CfP "Economies of Collections, Part I: Collections and the Marketplace"
Call for Papers
Economies of Collections and the Value of Scientific Things
Part 1: Collections and the Marketplace since the late 18th
Century
Gotha, November 21-22, 2013
Scientific collecting is a process that mobilizes and spawns
social, economic, political, and scientific capital. The materiality of
collections links the production of scientific knowledge to the production and
movement of things. Whereas historical research has recently emphasized the
epistemic impact of collections we want to focus on their often neglected
economic dimensions from the late 18th century onwards.
Historically, things and sciences have always been connected through
marketplaces and economies. Prior to public display, scientific things used to
circulate between collectors, traders, owners, and institutions. Indeed, things
acquire their unique value by means of circulation.
To focus on the economies of collections affords a clearer picture
of monetary processes. As such it also draws attention to questions concerning
the management, house-keeping and ordering of knowledge within collections.
Economies, for instance, have shaped the archive of the cartographical
publishing company Perthes in Gotha as well
as the collections of the Berliner Naturkunde Museum. Furthermore, the
perspective on the economies of collections allows for new discussions about
contemporary scientific and political developments. Being dominated by
rhetorics of cultural economies objects are defined as part of our cultural
heritage.
The workshop series “Economies of Collections and the Value of
Scientific Things” argues that cultural and epistemic values of objects are
intrinsically linked with economic infrastructures. In part 1 – “Collections
and the Marketplace” – we ask how such a history can be established. How did
the scientific marketplace change when early modern collections were
transferred into the possession of nation states in the late 18th
century? What impact did political sponsorship have on expeditions? To what
extent were private and academic markets connected? How were collections
efficiently organized? What status did originals have in relation to copies?
How did the economic circulation of objects shape scientific debates and what
was its impact on new disciplines and institutions? In which way did 19th-century
trade change the status of objects from the “typical” to the “exceptional”? How
can historians come to an integrative view on processes of ordering,
presenting, and marketing?
With this call for papers we invite researchers and young scholars
to collaboratively explore the relations between collections and the
marketplace. Contributions from different disciplines are welcome including,
for instance, the history of science, the history and theory of collections,
history of economics, art history and cultural studies. This call for papers is
an initial articulation of our interest in “Economies of Collections” to be
extended and deepened in forthcoming workshops.
The conference is a co-operation between the project
“Globalisation and local knowledge: research on collections of the publishing
company Justus Perthes” at the Research Institute for Social and Cultural
Studies in Gotha, Universität Erfurt and the research initiative “PAN -
Perspectives on Nature” at the Museum für Naturkunde Berlin. The conference
will take place on November 21-22, 2013 in Gotha. Applications in German or
English including abstracts (max. 500 words) and a short CV are due on May 31,
2013.
Contact: nils.guettler@uni-erfurt.de
or ina.heumann@mfn-berlin.de
Organizers: Nils Güttler & Ina Heumann
Dr. des. Nils Güttler
Projekt: Globalisierung und lokales Wissen
Forschungszentrum Gotha der Universität Erfurt
Postfach 100561
99855 Gotha
+49(0)361/737-1726
Dr. Ina Heumann
PAN - Perspektiven auf Natur
Museum für Naturkunde
Leibniz-Institut für Evolutions- und Biodiversitätsforschung
Invalidenstr. 43
10115 Berlin
+49(0)30/2093-8977