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The Inquiry is spreading!

20 December 2013
filed under: events

We are pleased to see that the AIME project inspired other initiatives, in this case the call for papers for next years annual meeting at the Danish Association for Science and Technology Studies:

In line with previous years one of the Danish STS research clusters will host a conference for DASTS members as well as for visitors from other disciplines and countries.

Call for papers: Enacting Futures

This year’s DASTS conference wants to highlight and display the political, conceptual and practical consequences of the ontological turn. Rather than continuing with the Modern belief in grand narratives and a singular ontology, researchers within the field of STS outline an alternative history with several modes of existence and thus a plurality of truth conditions. But what are the implications of multiple modes of existence? How are diplomatic encounters and politics performed across modes? And what does the plurality of truth conditions mean for the institution of Academia? How can we envision new forms of posthumanities in socio-technical worlds? With these questions, the theme of the conference will be enactments of futures. At the location of Roskilde University this theme is particularly fitting. Since its origin in 1972 Roskilde University has been propagating action research and problem-based group-work to not only criticize but also engage in practices for example through participatory design and research processes. When DASTS is for the first time held at Roskilde University, we find it appropriate to reflect upon a new utopian agenda for researchers. Also, as STS is growing and moves beyond its original fields of science and technology studies, contributions are invited to consider different fields of research as different modes of existence, considering the spreading of STS across disciplines as a transdisciplinary approach. Last but not least, the theme of the conference is inspired by the AIME project: An Inquiry into Modes of Existence, which contributors could reflect upon concerning its theoretical foundation and its online platform.
To address the theme of enacting futures, contributions could focus on identifying characteristics of specific modes of existence, addressing connections between different domains, comparing domains, and/or discussing diplomacy, negotiations over values, and the (re-)invention of subjectivities/posthumanities and institutions. In doing so, contributors could turn attention to research methods and practices, looking at connections to politics, private companies, and/or artistic approaches. DASTS also invite artistic contributions that can be set on display and/or shown at the conference. It is also a possibility to couple traditional conference paper presentations in dialogue with an artistic oeuvre.
— The call for papers is meant as inspirational. More than inviting papers relating to the announced theme, we also welcome papers and oeuvres discussing and/or performing other STS subject matters. The DASTS annual conference is open for all and the committee welcomes entries from all areas of science and technology studies. Especially junior researchers wanting to present and discuss their research are invited to present their work. The main purpose of the conference is to fertilize STS research broadly by providing an occasion for researchers working with STS in Denmark to exchange their current works and thoughts, and of course to stimulate networking across STS-inspired environments. For this latter reason the conference fee also includes conference dinner. The main language is Danish, but presentations in English are welcome, and a few sessions as well as the key note presentations will be held in English. The conference aims to be a friendly and encouraging scientific environment in which not only well-established scholars, but also Ph.D. and master students should feel confident to present and discuss their work with colleagues.
Practical information
Dates: June 12 – 13, 2014
Place: Roskilde University, Universitetsvej 1, DK-4000 Roskilde
Deadline for submission of abstracts (max app. 300 words): March 15, 2014.
Please state in your abstract your preferred language of presentation, and if English is a possibility for you.
Abstracts should be submitted to dasts@ruc.dk.

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