Old Email Archive

digest 2001-11-06 #001.txt

11:13 PM 11/5/01 -0800
From: "Society for Literature & Science" 
Daily SLS Email Digest

-> Fwd: CFP: Sidelined Sciences? Shifting Centres in 19th C. Scientific
Thinking (12/31/01; collection)
     by Carol Wald 

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Date: 5 Nov 2001 22:10:32 -0800
From: Carol Wald 
Subject: Fwd: CFP: Sidelined Sciences? Shifting Centres in 19th C.
Scientific Thinking (12/31/01; collection)

>Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2001 17:10:02 +0000 (GMT)
>From: David Clifford 
>To: 
>Subject: CFP: Sidelined Sciences? Shifting Centres in 19th C.
>Scientific Thinking (12/31/01; collection)
>Sender: owner-cfp@dept.english.upenn.edu
>
>CALL FOR PAPERS
>
>Sidelined Sciences? Shifting Centres in Nineteenth-Century Scientific
>Thinking
>
>A collection of essays on the status of scientific ideas
>
>
>
>IN THE EARLY nineteenth century, to express a belief in the
transmutation
>of species was to invite opprobrium and ridicule; phrenology, on the
other
>hand, was considered a serious field of scientific enquiry by many
>intelligent men and women. Thomas Huxley, for instance, publicly
denounced
>the 'unscientific' credentials of those who held evolutionary beliefs;
>George Eliot, it is said, had her head shaved for a phrenological
>examination of her skull.
>
>Modern prejudices tend to dominate how we look back on earlier
>intellectual frameworks, with current values acting as reference points
by
>which past ideas are judged: a set of historically linear trials and
>errors culminating in what we regard as 'right' thinking. At any given
>moment certain ideas will be regarded as central while others will be
>relegated to the fringes of respectability. Despite claims for
empirical
>objectivity, science is not immune to the vagaries of intellectual
>fashion. This volume develops the recent trend by scholars in the
history
>of science to move away from the 'linear' model, by attempting to
>recontextualize different scientific ideas, and thereby to explore the
>factors which raised some to prominence, and shunted others to the
>margins.
>
>The last two hundred years demonstrate clearly how the 'value' of
certain
>scientific ideas shifts radically over time. The proposed volume is
>intended to relocate those scientific ideas in their original
intellectual
>and social context, and to explore the grounds on which cultures
privilege
>particular scientific ideologies. Contributions will discuss a number
of
>questions about scientific centrality/marginality in the 'long'
nineteenth
>century (1789-1914): * What determined whether a particular scientific
>idea carried authoritative status? * How did shifting criteria for
'proof'
>affect what was regarded as cutting-edge, and what was on the extreme
>fringes? * How did different production media signify the varying
status
>of the sciences? * How did the advocates of scientific ideas see
>themselves, whether central or marginal? * How did other professionals
and
>the public regard them?
>
>We invite abstracts and expressions of interest in any of these
questions
>or anything that relates to the subjective centrality/marginality of
>scientific ideas in the nineteenth century. While this project will be
of
>specific interest to historians of science, we will be happy to
consider
>relevant abstracts from scholars of any discipline (including
scientists).
>We expect the shifting centrality/marginality axis to be the reference
>point for all essays, but within that limitation the options are broad.
>Selected topics for proposals may include:
>
>* Medical reform; Sanitation & sanitary science; Comparative anatomy;
>Medicine & drugs; Anaesthetics; Vaccination; Medical equipment
>* Religion & belief; Natural theology; The Bridgewater Treatises;
>Materialism
>* Mathematics; Chemistry; Astronomy; Cosmology; Engineering;
Technology;
>Electricity; Computing; Photography; Taxonomy; Geology; Natural
history;
>Botany & botanical gardens; Zoology & zoos
>* Animal magnetism; Spiritualism; Phrenology; Psychology; Sexology;
>Hysteria; Hypnosis; Mesmerism; Telepathy; Spontaneous generation of
life
>* Exploration & discovery; Voyaging & collecting; Marine science; Space
>travel; Time travel
>* Transformism/evolution; Race & anthropology; Eugenics; Degeneration;
>Genetics; Atavism
>* The Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge; The Library of
Useful
>Knowledge; The Mechanic's Institutes; Laboratory science; Science in
>education; Working class scientific societies; Women & scientific
learning
>* The status of science; Professionalization of science; Military
science
>& technology; Politics of science; Philosophies of science; Public
>reception of science & technology; Amateur science; Anxieties about
>science & technology; Science fiction
>
>Essays on specific individual figures, whether scientific or otherwise,
>will also be considered. Abstracts of 500 words should be sent by 31
>December 2001. If sending abstracts by e-mail, our preferred method,
>please include it in the body text and not as an attachment. Send to
all
>of the following:
>
>David Clifford (djhc2@cam.ac.uk), Clare Hall, Cambridge, CB3 9AL
>Elisabeth Wadge (esw1001@cam.ac.uk), Newnham College, Cambridge, CB3
9DF
>Alex Warwick (a.warwick@westminster.ac.uk), Univ. of Westminster, 309
>Regent Street, London W1B 2UW
>Martin Willis (wilm1@worc.ac.uk), University College Worcester, Henwick
>Grove, Worcester WR2 6AJ
>
>
>          ===============================================
>          From the Literary Calls for Papers Mailing List
>                       CFP@english.upenn.edu
>                        Full Information at
>                 http://www.english.upenn.edu/CFP/
>           or write Erika Lin: elin@english.upenn.edu
>          ===============================================

- --
Carol Ann Wald
UCLA Department of English
wald@humnet.ucla.edu
310.453.6682