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Call for Papers
The International Society of the History of Technology will hold its
annual meeting in Amsterdam from October 7-10. The Program Committee is
seeking proposals for both individual papers and complete panels. In
particular, the committee welcomes work-in-progress from researchers of
all stripes (including graduate students, chaired professors, and
independent scholars), and papers from those new to SHOT who believe that
an engagement with history can help their own work, regardless of
discipline.
This year the program will focus on the specific themes outlined below.
While the committee is open to proposals not falling strictly within the
themes, we nevertheless do encourage submissions that enter a dialogue
with them.
*Water
The geography and history of the Netherlands lends itself to a focus on
water; this, broadly defined, forms one of the conference themes. Access
to and control of water has been central to human life, and it is a
long-contested resource; this has inevitably had a technological
component. Agricultural, domestic, industrial, hygienic, and therapeutic
applications of water have been components of all civilizations. The
committee seeks papers and panels on technology and water in oceans,
lakes, rivers, canals, aquifers, spas, springs (including geothermal), and
on rain, plumbing, sewers, or any other water-related topic, including
political, social or cultural relationships organized around or influenced
by water.
*Transatlantic Community
Building on the water theme, we also welcome papers and panels related to
the creation, maintenance, and expansion of the Atlantic Community,
defined here as including North and South America, Europe, and Africa.
Possible topics include technological components of transatlantic
interactions, competitions, exchanges, and the circulation of goods,
services, people, ideas, and artifacts.
*Camouflaged Technologies
We are looking for papers addressing the historical and political
trajectories of technologies in camouflage, whose actual uses were hidden
to avoid political, social controversy or prosecution under the law.
Examples might include controversial technologies such as nuclear power,
and illicit activities such as drug use, burglary, prostitution, or music
piracy, where producers and consumers camouflaged actual uses of these
devices.
*Non-Aligned Technologies
The committee also seeks proposals considering what we call non-aligned
technologies -- technologies that remain outside or resist larger
networks, systems, geographical regions, or historical settings.
*Information Technology (IT) and Media Studies
Information technology and media are frequently the separate subjects of
specialized academic fields. The program committee seeks proposals that
problematize their intersections and/or their distinction in a
historically informed fashion.
Deadline is April 1, 2004. Please submit your proposals to
the email address below.
Proposals for individual papers must include:
- a one-page abstract;
- a one-page curriculum vitae, including current postal and e-mail
addresses.
Proposals for complete sessions must include:
- a description of the session's theme;
- a list of the presenter's names and paper titles;
- a one-page abstract and one-page c.v. for each of the presenters (with
postal and e-mail addresses);
- a one-page c.v. for the commentator, chair, and session organizer (if
s/he is not one of the session's panelists).
The session description should clarify how individual papers contribute to
the session's overall theme.
Applicants may submit as follows:
* Electronic application: send one single e mail message to the program
committee e-mail address below with electronic copies of all
elements of the complete proposal as attachments, formatted in Microsoft
Word (any version of Word is fine, but it must be in Word).
Guidelines for submission:
- Whether submitting an individual paper or a complete panel, the program
committee needs to receive a separate attachment for each item (vita,
paper, and so on).
- Please save your proposal with your last name and the word 'proposal'
(for example brown.proposal.doc)
- Please save your c.v. (idem for panel members) also with your last name
and the word 'vita' (for example brown.vita.doc)
- In case of a panel, please save their abstracts with their last name and
the word 'abstract' (for example brown.abstract.doc)
- The file names for all attachments should end in .doc (for example
johnsonvita.doc)
Once the program is fixed the committee will make arrangements to make the
accepted abstract available on the World Wide Web (details pending and to
be announced).
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