Dear all,
we are pleased to invite contributions to the track (n.180) “The cyborg is getting older: exploring the body/machine fusion at the intersection of STS and Age Studies” that will take place at the 4S/EASST Meeting in Prague on August 18-21, 2020
Link: https://www.easst4s2020prague.org/accepted-open-panels-medicine-and-healthcare/
Summary
In 1985, Haraway introduced the concept of ‘cyborg’ into social sciences to describe “a cybernetic organism, a hybrid of a machine and organism” (p. 65). Thirty-five years later this figuration seems to have still something to offer to technoscience.
In this track, we revisit Joyce and Mamo’s (2006) suggestion to ‘gray the cyborg’ – that “technologies and science are central to definitions and lived experiences of aging and that aging is central to technologies and science (…) In many ways, aging people disproportionately rely on and negotiate technologies inside and outside of their bodies” (p. 100). However, it is noteworthy that heroic stories about the body/machine fusion prevail in cultural studies and medicine, and vulnerability of cyborgs is often overlooked in STS, which also show an almost exclusive interest in technologies external to bodies (Oudshoorn 2016).
This track brings together contributions at the intersection of STS, social gerontology and gerontechnology and invites prospective authors to ‘gray the cyborg’ by sharing theoretical and empirical insights about the entanglement of age, technology, and science. Presentations are invited (but not limited) to:
interrogate the applicability of cyborg figuration to the study of aging and technologies;
tell stories other than the heroic ones, addressing the vulnerabilities related to the intertwinement of technologies and ageing bodies;
explore new figurations that like the Haraway’s cyborg disrupt ‘boundaries’ and inhabit ‘margins’;
revise the conceptualisation of an aging body when technologies of various kinds (implants, prostheses, etc) become part of the body itself or an extension of it.
Convenors:
Michela Cozza, Mälardalen University
Helen Manchester, University of Bristol
Alexander Peine, Utrecht University
Monika Urban, University of Bremen, Germany
We look forward to reading your proposal!
Best
Michela, Helen, Alexander, Monika
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