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

[Steven Robins]

Thanks Mandisa, I think we should consider a joint panel. Perhaps we could
use the WISER STS conference panel abstract again. We need to move quickly
as the deadline is soon.

 

Best

Steven

 

Professor Steven Robins

Department of Sociology & Social Anthropology

University of Stellenbosch

Private Bag X1

Matieland

Stellenbosch 7602

021 8082090

 

From: sts-africa-bounces at lists.uni-halle.de
[mailto:sts-africa-bounces at lists.uni-halle.de] On Behalf Of Mandisa Mbali
Sent: 10 February 2014 11:24 AM
To: sts-africa at lists.uni-halle.de
Subject: Re: [STS-Africa] CFP: Science and Society in Africa, September 2014

 

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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