CALL FOR PAPERS : New Directions in the History of Infrastructure
The Danish Post & Tele Museum and Aalborg University
are organizing a conference on the history of infrastructure, to be held at the
Post & Tele Museum in Copenhagen, from the 26th - 28th September 2014. The
main theme is the role of infrastructure in the modernization of society, from
about
1850 to the present day, viewed in the light of recent
scholarship in history and the social sciences.
Previous research on the history of infrastructure has
been dominated by studies of so-called Large Technical Systems, focusing on
technology and the point of view of the system-builders, but scholars today are
giving increasing attention to how such infrastructure developments are
experienced by end-users, with a clearer emphasis on political issues and
social practice. There is also a growing awareness about the significance of
various types of conflict for infrastructural change and development, from
technical breakdowns and political struggles to the discrepancies between
entrepreneurial vision and everyday user experiences. Another highly topical
theme is the issue of political governance by means of material and
technological devices and systems, such as the state surveillance of
telecommunications and computer networks.
Scholars from all relevant fields are invited to submit
proposals to conference2014@ptt-museum.dk
<mailto:conference2014@ptt-museum.dk>
, no later than December 1, 2013. We welcome papers that delve into the history
of particular kinds of infrastructure - communications, sanitation, transport,
energy supply etc. - but we are also open to theoretical contributions on
issues such as infrastructure and modernization or the analytical significance
of 'the material turn'. After the conference, a selection of the papers
presented will be published in an edited volume on current trends in the
historiography of infrastructure.
Visit the website: http://goo.gl/EslCHz
<http://goo.gl/EslCHz>
For further information and specific queries, please send
a note to the conference email address above.
Andreas Marklund
Forskningskoordinator, Ph.d./ Research Coordinator, Ph.D.
Post & Tele Museum <http://www.ptt-museum.dk/> Denmark
Phone: (0045) 33 41 09 00