We are happy to invite you to our 5th talk of the Vienna STS Talk Series in 2024W
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FutureSpace Talk by Eleanor Armstrong & Réka
Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Leicester & STS, TU Munich
November 14, 2024 04:00 PM-05:00
The Playboy Bunny and the Astronaut Wife: Constructing Femininities and the United States Space Program.
You can register for the talk here<https://futurespace-project.eu/futurespace-talk-registration/>
Abstract
Inspired by Ahmed (2010), we follow the figures of the 'playboy bunny' and the 'astronaut wife' through the cultural legacies of (north american) space flight. Following from our work on what feminist interventions can offer to social studies of outer space (2023), in this talk we work through how femininities of the Other of the hegemonic masculinities of outer space are constructed. Our work asks how these figures reverberate in popular cultures to shape present and futures conceptions of femininity in outer space, and offer pathways that intervene in normative gendered futurities. In following these figures, we think about what illuminating them might do also for directing pathways of feminist scholarship on outer space in the future.
We consider the Playboy Bunny: a construct of the pornotopic 1950s, and the discursive counterpoint to the womanizing young man. Appearing off-handedly in archival interviews about life at Johnson Space Center during the early space programmes of the 1950s and 60s, making her way secretly into lunar checklists worn by astronauts on the Moon, and continuing to draw media attention into the 2000s, we draw on Preciado's biopolitical theorising (2019) to think through the sexual relations and gender politics of the space programme. Contrastingly on the mother-whore axis, stands the media construct of the "astronaut wife." Using perspectives from Feminist Communication Studies, we explore how the assigned duties of the astronaut wife upheld the figure of the hypermasculine astronaut. We argue that the caretaking duties assigned to the figure of the "astronaut wife" extended beyond the confines of her homeboundness and homemaking into outer space: she was rendered part of the communication technologies available to take care of the hypermasculine astronaut's mental health. We conclude by considering how these examples help us pluralise and (re)make future femininities in relation to outer space.
Biography
Eleanor S Armstrong is a Space Research Fellow at the University of Leicester, UK, where she leads the Constellations Lab (on Outer Space & Feminism). She was awarded her PhD at University College London, UK, in 2020; and since then has held positions at the University of Delaware and Stockholm University, and visiting positions at, among others, the University of Cambridge, Ingenium Canada's Museums of Science and Innovation, New York University, and University of Vienna.
Réka P Gál is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Department of Science, Technology and Society at Technische Universität München. She completed her doctorate at University of Toronto's Faculty of Information. She is the co-editor of Earth and Beyond in Tumultuous Times: A Critical Atlas of the Anthropocene, published by meson press.
Organiser
Nina Klimburg-Witjes, Assist. Prof. STS Dep Vienna / PI "FutureSpace" & Joseph Popper (Postdoc Researcher, STS Dep Vienna / FutureSpace)
FutureSpace (ERC Starting Grant Project), Department of Science and Technology Studies
Location
online via zoom<https://univienna.zoom.us/j/63251489007?pwd=FBTgiIoQbHPTvmHhnjFwObba9mAGqZ.1>
[cid:image003.png@01DB2BA9.95D3E180]
__________
Mag. Katrin Hackl
Research Support & Communication
Department of Science and Technology Studies
University of Vienna
Universitätsstraße 7 /II/ 6th floor (NIG)
1010 Vienna / Austria
Tel.: 0043-1-4277-496007
[cid:image005.jpg@01DB2BA9.95D3E180]<https://sts.univie.ac.at/>
Liebe EST-ler:innen,
Wir haben einige Hinweise aus dem Bereich Wissenschaftsgeschichte: Heute
sind Sie zu einem Vortrag über eine preisgekrönte Dissertation über die
Welt der Bilder in der Pädagogik eingeladen (HS 30); Anfang November
beginnt eine geblockte Vorlesung zur "Geschichte der Reproduktion", die
wir sehr empfehlen. Diese Vorlesung ist ein einmaliges Angebot, denn die
Gastprofessorin Martina Schlünder ist nur dieses Semester bei uns in
Wien. Zudem gibt es einige Hinweise auf Stipendien und
Stellenausschreibungen für diejenigen, die bereits über die Zeit nach
dem Master nachdenken.**
Mit bestem Gruß
Anna Echterhölter
<https://ifg.univie.ac.at/ueber-uns/mitarbeiterinnen/wissenschaftliche-mitar…>P.S.
