SSNet Colloquium 2008-2009: Democratizing Science
This year’s SSNet colloquium takes the form of a year-long faculty and graduate student seminar organized in three thematic components:
The focus of the Fall quarter seminar is a cluster of questions about the role of scientific experts and expertise in democratic deliberation that have long been contentious. Debates about these issues have roots, in the American context, in Deweyan pragmatism, and they have drawn the attention of political theorists concerned to understand how deliberative processes work in democracies, as well as science studies scholars who are interested in the role of contextual values in the sciences.
Graduate Fellows: Brandon Olsen (Philosophy) and Monica Aufrecht (Philosophy)
Faculty Fellows: Leah Ceccarelli (Communication), Sarah Elwood (Geography), Simon Werrett (History) and Joanne Woiak (Disability Studies/History)
Further Info, Readings, and Tentative Dates for Fall 2008
We construe the overarching theme “Democratizing Science” broadly, as including philosophical as well as historical and sociological research on such topics as: the role that the sciences have played in democratic deliberation and state formation; the ways in which democratic institutions and ideals have shaped the sciences; and the reasons why, or senses in which, the sciences should (or should not) be “democracized.” We do not take the terms of this project uncritically; one goal of the seminar will be to interrogate the conceptions of “science” and “democracy” that are at work in the literatures and debates we will engage.
Format
Seminar meetings will be organized as a series of biweekly discussions of precirculated readings and working papers, limited to roughly 20 participants. They are scheduled as lunch meetings on Mondays, 12:00-1:20pm; see the SSNet Calendar for 2008-2009 seminar dates. Each quarter five to seven faculty and graduate fellows who have active research and teaching interests in the specified subtheme will serve as the core organizers for the seminar. Core faculty and graduate fellows are selected on the basis of nominations and applications; the graduate fellows for each quarter and faculty fellows for the Fall quarter have all now been appointed (see the quarter seminar listings for details). A call for faculty fellow applications for the Spring quarter will be circulated mid-Winter quarter.
Micro-seminars (HUM596)
The SSNet will also will sponsor three interdisciplinary micro-seminars (HUM596) in conjunction with the meetings, each quarter, of the graduate-faculty Colloquium on Democratizing Science. These are 2-credit (C/NC) interdisciplinary seminars intended for graduate students working on topics in any area of science and technology studies. HUM596 students are expected to attend all the bi-weekly meeting of the SSNet Colloquium in the quarter in which they are enrolled, as well as two additional meetings with core faculty fellows at the beginning and end of the quarter. These two independent HUM596 seminar meetings will be on topics and readings relevant to the research interests of the student participants in the seminar. Writing requirements will include short response papers on selected readings and reflection on the seminar as a whole.
Participation
In addition to the core organizing group of faculty and graduate fellows, and students enrolled in HUM596, each bi-weekly meeting of the seminar will be open to 10-15 additional participants. We will be circulating a notice of topic and request for on-line RSVP at least a week previous to each seminar meeting; participation will be limited so be sure to reserve a place in any seminar you plan to attend. We hope that this format will sustain the fluidity of participation that worked so well for the SSNet Colloquium in its first year, while making it possible to develop a more sustained and focused discussion among those who have serious interests in the issues captured by the theme, “democratizing science.”