4S SYDNEY


TRANSnational STS


SOCIETY FOR SOCIAL STUDIES OF SCIENCE
ANNUAL CONFERENCE
SYDNEY INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION CENTRE
AUGUST 29 – SEPTEMBER 1 2018











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TRANSnational STS



The theme of the 2018 annual meeting of the Society for Social Studies of Science – TRANSnational STS – encourages presentations, panels, and other events that deepen and extend the transnational character of the Society itself, while engaging issues invoked by both the TRANS prefix (across, beyond, to change thoroughly), and by the problematic and evolving status of ‘nations’ in processes of global ordering. Leveraging the global scope of Science and Technology Studies (STS), our aim is to intensify connection between conference participants (scholars, practitioners, and students) based in different regions, stimulating conversation about ways 4S and other scholarly societies can provide critical infrastructure for next-generation, transnationally collaborative, intellectual and political engagements. We also aim to encourage consideration of a broad array of concepts that are undergoing – or should undergo – transformation if we are to address key scholarly and practical problems of our times. Current concepts, knowledges, practices, and institutions of “the nation” are exemplary, pointing to a need for radical reformulation of habitual ways of thinking about and organizing governance, bodies and lifeworlds. Expansive reconsideration of other concepts, foundational and emergent (justice, biopolitics, innovation, Empire, and the Anthropocene, for example), are also encouraged. Activities that draw conference participants into issues of special importance in Australia and the broader Asia-Pacific region – indigenous politics, border controls, mining, climate change, and renewable energy, for example — will be threaded throughout and offered in advance of the conference. The overall goal is to foreground diverse STS genealogies and approaches, leveraging the rich pluralism of STS, attuned to the rich pluralism of the contemporary world.



Sponsors and Partners

Special thanks to the Government of New South Wales and to the Museum of Applied Arts and Sciences (MAAS).





We also acknowledge the support of Deakin University, the Deakin Science and Society Network, the University of New South Wales (UNSW), and the ARC Centre of Excellence in Convergent Bio-Nano Science and Technology (CBNS)




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