STEP - Science and Technology in the European Periphery

Second Meeting of the Network for Social Studies of Science and Technology of the Spanish State (eSCTS)

“Between Disillusion and Hope”

Date of meeting: 23-25 ​​May 2012. Location: Gijón (Asturias).

Call for Proposals

“Between disillusion and hope”

For the second meeting of the network we propose a collective reflection under the theme “between disillusion and hope”.

When Hesiod narrated the myth of Pandora he described how, once Pandora opened the vessel that contained all evils, they got dispersed throughout the world. Only one was kept inside: hope. A second version of the myth states that the vessel that Pandora was carrying contained not evils, but goods and, when the vessel was open, all of them, except for hope, actually returned to the gods. Thus, in Greek mythology, hope is an ambivalent concept, which could be described as good or evil, as a consolatory call to action or as an asset for the immobility and inaction.

After more than ten years of uncritical rhetoric about the triad science-innovation-economic growth, in which science only appeared in its role of “the engine of innovation and development”, the current neoliberal economic and social crisis has served as a breeding ground for the emergence of worrying diagnoses on the future. The academic community, inside and outside the Spanish state, has also suffered the effects of the recent twist of science policy, which now insists on dramatic financial cuts, which are having remarkable implications for the organizational and epistemic realm of practices. In this general context, the second meeting of the esCTS Network aims to reflect not only on the role that academics can and should play in the face of disillusion and despair, but also on their responsibility about the articulation of possible solutions between the present and possible futures.

We want to launch the debate about the need, not only to confine our work to the development of pesimistic diagnostics, but the need of setting aside the rhetoric of a passive hope and enabling the conditions to imagine different futures. New trends such as “open science”, impure methods of scientific production, or the different modes of activism within science, are examples of alternative ways to generate spaces of hope at the intersection between the academy, science and society. At this second meeting of the esCTS Network, we invite everyone to think about our responsibility with respect to the development of images of the future, to examine our disciplines and the relationship between the academy and society, and to explore the sources from which we can get inspiration to articulate that responsibility.

Submission of proposals

We invite to all researchers (PhD, young doctors and professors) to submit their proposals in the area of the social studies of science and technology, in any of the many disciplines in which they are located: history, sociology, history of science, philosophy of science, medicine, feminism, engineering, anthropology, psychology, environmental studies, law, gender, etc.

Proposals will be accepted in all official languages of the Spanish state, plus English and Portuguese.

Posting Rules

Deadline for proposals: February 15, 2012.

Maximum length: 200 words.

You must include contact details: name, emails, institution or university to which you belong.

Doctoral students who submit their proposals must indicate their affiliation, doctoral stage in which they are, and a brief list of those issues that they would like to discuss during the doctoral workshop (which will also be organized in this new meeting) such as some specific issues to the thesis, its structure, methodological items, preparing articles for publication, participation in international conferences, etc.

The proposal must be sent to: es.cts.es@gmail.com

Communication of acceptance by March 15, 2012.

We welcome your participation!

Network for Social Studies of Science and Technology of the Spanish State (eSCTS)

The eSCTS is a non-profit network of professionals, whose aim is to facilitate contact and communication of all who work in the area of the social studies of science and technology (STS). Our intention is to consolidate STS studies in the Spanish state and enable a space for participation, communication and reflection for both established researchers and young people who are about to start their careers (PhD and post-doctoral researchers). The network eSCTS is, thus, an horizontal and open forum that aims at embracing the academic diversity, cultural and political life of the Spanish state.