[STS-Africa] CfP: Workshop Resources, Infrastructures and the Anthropocene: Dialogues between the Global-North and the Global-South, Caparica (Lisbon/Portugal), Sep. 18-20, 2019.

[M. Luísa Sousa]

Call for Papers

Workshop *Resources, Infrastructures and the Anthropocene: Dialogues
between the Global-North and the Global-South*

Caparica Campus, Faculdade de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade NOVA de
Lisboa, Portugal

18 - 20 September 2019



We welcome proposals for participation in the workshop *Resources,
Infrastructures and the Anthropocene: Dialogues between the Global-North
and the Global-South*, which will take place at *Caparica Campus, Faculdade
de Ciências e Tecnologia da Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, Portugal, between
September 18 and 20, 2019*.

Global resources and resource infrastructure play a significant role in
modern societies; through a variety of ambivalent historical processes,
they have come to entangle—and (re)produce tensions between and
within—countries in the Global South and the Global North. In recent years
discourses on geopolitical and domestic competition for natural resources
have further intensified. So have associated concerns on resource security
and circularity, socioecological vulnerabilities and inequalities, and a
host of other issues. How could and should we (re)think and (re)write our
global histories of resources and resource infrastructure in the age of the
‘Anthropocene’?

The workshop explores this question for two related topics:

·       Resource Spaces in the Global South: Engineering Landscapes and
Mindscapes;

·       Globally Entangled Resource Chains and Socioecological Change:
Sustainability and Global Justice in the Anthropocene.

In particular, we aim to mobilise research approaches and historical cases
that help scrutinize/problematize these issues from Global South and
South-North entanglement perspectives. The workshop will be based on a
variety of empirical case studies, intellectual viewpoints, methodologies
and literatures, and will focus on questions such as the following:

·       Which assumptions, knowledges, and methodologies are used in the
analysis of relations between the so called “Global North” and “Global
South” regarding natural resources, infrastructures, and their
environmental, social, economic and political implications? Which
assumptions are shared, and which are not, when approaching our case
studies? Do we have different notions and narratives about important
keywords such as “progress”, “development”, “nature”, “human agency”,
“sustainability”, resource “scarcity” and “security”?

·       Which methodologies, research directions and questions are
innovative, relevant and needed in current and future projects on the
workshop topics? How can we encourage and help initiate and facilitate
future research in these directions and questions? Which opportunities can
we develop to increase productive cooperation of scholars in the Global
South and Global North in research on global resources, infrastructures and
their environmental, social and economic impacts?





*Workshop setup*

The workshop will be designed to maximize dialogue and discussion and not
consist of traditional presentations by all participants. Position papers
by invited scholars coming from Africa, Asia, Europe and South America and
focused short pitches by the other participants will serve to spark
discussions in different work formats.

Participants are expected to engage in the discussion of the main topics
either by bringing intellectual view points and/or presenting empirical
examples. The size of the workshop is limited to approximately 30 people,
in order to allow for the exchange of ideas and the development of concrete
future directions of research and collaborations.

Upon acceptance, all participants will receive further instructions and be
asked to provide short preparatory texts of about 2 pages before the end of
August.



*Travel and accommodation arrangements*

Travel and accommodation costs will be fully funded. Further information
will be given upon acceptance.



*How to apply*

Please send a motivation letter (max. 1 page) on your interest in the
topics of the workshop and how it relates to your research and a short bio
note (1 page) to luisacoelhosousa at fct.unl.pt before June 7, 2019, with the
subject “Application to Lisbon resources workshop”. Applicants will be
informed by June 20 of the result.



*Organisation*

The agenda and framing of the workshop reflect the three supporting
research projects agendas:

- "Anthropolands - Engineering the Anthropocene: The role of colonial
Science, Technology and Medicine on changing of the African landscape
<http://ciuhct.org/investigacao/anthropolands-construir-o-antropoceno>",
coordinated by Maria Paula Diogo. The goal of this project is to contribute
to the international debate and scholarship on the theme of the
Anthropocene from the perspective of the History of Science, Technology and
Medicine, focusing on the case of the former Portuguese colonial African
empire.

- “EurReS - Challenging Europe: Technology, Environment and the Quest for
Resource Security
<http://css.au.dk/projects/research-network-challenging-europe-technology-environment-and-the-quest-for-resource-security-eurres/>”,
coordinated by Matthias Heymann and “GREASE - Global Resources and
Sustainability of European Modernization, 1820-2020
<https://www.nwo.nl/en/research-and-results/research-projects/i/78/32178.html>”,
coordinated by Erik van der Vleuten. The goal of these two projects is to
develop international networks for historical research on societal
challenges related to natural resources, including contested issues such as
global sustainability entanglements, security regimes, socioecological
inequalities, governance, and so on.



These projects collaborate, and are embedded in, the explorative research
program "Technologies, Environment and Resources
<https://www.tensionsofeurope.eu/technology-environment-and-resources/>" of
the Tensions of Europe research network.





We thank you for your attention to this call.

Best regards,

The organising team

Maria Paula Diogo, CIUHCT, FCT, NOVA University of Lisbon
M. Luísa Sousa, CIUHCT, FCT, NOVA University of Lisbon
Matthias Heymann, Aarhus University
Erik van der Vleuten, Eindhoven University of Technology
Frank Veraart, Eindhoven University of Technology
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