Call for Participants: Collaborative Pedagogies in the Global History of Science, October 11th and 12th at the University of Pennsylvania

The Science Beyond the West Working Group in the Department of History and Sociology of Science invites applications to participate in a workshop on “Collaborative Pedagogies in the Global History of Science.” In the past few decades, scholarship on the globalization of science has grown dramatically and pushed our field into closer conversation with disciplines such as anthropology, geography, area studies, and Indigenous studies. This “global” turn has de-centered histories of science focused on Europe and North America, moving past binaries of “center/periphery” and “local/global” while attending to both the circulation and stoppages in scientific knowledge production and practice. Our workshop takes inspiration from these emerging approaches and will address a topic that has as yet received little attention: how to integrate global perspectives into our graduate and undergraduate teaching.

 

Our workshop, “Collaborative Pedagogies in the Global History of Science,” seeks the participation of graduate students whose research and teaching center on the history of science, technology, and medicine beyond North America and Europe. Our workshop will include several short presentations, discussion groups, a reflective roundtable discussion, and a keynote lecture by Shigehisa Kuriyama. The workshop will feature several panels that tackle both practical and more abstract concerns faced by instructors of the global history of science: What are the existing narratives being taught to students in introductory-level classes? What are the roles of case studies in the history of science? How can we improve our syllabi for undergraduate and graduate students? What are some of the available resources, including databases and primary sources, for the history of science? As we are hoping to have participants with a range of experiences, we encourage graduate students to apply regardless of their level of teaching experience.

 

Share with us, in two paragraphs or less, why you would like to participate in this workshop. Describe your past/present/future teaching experiences and how they inform your desire to participate in this workshop. What questions do you currently have about teaching the global history of science? What are some of the challenges that you have faced as an instructor or teaching-assistant? What motivates you to refine and improve your teaching skills?

 

Please also indicate from where you will be travelling, whether you would like to receive financial support for participating in this workshop, and whether you will receive any institutional/departmental/external funding for your attendance and participation. As we intend to keep our workshop rather small (30-40 participants) and provide modest funding for those who attend, we cannot accept all applicants. Applications are due August 31st, 2019 here.