York)
January 11, 2011
320 Bethune College (The Delaney Gallery)
12:30-2:00 PM
Public Lecture:
“Symbiogenesis in Gaia: Our Living Earth from Space”
Lynn Margulis (University of Massachusetts-Amherst)
January 31, 2011
320 Bethune College (The Delaney Gallery)
12:30-2:30 PM
Lynn Margulis, Distinguished University Professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, presented a lecture on ‘Symbiogenesis and Gaia’ at York University, January 31st 2011.
Lynn Margulis is widely recognized for her original contributions to the study of microbial evolution and cell biology, and for her contribution to James Lovelock’s Gaia hypothesis. She is best known for her theory of symbiogenesis, which challenges a central tenet of neo-Darwinism. She shows how organisms that live separately have merged to form composites. It is this inheritance of acquired genomes that leads to increasingly complex levels of individuality.
See the poster for this event here. Below are some images from the event.
Merchants of Doubt: An Interactive Presentation with Naomi Oreskes
September 30, 2010
Considered to be one of the world’s leading historians of science, University of California, San Diego history and science studies Professor Naomi Oreskes was at York University to deliver a special lecture at 12:30pm in 320 Bethune College (The Delaney Gallery) on York’s Keele campus.
Oreskes, who is an adjunct professor of geosciences at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and provost of Sixth College at UC San Diego, began her career as an exploration geologist working in the mining industry in the Australian outback. For the past 20 years, she has studied the process of consensus and dissent in science.
The central questions that inform her research are: How do scientists decide when a fact is established? How do they judge how much evidence is sufficient to deem something scientifically demonstrated? And what happens when scientists can’t agree?
Oreskes was at York to talk about her new book, Merchants of Doubt (Bloomsbury Press, 2010). In the book, Oreskes and her co-author Erik Conway, an historian of science affiliated with the California Institute of Technology, explore how a loose-knit group of high-level scientists, with extensive political connections, ran effective campaigns to mislead the public and deny well-established scientific knowledge over four decades. In seven chapters addressing tobacco, acid rain, the ozone hole, global warming and DDT, Oreskes and Conway roll back the rug on this dark corner of the American scientific community, showing how the ideology of free market fundamentalism, aided by a compliant media, has skewed public understanding of the most pressing issues of our era.
Oreskes’ lecture marked the official launch of York University’s new Institute for Science & Technology Studies. The institute was created to be a focal point for science and technology studies in Canada. Science & Technology Studies is a burgeoning field not only in Canada, but also the world, as scholars in humanities and social studies develop increasingly sophisticated intellectual and methodological tools for engaging with techno-scientific knowledge, practice and artifacts.
Click here for a video podcast of the complete presentation at York.
Images from Naomi Oreskes’ lecture:
Workshop:
Earth Science, Global Science
Situating Science Node Workshop
September 30 – October 2, 2010
All sciences are faced with some version of the problem of moving from the local observation to the general explanation. Yet from their foundations, the earth sciences have been uniquely preoccupied with simultaneous, divergent scales of phenomena and systems of knowledge. On the one hand, the models, theories and practices of the earth science have been considered as global projects, which pass deliberately and explicitly beyond the boundaries of territories, states and even disciplines. On the other hand, the earth sciences take shape within particular conceptions of place, interests and sovereignty — not least because they are involved with the practical and epistemological control of the earth’s resources, and so are intimately connected with the nation state and its institutions. Studies of the earth sciences have mapped these local contexts and interests with notable success, but often frame the global perspectives of the earth sciences as mere convention, simply part of the rhetoric of scientific universalism. Prompted by questions about globalism, modernity, and disciplines, this workshop proposes to focus on the global scale of earth sciences. How and why did explicitly global accounts of the earth emerge and how did they serve the needs of their authors? What conceptions of scale and place, movement or fixity underpin the disciplinary boundaries of modern earth sciences (geology, oceanography, meteorology, seismology), and what is their significance? What are or have been the points of tension between the local and the global in the earth sciences? How do practitioners move from national survey to global inventory? How has our understanding of the global changed over time? Is there one earth science or many? What are the implications of this global tradition as leverage in the application of the earth sciences to national and international problem-solving in the present day?
This workshop featured public lectures by Zuoyue Wang (California State Polytechnic University) and Gregory A. Good (American Institute of Physics); papers were presented and discussed by Deborah R. Coen (Barnard College, Columbia University), Michael S. Reidy (Montana State University), Helen Rozwadowski (University of Connecticut, Avery Point), Grace Shen (York University / Max Planck Institute for the History of Science), Alistair Sponsel (Harvard University), Andre Wakefield (Pitzer College), and Andrea Westermann (Max Planck Institute for the History of Science).
Workshop poster with full programme.
Images from the workshop:
