Eurograd message

                Dear colleagues,
<br>
<br>Just a reminder for our upcoming workshop on the politics of non-knowledge
<br>at the University of Vienna (Faculty of Social Sciences) taking place 13-14
<br>November 2018.
<br>
<br>Deadline for abstracts is 31 August!
<br>
<br>Best regards,
<br>
<br>Katharina Paul
<br>on behalf of Ingrid Metzler, Erik Aarden, Helene Sorgner
<br>
<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
<br>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’
<br>also challenge the assumption that power thrives only on information: In
<br>this perspective, ignorance and non-knowledge are often actively produced,
<br>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
<br>these phenomena across disciplines. To begin with, sociologists of
<br>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
<br>approach uncertainty – sometimes termed ‘contingency’ – as an
<br>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
<br>of departure and seeks to spark an interdisciplinary dialogue. In doing so,
<br>we seek to enhance our understanding of non-knowledge practices and their
<br>consequences for democratic governance, politics and policy. We expect
<br>issues of ignorance and non-knowledge to be particularly pertinent in areas
<br>such as environmental policy and climate change, the regulation of
<br>financial markets, public health, migration, research governance, and the
<br>governance challenges arising in response to increasing digitalization and
<br>automation, to name but a 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
<br>governance in
<br>contemporary democracies?
<br>• How are unknowns and uncertainties currently addressed in different
<br>policy 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
<br>settings, or both. This may includeperspectives from a range of
<br>disciplines, such as political science, anthropology, sociology,geography,
<br>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
<br>a keynote by Linsey McGoey.
<br>
<br>Abstract submission
<br>Abstracts should be submitted as a Word document to ignorance-workshop@
<br>univie.ac.at, no later than 31 August 2018 and should contain approximately
<br>250 words. In addition, pleaseinclude your title, your position and
<br>institution, and explain in 3-5 sentences what yourspecific interest is in
<br>the topic to focus our attention to particular issues or themes. We will
<br>notify you if your abstract is successful by mid-September. If accepted, we
<br>will ask you tosubmit an extended abstract (i.e. 1000-2000 words) in
<br>advance of the workshop (mid-October), to be shared with other
<br>participants. The sharing of these short papers will helpinform a
<br>productive discussion.
<br>
<br>Organisers
<br>The workshop is organised by Katharina T. Paul, Ingrid Metzler, Erik
<br>Aarden(University
<br>ofVienna), and Helene Sorgner (AAU Klagenfurt). The Key Research Area
<br>‘Knowledge
<br>societies in turbulent times
<br>’
<br>(Faculty of Social Sciences) of the University of Vienna has generously
<br>agreed to co-fund the workshop, and additional funding will come from the FWF
<br>AustrianScience Fund  (Grant #VA561) and STS
<br>Austria.
<br>
<br>Output
<br>We anticipate a publication composed of selected papers from the workshop
<br>in 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
<br>event on the evening of the 13th November. Regrettably, we are unable to
<br>fund any bursaries.
<br>
<br>[demime 1.01d removed an attachment of type application/pdf which had a name of Folder_Ignorance_final_online_Version.pdf]
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