Message posted on 11/07/2018

Workshop CfP: Ignorance and non-knowledge: what consequences for democratic governance, politics and policy? 13-14 November, 2018, Vienna, Austria

                Dear colleagues,
<br>
<br>With apologies for crossposting, please find below a Call for Papers for a
<br>workshop at the University of Vienna (Faculty of Social Sciences) taking place
<br>13-14 November 2018.
<br>
<br>Best regards,
<br>
<br>Katharina T. Paul,
<br>on behalf of Ingrid Metzler, Erik Aarden, Helene Sorgner
<br>
<br>ignorance-workshop@univie.ac.at 
<br>
<br>http://politikwissenschaft.univie.ac.at/details/news/call-for-papers-workshop
<br>-ignorance-and-non-knowledge-what-consequences-for-democratic-governance
<br>
<br>
<br>Workshop: Ignorance and non-knowledge: what consequences for democratic
<br>governance, politics and policy?
<br>
<br>When: November 13-14, 2018
<br>Where: University of Vienna, Austria
<br>
<br>Confirmed keynote speakers:
<br>Linsey McGoey (University of Essex),
<br>Matthias Gross (University of Jena, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental
<br>Research – UFZ),
<br>Stefan Böschen (RWTH Aachen).
<br>
<br>Call for papers
<br>Ignorance and non-knowledge have become the subject of a growing body of
<br>research in the social sciences and humanities, giving rise to a new
<br>“sociology of ignorance.” In this line of thought, ignorance is not merely
<br>a consequence of the limits of our knowledge practices, but a knowledge
<br>practice in its own right. Concepts such as McGoey’s ‘strategic
<br>unknowns’ also challenge the assumption that power thrives only on
<br>information: In this perspective, ignorance and non-knowledge are often
<br>actively produced, cultivated, and exploited as a resource and a strategy.
<br>
<br>While engagements with ignorance and non-knowledge have become more salient
<br>over the past decade, there are different conceptual understandings of these
<br>phenomena across disciplines. To begin with, sociologists of ignorance have
<br>highlighted the importance of nonknowledge practices as a resource for
<br>industry actors. Moreover, political sociologists, such as Matthias Gross,
<br>have recently made more explicit links between Beck’s concept of ‘risk
<br>society’, ignorance studies, and contemporary governance of risks and
<br>security. From a slightly different perspective, political scientists approach
<br>uncertainty – sometimes termed ‘contingency’ – as an inherent
<br>condition or even mechanism of governance, rather than an instrumentally
<br>negotiated outcome of governance.
<br>
<br>This workshop takes these different understandings and concepts as points of
<br>departure and seeks to spark an interdisciplinary dialogue. In doing so, we
<br>seek to enhance our understanding of non-knowledge practices and their
<br>consequences for democratic governance, politics and policy. We expect issues
<br>of ignorance and non-knowledge to be particularly pertinent in areas such as
<br>environmental policy and climate change, the regulation of financial markets,
<br>public health, migration, research governance, and the governance challenges
<br>arising in response to increasing digitalization and automation, to name but a
<br>few. Specific questions of interest are:
<br>
<br>• What relevance do different understandings of ignorance, contingency and
<br>uncertainty have for the study of governance?
<br>• What practices of governing unknowable or unknown objects, and futures,
<br>can be
<br>discerned empirically?
<br>• What strategies of action or inaction do non-knowledge and/or uncertainty
<br>provoke
<br>on the part of governance actors, and where and how can we identify such
<br>strategies?
<br>• How do non-knowledge practices challenge or reinforce governance
<br>practices?
<br>• What taxonomies of knowledge practices emerge in particular case studies
<br>and policy
<br>areas, and what do these practices mean for our understandings of governance
<br>in
<br>contemporary democracies?
<br>• How are unknowns and uncertainties currently addressed in different policy
<br>arenas
<br>and research practices, and with what consequences?
<br>
<br>Participants
<br>We invite scholars and early-career researchers to explore these questions
<br>conceptually,through empirical case studies in different fieldwork settings,
<br>or both. This may includeperspectives from a range of disciplines, such as
<br>political science, anthropology, sociology,geography, history and STS.
<br>
<br>Format
<br>We envisage a small workshop, with sufficient room for comments and
<br>discussion.
<br>There will be a public panel discussion with Matthias Gross, Stefan Böschen
<br>and Ulrike Felt (tbc) and practitioners on November 13. Day 2 will feature a
<br>keynote by Linsey McGoey.
<br>
<br>Abstract submission
<br>Abstracts should be submitted as a Word document to
<br>ignorance-workshop@univie.ac.at , no later than 31 August 2018 and should
<br>contain approximately 250 words. In addition, pleaseinclude your title, your
<br>position and institution, and explain in 3-5 sentences what yourspecific
<br>interest is in the topic to focus our attention to particular issues or
<br>themes. We willnotify you if your abstract is successful by mid-September. If
<br>accepted, we will ask you tosubmit an extended abstract (i.e. 1000-2000 words)
<br>in advance of the workshop (mid-October), to be shared with other
<br>participants. The sharing of these short papers will helpinform a productive
<br>discussion.
<br>
<br>Organisers
<br>The workshop is organised by Katharina T. Paul, Ingrid Metzler, Erik
<br>Aarden(University ofVienna), and Helene Sorgner (AAU Klagenfurt). The Key
<br>Research Area ‘Knowledge societies in turbulent times
<br>’ (Faculty of Social Sciences) of the University of
<br>Vienna has generouslyagreed to co-fund the workshop, and additional funding
<br>will come from the FWF AustrianScience Fund  (Grant
<br>#VA561).
<br>
<br>Output
<br>We anticipate a publication composed of selected papers from the workshop in
<br>an interdisciplinary social science journal.
<br>
<br>Attendance
<br>Attendance is free of cost to invited participants. Lunch and refreshments
<br>will be provided on both days, and there will be a networking and social event
<br>on the evening of the 13th November. Regrettably, we are unable to fund any
<br>bursaries.
<br>_______________________________________________
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