Call for papers: Workshop "1970s: Turn of an era in the history of science?"
Aarhus
Aarhus University, Centre for Science Studies
September 14-15, 2015
Deadline: April 30, 2015
Aarhus University, Centre for Science Studies
September 14-15, 2015
Deadline: April 30, 2015
Confirmed speakers:
Mark Carey, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA
Michael Egan, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Rüdiger Graf, Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung, Potsdam, Germany
Elke Seefried, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, München, and Universität Augsburg
Mark Carey, University of Oregon, Eugene, USA
Michael Egan, McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada
Rüdiger Graf, Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung, Potsdam, Germany
Elke Seefried, Institut für Zeitgeschichte, München, and Universität Augsburg
The
decade of the 1970s is regarded as a ‘turn of an era’ by many scholars.
Eric Hobsbawm describes the shift from a “golden age” of rapid economic
growth
to an age of economic stagnation. Helmut Kaelble refers to it as “a
major turning point or turning period of the 20th century”. Niall
Ferguson depicts the 1970s as a time of crisis in many spheres: the
economic (with high inflation), political (with new movements
and political conflicts), social (with increases in abortion, crime,
class conflict, marital breakdown, and racial tensions), and popular
culture. Konrad Jarausch marks this period as “the end of confidence”,
describing a shift from progress optimism to cultural
pessimism. Jeremy Black emphasizes the rise of environmental
transformations and environmental consciousness in the 1970s, whilst
Thomas Borstelmann argues that “the years of uncertainty and
disillusionment” during this period opened opportunities for reform,
improvement and cultural change.
Where
do the sciences feature in this picture of the 1970s? Whilst historical
interest in this period has risen quickly in recent years, little
attention
has so far been paid to the role of science in this decade of crisis
and political and cultural change. Historian of science Jon Agar, as a
rare exception, suggests the “long 1960s” as a “period of ‘sea change’”
in the history of science. He depicts changing
institutional dynamics, a multiplication of experts, the rise of value-
and knowledge-based social movements, and orientation towards the self
as transformative forces in science and its cultural context. He argues
that we lack sufficient synthetic accounts
for the sciences. Others prefer to speak of the ‘long 1970s’ to
contrast features of unrest and crisis with enthusiasm in fields such as
scientific planning and futurology.
This
workshop aims to address these questions and to cast light on the
sciences and their relationships to broader themes of political crisis
and cultural
transformation in the 1970s. This turn of an era raises many questions.
How did the events of the 1970s impact the sciences and their
perception in broader culture? To what extent were scientists affected
by changing economic and political contexts and social
interests? How did scientists view society during the 1970s, and how
did they seek to portray themselves in light of broader social and
political unrest? In what ways did scientists contribute to change in
the 1970s? Broader historiographic questions, too,
are of interest: How do Cold War science narratives help or hinder to
understand the 1970s? Which concepts can serve to investigate the rise
of environmental interest in science and broader culture? What
continuities and discontinuities in the (environmental)
sciences are visible from the pre-1970s to the post-1970s?
Within
these broad topics, this workshop will focus on the role of
environmental interest and resources in science in the 1970s. Pertinent
topics to be discussed
are scientific efforts related to nuclear energy, the oil crises,
limits of growth, alternative energy technologies, environmental
pollution, future planning, etc. Other topics dealing with science and
its cultural impact in the 1970s will also be considered.
We invite contributions of individual papers to this workshop. Please
provide a 300-word abstract and a short CV. Some travel funding is
available for young scholars. Please indicate if you need financial
support.
Conference website: css.au.dk/en/
