[URBANTH-L] CFP: Reviewing Humanness: Bodies, Technologies and Spaces (EASST, Lausanne, Switzerland)

[Angela Jancius]

From: Ellen Hertz <ellen.hertz at unine.ch>

Call for Papers EASST 2006

PLEASE CIRCULATE WIDELY

EASST Conference in Lausanne, Switzerland, August 23-26, 2006

The biennial conference of the European Association for the Study of Science
and Technology will be held in Lausanne from 23rd to 26th August, 2006. All
members of the European science, technology and innovation studies community
are invited to attend. Contributions are particularly encouraged which
address the general conference theme.

"Reviewing humanness: bodies, technologies and spaces"

What is it to be human today ? Human "nature" is made and re-made by ideas
and practices assembling bodies, technologies, and spaces. Three processes
in particular seem to be transforming the very notion of humanness:

1. it is reconfigured by the life sciences, from genetics to neurobiology,
with the invention of new forms of human corporeity. Within contemporary
philosophy and STS literature, this is associated with conceptual changes,
displacing traditional binaries such as human/animal, animal/machine,
nature/technology, mind/body towards all kinds of hybrids.
2. it is reassigned to and redistributed throughout sociotechnical networks
and artifacts. In other words, the notion of humanness is rethought; it is
considered no longer to be enclosed within the human subject, but instead
disseminated in and through human-made objects and technological systems.
3. it is rescaled by the increase in transnational connections and the
development of a cosmopolitan imaginary. The increase of spatial mobility
(international migration, tourism, professional travel, etc.) and
information flows, 'stretching' social relations across space, have
reterritorialized, and in the best cases broadened, our conceptions of
humanness.

The conference organizers invite contributions that address both a general
conceptualization of humanness and these three particular processes. The
further aim of this conference is to address the political (in the broad
sense of the term) dimension of a reviewed humanness. The re-fabrication of
humanness is not only an academic thought-experiment but a daily life
experience, and sometimes an object of concern, for society as a whole. The
organizers therefore also invite contributions specifically focusing on the
politicization of contemporary humanness. Such topics include:

a) issues related to participative forums created by state or supranational
organizations to trigger public debate around the anthropological
consequences of scientific and technological innovations;
b) initiatives of different segments of civil society (patient
organizations, feminist movements, indigenous groups, consumer associations,
etc.), including public action and mobilizations, regarding the definition
of research agendas, the organization of knowledge production and diffusion,
or the political regulation of the three above-mentioned processes;
c) questions regarding participation in the global redefinition of
humanness. Are not large sectors of humankind excluded from these changes?
Do they mean the same thing regardless of social class, gender and
ethnicity?

Threads:
1. Biomedical practices, politics and markets
2. Medicine, healthcare & patients
3. Information and communication technologies
4. Technological artifacts & users
5. Environments, landscapes and resources
6.  Spatialities, transnationalism and governance
7. Expertise, governance & publics
8. Normative issues & the production of norms
9. Science, politics & markets
10. Knowledge objects, practices & cultures
11. Science, culture & arts
12. Practices and processes of innovation
13. STS in practice (methods, research networks, computer tools)
Contributions will be welcome from the range of disciplines found within the
broad field of science, technology, and society studies. For those whose
work does not relate directly to the Conference's theme, there are open
paper sessions.

Deadline for abstracts and session proposals:  December 16th, 2005

Abstract submissions should include all contact details, the text of the
abstract (300 words), three keywords and the preferred Conference Threads.
Please use the ad-hoc template file on the website as the basis for your
submission and send it by December 16th, 2005, to easst2006 at unil.ch

If you plan to propose a session, please send a message to the organisers as
soon as possible, and put « session proposal » in the subject of your
e-mail. In order to help the preparation of the programme, session proposals
will be posted on a page of the Conference's website. Session proposals
should include all contact details, the text of the proposed session (600
words max.). Please use the ad-hoc template file on the website as the basis
for your submission and send it by December 16th, 2005, to easst2006 at unil.ch

All information can be found on the Conference's
website:www.unil.ch/easst2006

Contact : easst2006 at unil.ch, Tel/Fax : +41 21 693 84 77
Address: EASST 2006, University of Lausanne, IEPI, Bat. Humense, CH-1015
Lausanne, Switzerland