Wenn Sie Rückfragen zum Projektmodul M4 haben: Derzeit bin ich
Modulbeauftragte.
_______________________________
Anna Echterhölter
Professor of History of Science
University of Vienna
Faculty of Historical and Cultural Studies
Department of History
Universitätsring 1
1010 Vienna| Austria T + 43-1-4277-40 865
Editor of Science in Context
Member of new DFG Network: Global Cultures of Enquête: Towards a
Praxeology of Surveying (17th–21st Century)
*************************************************
*30. Oktober 2024, 18.30 – 20.00 Uhr*
Institut für Geschichte, Universität Wien, Universitätsring 1, 1010
Wien, Hörsaal 30
*Simon Huber *(Wien):* Buchstäbliche Aufklärung. Die Emergenz der
Anschaulichkeit in Comenius’ /Orbis pictus /(1658)*
/Moderation: Anna Echterhölter/ HYBRID – VOR ORT UND ONLINE UNTER:
https://univienna.zoom.us/j/64820480515?pwd=OxWSTMlGHGYHaVykekomQOSUK1wUDk.1
Einer gängigen Einschätzung zu Folge erhob Johan Amos Comenius
(1592–1670) „Anschaulichkeit“ zu einer zentralen Maßgabe der
Unterrichtsgestaltung, ohne noch diesen Begriff zu prägen. Doch machte
er in der Bildenzyklopädie /Orbis sensualium pictus /(‚Der sichtbare
Erdkreis im Bild‘) die zugedachte Funktionsweise schulmeisterlich vor:
Die 150 „vornehmlichsten Dinge“ dieser Welt werden repräsentiert, auf
jeweils einer Doppelseite, mittels Holzschnitts, lateinischem
Beschreibungstext und deutscher Übersetzung – auch unbedarfte Kinder
sollten sich durch das Blättern in diesem Werk die darin repräsentierte
Welt aneignen können.
Aus diesem Paradigma speisen sich bis heute Hoffnungen auf eine
medientechnisch entsprechend raffinierte Vermittlung, die es in naher
Zukunft erlaubt, körperliche Präsenz aus der didaktischen Gleichung
streichen zu können. Das Medium des Buches wird zum universalen Träger
beliebigen Wissens, das nicht mehr der gleichzeitigen Anwesenheit von
Lehrenden und Lernenden erfordert, sondern sich selbst mitteilt.
Das medienarchäologische Studium dieses Buchs aus dem 17. Jahrhundert
legt die Entstehung eines Codes in der Darstellung von Wissen frei.
Dieser Anspruch, Wissen zur selbsttätigen Aneignung aufzubereiten,
migriert in außerpädagogische Bereiche, durch Verdinglichung der
Anschaulichkeit in Form eines Buchs. Sie ist als zentrales Kriterium des
graphischen Interface-Designs in unserer Alltagskommunikation vorzufinden.
*Zum Vortragenden:*
Simon Huber lehrt und forscht zur visuellen Kultur spielerischer
Wissensvermittlung. Er studierte Geschichte und Bildungswissenschaft
(Universität Wien) und wurde an der Universität für angewandte Kunst
promoviert. Seine Dissertation erhielt 2022 den Staatspreis „Award of
Excellence“ des BMBWF.
***********************************************
*6. November 2024: Auftakt der Vorlesung: Geschichte der Reproduktion*
*Dozentin: Martina Schlünder*
Hormone und die "Pille", In-Vitro-Fertilisation und "Reagenzglaskinder",
Leihmutterschaft und Eizellspenden sind nur einige Ergebnisse der
technologischen Wende in den Reproduktionswissenschaften des 20.
Jahrhunderts. Sie beschäftigten Enquête- und Ethikkommission, änderten
Geschlechterbeziehungen, Familienstrukturen und
Verwandtschaftsverhältnisse. Bevölkerungspolitik auf eugenischer und
ökonomischer Basis, der Kampf um das weibliche Selbstbestimmungsrecht
über den Körper und die Regulierung globaler Märkte für reproduktive
Substanzen (Eizellen, Samen) prägen auch im 21. Jahrhundert
geschlechter- und gesellschaftspolitische Auseinandersetzungen. Dabei
tauchte der Reproduktionsbegriff erst im 18. Jahrhundert als Konzept in
der europäischen Naturgeschichte auf. Reproduktion ersetzte den
Zeugungsbegriff mit seiner Betonung des einmaligen, göttlichen
Schöpfungsakts. Stattdessen diente das Reproduktionskonzept der
Naturalisierung generativer Fähigkeiten und trug zur Konstitution des
Lebensbegriffs und der Entstehung der Lebenswissenschaften im 19.
