CfP: DISSOLVING AGENTS AS TECHNOLOGIES OF TRANSFORMATION IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH
Workshop, 10-11 July 2018
Department III, Artefacts, Action and Knowledge | Max Planck Institute for the History of Science
Boltzmannstr. 22, 14195, Berlin, Germany
Conveners:
Dagmar Schäfer (MPIWG, Germany), Annapurna Mamidipudi (Maastricht
University, the Netherlands and MPIWG, Germany), and BuYun Chen
(Swarthmore College, USA and MPIWG, Germany)
This
interdisciplinary workshop interrogates the peripheral, intermediary,
and ephemeral substances that have been critical to the historical
formation of chemical technologies and the making of stable products
across the Global South, broadly construed. With this workshop, we aim
to begin a conversation among scholars who work across disciplines and
regions in the Global South on: 1) how to investigate materials that are
no longer present in surviving artifacts; and 2) how to recover the
connected histories of knowledge and technology that underpinned their
making. For example, how did the availability of mordants – a fixative
necessary to bind natural dye to textile fibers – shape local textile
dyeing knowledge and technologies? Did knowledge about and techniques of
dyeing circulate alongside mordants? One of the most popular mordants
found across Asia was alum: often mixed with other salts or lime, or
dissolved directly in a water bath, it produced strong intermolecular
bonds between the colorants and the fibers. Taking “mordanting”
(“mordant” from the Latin mordere, meaning “to bite”) as our
metaphor, we aim to shift attention in historical research on material
and knowledge flows, global connections and scientific and technological
change away from raw materials (conceived of as critical inputs) and
commodities (produced as valuable outputs) towards the intermediary
substances that were essential to the transformation of materials, as
well as of scientific and technological knowledge. As materials,
techniques, and practices were set in motion within regional and
trans-regional networks, how were these materials and the technologies
of their transformation mobilized, stabilized, and maintained across
material and environment conditions? We ask further, where do we locate
the materiality of knowledge production when the material, the
substance, and the solution dissipate from the final product?
We
welcome papers that present case studies drawn from the Global South and
on chemical technologies such as leather tanning, fragrance
distillation, metallurgy, dyeing and pigments, and the brewing of
alcoholic beverages, among others. We also invite papers from material
scientists on historical chemical technologies that highlight how
testing for and analysis of chemical compounds can shed light on the
material practices. The workshop will take place on 10th-11th July 2018, at the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science in Berlin, Germany.
Keywords:
History of Science & Technology & Medicine, Anthropology,
Archaeology, Asian Studies, Latin American Studies, Middle East Studies,
African Studies, Materials Science
Contact Info:
Paper proposals – including a title, abstract (400 words max.), and a short CV (no more than 1 page) – may be submitted via the online submission portal (https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScEKOgiuOWKDJWIaJ3vL2rEPyWYJ_00bwDgMKAUjurOj1bX_w/viewform) by 31 January 2018. Accepted contributions will be notified by 28 February 2018. Please direct research related inquiries to Dr. BuYun Chen at bchen@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de.
Accommodation will be provided for three days. Conference organization
will provide up to ten travel stipends. Detailed information regarding
travel booking and reimbursement will be given by MPIWG after the
selection process is completed.
Contact Email: bchen@mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de