Cfp Tensions of Europe Early Career Scholars workshop. Porto and online, August 1, 2016.

Type: Call for Papers
Date: June 8, 2016
Location: Portugal
Subject Fields: European History / Studies, History of Science, Medicine, and Technology
Cfp Tensions of Europe Early Career Scholars workshop
 
Porto and online, August 1, 2016   
 
In connection to the ICOHTEC conference in Porto this summer, the Early Careers Scholars group from the Tensions of Europe network (http://www.tensionsofeurope.eu/) will arrange a one-day workshop. Participation is available both on site at the Faculty of Arts and Humanities of the University of Porto (FLUP, http://icohtec2016.ciuhct.org/about-porto/venue), and online through a meeting platform. 
 
Tensions of Europe (TOE) is an international scientific network consisting of almost 300 historians trying to understand the role of technology in 20th century Europe. Since the start in 1999, the network explored a broad range of themes, focusing on the linking and delinking of infrastructures, the emergence of transnational technical communities and the circulation of artifacts, systems, knowledge and people in Europe. By organizing inspiring conferences and summer schools as well as by stimulating international research collaboration and disseminating research results to various audiences, TOE wants to reveal the role of technology as an agent of change in European history. 
 
The Tensions of Europe network is currently exploring a new research agenda. The tentative overarching theme for this agenda is “Technology and the Making of Europe’s Societal Crises/Challenges, a Transnational History ca 1850-Today”.The theme was explored at a workshop in Vught in March 2016 (http://www.tensionsofeurope.eu/www/en/news/building-a-future-research-agenda). It will be further discussed over the coming years in workgroups, during workshops, and at the ToE conferences (including the upcoming one in Athens, Sept. 7-10, 2017, please find a CfP at http://8toe2017.phs.uoa.gr/). The first part of the Porto workshop discusses this process and different ways to contribute to it. We hope also to engage people who have not before been involved in the ToE network.   
 
Some tentative questions we want to explore through this agenda are:  
 
•  What is the role of technology, as cause, medium, and solution, in the making of crisis understandings and realities? 
•  How are meanings of crises generated? 
•  How does technology mediate interdependencies between crises/challenges? 
•  How can we understand the temporality of crises? 
•  How can we understand the spatiality of crises? 
•  How did actors historically anticipate to, react to, or govern crises?  
 
Workshop program 
 
The workshop will have two main components:  
 
1: The main part of the program will be dedicated to the developing ToE research agenda. There will be reports from the Tensions of Europe workshop in Vught, (http://www.tensionsofeurope.eu/www/en/news/building-a-future-research-agenda), as well as from the Tensions of Europe session at the SHOT conference in Singapore. We will present the different work groups that have formed and also discuss other themes that could be interesting to form working groups around.  
 
2: In the second part of the day we welcome those who want to get comments on article drafts, a proposal for funding, presentations, course syllabi etc, to present in any form. We will assign commentators for all texts we have on the program. The group also acts as a resource for input on literature, references and contacts with scholars if you want to present a project/course idea or the project you are currently working on. We aim for this to be a space for informal comments and discussions, and thus encourage participation in all forms and stages of preparation.  
 
Practicalities: We will try to make it possible for as many people as possible to attend virtually throughout the day, both as presenters and as listeners. When we send out the instruction for participation online, we please ask you to read through these instructions carefully in good time before the workshop starts. We will also likely want to gather all of those who join us virtually for a trial on Monday morning before the workshop starts, to make sure the connections work. This is an experiment, and we kindly ask your understanding with regard to the technical problems that will no doubt arise at some point during the day.    
 
If you are interested to join, please tell us who you are (Name, affiliation and email address) as well as whether you want to present, comment or be a listener. If you want to present, send us an abstract (max. 250 words). 
Send your proposals to f.schipper@tue.nl no later than July 8th, 2016.