CfP: Science, Technology and the State in India (deadline 28/2/22)

Date: 23rd March 2022. This will be an online event.

This interdisciplinary workshop will focus on the relationship between Science, Technology and the State in India. India’s emergence as a vaccine manufacturing hub during the present pandemic has highlighted the importance of science and technology. India has also seen a remarkable reach and widespread adoption of a variety of technologies from the mobile phone to pharmaceuticals. In this context it is worth assessing the importance of scientific and technological change in modern India from the perspective of Politics and History. Has India's embrace of technology transformed it into a modern state? What roles have science and technology played in Indian statecraft? How have the ordinary lives of Indian people been affected by leaps in technological progress? What are the challenges that new technologies pose to Indian society?

The aim of the workshop is to discuss emerging research in the fields of politics and history on the role played by science and technology in modern India. We invite early career scholars and also warmly encourage doctoral students to participate in this conference. Paper proposals can include, but are not limited to, the following themes:

  • Scientists and Scientific Institutions in colonial and independent India
  • Science and pandemics
  • The history and politics of medicine
  • Science, technology and modernity
  • Access and marginalities in science and technology
  • Technology and society
  • Data politics
  • Power, knowledge production and epistemology in science and technology

Please submit a title and abstract (max. 300 words) as well as a CV in PDF format to stsconference2022@gmail.com. Include your full name and contact information, including institutional affiliation. The deadline for submission has been extended to Monday 28th February 2022.