[STS-Africa] CFP: Science and Society in Africa, September 2014

[Mandisa Mbali]

Dear All,

Sorry, there was a typo in my last e-mail: our meeting will be this
September (2014) in Stellenbosch.

Kind Regards

Mandisa


On Mon, Feb 10, 2014 at 10:28 AM, Mandisa Mbali <mandisa.mbali at gmail.com>wrote:

> CFP: Science and Society in Africa
>
> 3--4 Sept 2014, Stellenbosch
>
> ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 3 March 2014
>
> Please e-mail abstracts to: scisocafrica at gmail.com
>
> Africa faces the challenge of improving the critical understanding of
> science among non-scientists while respecting and responding to the fact
> that the history of science has been dominated by Europe and the USA.
> Scientists in Africa must also grapple with colonial legacies of the use of
> a continent as a laboratory and a field-site. At the same time, Africa
> presents a challenge to science studies disciplines (e.g. philosophy,
> anthropology, communications) as they have evolved in Europe and the United
> States. At present there is a perceived gap between two positions:
> epistemic relativism which situates science as merely one socially
> constructed way of knowing among others of equal validity and realism,
> which accords it greater status as a universally true body of knowledge.
> Both have been critiqued: realism has been cast as ignoring the influence
> of social factors on science and relativism has been pronounced to be
> impractical.
>
> Closing this gap is politically and socially critical for development on
> the continent, as well as of global intellectual importance. Societies and
> science in Africa need to come to terms with each other, both as a set of
> social institutions and as knowledge-producers.
>
> We welcome 300 word abstracts dealing with the following themes, or others
> relevant to the overall theme of the workshop:-
>
> - The proper integration of scientific knowledge in societies ruled by
> democratic and democratising states.
>
> - Science as one of many ways to understand race and human nature in
> post-colonial African contexts.
>
> - Biotechnology, nanotechnology and 'blue sky science' in African societies
>
> - 'From bench to cell phone': the challenges of ensuring public access to
> research and translating science into technology and institutional
> practices in a digital era.
>
> - The socio-economic and political challenges facing early career
> scientists in Africa
>
> - African coherence in science: the role of regional philanthropy and
> collaborations in agenda setting and contextual solutions
>
> Participants will be invited to attend the conference to offer
> presentations based on full 5 000 word papers which should be based on
> these abstracts. (Drafts of these papers will be circulated to participants
> in advance and will need to be ready by 1 August 2014.)
>
> This  workshop is being jointly organised by the South African Young
> Academy of Science, the Philosophy Department of University of
> Johannesburg, the Department of Sociology and Social Anthropology at
> Stellenbosch University and the Institute of Infectious Disease and
> Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Health Sciences at University of Cape Town.
>
> The conference organizers are: Professor Alex Broadbent at the University
> of Johannesburg; Dr. Mandisa Mbali at Stellenbosch University and Dr.
> Tolullah Oni at the University of Cape Town.
>
> The meeting will take place at Stellenbosch University.  Some travel
> funding will be available for post-graduate students and early career
> scholars.
>
>
>
>
>
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