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We welcome papers or other forms of participation that address topics exploring the history of science, medicine, technology, and indigenous knowledge in a local or global context; either within the specific contexts of the southern Pacific in the 1760s and 1770s, or in any other context where encounters and exchanges were integral to knowledge making. We encourage presentations that discuss any part of the world or the globe as a whole.
Exploring contexts where encounters and exchanges were integral to knowledge making
Building on the ‘dual heritage-shared future’ theme of the Tuia – Encounters 250 Commemoration, we are interested in topics that would include the following:
- Recent efforts to analyse reciprocal relationships
- The places between regions or cultures where exchanges negotiations, trade, and transactions have taken place
- The important role of mediators or go-betweens in the history of science, technology and indigenous knowledge
- The value of models for interactions that emphasise such concepts as ‘cultural borderlands’, ‘contact zones’, and ‘trading zones’
The conference will be especially interested in exploring the complex role of indigenous people in the history of science
Recent scholarship has emphasised that local people in all parts of the world not only gathered information but also helped categorise and conceptualise the information. Distinctions between amateurs and professionals as well as producers and users are no longer sharply conceived.
As a contribution to the recent emphasis on exploring the history of science in a global context, the conference will encourage research covering all parts of the world.
The organisers plan to publish selected papers in an edited volume on the global history of science, technology, medicine, and indigenous knowledge.
We seek three types of proposals (deadline 8 May 2019):
1. Individual papers
These will be approximately 20-minute presentations.
Please submit a title and abstract of your paper (200-250 words long) and a 50-100 word biographical paragraph.
2. Panels
These should include 3-4 individual papers on a common topic (with each presentation approximately 20 minutes long), a chair, and an optional commentator.
The organiser should submit a title and abstract for each of the presentations (200-250 words each), a biographical paragraph for each of the participants (50-100 words each), the title of the panel, and a separate outline discussing the panel's common theme and overarching rationale or purpose (approximately 200 words).
3. Other formats
We are very interested in receiving proposals for sessions experimenting with different formats. These might include:
- A performance-oriented session
- A panel discussion
- A demonstration
- A short workshop
- Or an entirely different idea
Please submit a title and an approximately 200-word description of your idea.
Your proposal should include a brief discussion of the purpose, objectives or goals of the session and, if applicable, the role of different participants.
Travel grants for postgraduate students and early-career scholars
Travel grants will be available for postgraduate students at New Zealand universities and early-career scholars in New Zealand.
If you are interested in one of these travel grants, send an expression of interest to the conference email address as soon as possible. More details will be available later about the formal application process.
Email encounters-exchanges@otago.ac.nz
