CfP: New Frontiers in the Critical Study of Science, Technology & War: Where Science and Technology Studies meets Critical Security Studies
The dynamic relationship between science and war is an ever-present concern in world politics. Warfare, on the one hand, is supported, transformed, mediated, and disrupted by the constantly evolving technologies of weapons, communication, transportation, and more. Science and technologies, on the other hand, are invented, guided, sponsored, and abandoned by efforts and commitments to war. These co-dependent and co-constitutive relations are key to understanding both warfare and science, which constantly make each other anew while preserving existing tendencies and features. These relations have also become the center of discussions, given today’s political and military struggles between Russia and Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, as well as numerous conflicts around the world where drones, artificial intelligence, technologies of genocides, and other new or existing technologies were deployed.
The relationship between science, technology, and war is also reflective of larger socio-political structures and ideologies. Over the past decade, scholars of Critical Security Studies have committed to revealing the embedded racism, colonial hierarchies, imperial orderings, gendered violence, and other systems of injustice in particular configurations of war and science. At the same time, scholars of Science, Technology and Society have exposed different forms of violence in the technologies of war, as well as the histories of failure, oppression, and struggles in the formation of scientific wars and war-related sciences. We are particularly interested in bringing together scholars on both sides, and inviting other interdisciplinary contributions to continue exploring new approaches and insights into how war, science, and technology intersect with larger political and global forces.
We thus invite graduate students, scholars of all ranks, independent scholars, and non-traditional scholars to submit proposals for a workshop aiming to produce a special journal issue, tentatively titled, “New Frontiers in the Critical Study of Science, Technology & War.” Contributions should be academic research papers (8,000-10,000 words, inclusive of references and notes). We intend to publish this issue in a peer-reviewed academic journal open to interdisciplinary work on the intersection of critical approaches to security, science, and technology. We will decide on the most viable journal once we have confirmed the selection of contributions.
Possible topics could include but are not limited to:
- Emerging technologies in and of war (broadly defined), conflicts, and other instances of violence
- Historical development of weapons, military technologies, martial objects, and scientific disciplines related to war
- Political theoretical, socio-technical, and other innovative approaches to the study of war, science, and technologies
- Ethics and justice of war, science, and technologies
- Discourses and vernaculars of war, science, and technologies
- The role of war, science, and technologies in the formation of international systems, political ideologies, social structures, cultural norms, and more
- The role of war, science, and technologies in systems of injustice and violence, including racism, colonialism, imperialism, patriarchy, ableism, and more
- Forms of resistance and solidarity in response to certain configurations of war, science, and technologies
- Artistic and literary interventions into the configuration of war, science, and technologies
All authors selected will be invited to a workshop on March 27-28, 2026, hosted by the Peace and Conflict Studies (PCON) program at Colgate University in Hamilton NY, USA. A public lecture will open the workshop on the evening of Thursday March 26. The two-day workshop includes discussion sessions on each paper and a closing publishing session. As a condition of participation in the workshop and inclusion in the final publication, all invited scholars will be required to submit a complete draft paper on March 1 (at least 5,000 words) and to provide substantive feedback on other draft papers at the workshop.
The PCON program will cover relevant travel and accommodation costs, including a hotel stay of 3 nights in Hamilton, N.Y., travel costs (air or ground), and all meals during the workshop. We recognize that the current policies of the US government might pose challenges and risks. The organizers will support scholars traveling from abroad, including issuing letters of invitation and proof of participation, and accommodating presenters whose papers are accepted but are unable to travel to the United States.
Timeline
- Please submit an abstract of 300 words outlining your proposed paper, a short bio, and other information using this form by December 1, 2025
- Authors can expect a response no later than December 10, 2025
- Authors should submit their draft papers by March 1, 2026
- Workshop will take place on March 26-28, 2026
Organizers: Professors Ruoyu Li and Jacob Mundy, Peace & Conflict Studies, Colgate University, USA