[STS-Africa] CFP: Science and Society in Africa: Abstract Deadline Extended to 31 March 2014

[Mandisa Mbali]

CFP: Science and Society in Africa: ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE EXTENDED
TO 31 MARCH 2014



3--4 Sept 2014, Stellenbosch



EXTENDED ABSTRACT SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 31 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.
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.wiser.org.za/pipermail/sts-africa/attachments/20140306/93cb1dc9/attachment.htm>