Jahrhundert bei.
https://ufind.univie.ac.at/de/course.html?lv=070314&semester=2024W
****************************************************
*3. Dezember 2024: University of Cambridge:*
*HPS Futures Studentship for Widening Participation in History and
Philosophy of Science and Medicine*
The Department of History and Philosophy of Science will offer a fully
funded studentship for a student starting the MPhil in History and
Philosophy of Science and Medicine in October 2025. This studentship
aims to address challenges of equity and inclusion in the history and
philosophy of science, medicine and technology by widening access and
participation. We also encourage work deepening understanding of these
issues. Home and International students are invited to apply.
We encourage applications from those of Black or mixed Black
backgrounds, from low-income households, affected by war, and/or in
locations where research training in disciplinary HPS is unavailable, as
well as from others interested in transformative research and pedagogy
in HPS.
Applicants for this studentship may choose to address topics related to
equity, inclusion and widening participation and the varied ways these
have been and are significant in science, medicine and technology, but
the Department offers scope for research in many other fields.
Those wishing to be considered should apply in the usual way by the
funding deadline, *3 December 2024*, ensuring that their Statement of
Purpose describes how their background and/or research plans address the
aims of the studentship.
It can be found on our website here
<https://www.hps.cam.ac.uk/study/postgraduate/funding>, or you can use
the text below. Please share it with your respective networks. Thank you
to Charu and Richard for their hard work on this!
******************************************************
*15. November 2024, Promotionsstelle 2889*
The working group history of science at the University of Vienna is
seeking to fill a predoc-position, 75%, for the duration of four years.
The dissertation will be supervised by Anna Echterhölter.
Candidates ideally specialise in political epistemology, for instance
the history of data or epistemic decolonisation. They will teach 1,5
courses per term at the Department of History, as well as with the new
MA Epistemologies of Science and Technology jointly with STS and the
Department of Philosophy. Applications should reach us no later than
November 15th, 2024. Feel free to circulate the information about the
position:
ENG:
https://jobs.univie.ac.at/job/University-assistant-predoctoral-1/1109285401/
DT:
https://jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Universit%C3%A4tsassistentin-Praedoc/11092853…
For our activities in Vienna:
https://fsp-wissenschaftsgeschichte.univie.ac.at
********************************************************
*13. November 2024 Promotionsstelle 3106*
The University of Vienna is seeking to fill a predoc-position, 75%, for
the duration two years. The dissertation will be supervised by Dietlind
Hüchtker.
Geschlechtergeschichte/Wissenschaftsgeschichte rsp. Political
Epistemologies oder Ländliche Gesellschaften
https://jobs.univie.ac.at/job/Universit%C3%A4tsassistentin-Praedoc/11345803…https://jobs.univie.ac.at/job/University-assistant-predoctoral/1134580401/
Zum Zeitpunkt der Bewerbung muss das Diplom noch nicht unbedingt
vorliegen, zum Arbeitsbeginn aber ist die Vorbedingung des
Arbeitsvertrages.
*Final Call for Abstracts:*
*Workshop I: Adverse Allies: Logical Empiricism and Austrian EconomicsThe
FWF ESPRIT research project “Adverse Allies: Logical Empiricism and
Austrian Economics”, the Institute of Philosophy and Scientific Method (JKU
Linz), the Institute Vienna Circle (University of Vienna), and the Vienna
Circle Society host two workshops in 2025. The organizers seek submissions
for contributed talks for the first workshop now.*
Acknowledging the existence of disagreements between logical empiricism and
the Austrian School, recent scholarship has challenged the received view of
antithetical opposition by reconstructing hitherto neglected
compatibilities and similarities between the two movements.
This workshop aims to advance historical as well as systematic discussions
on the relationship between logical empiricism and Austrian economics.
Contributions that fruitfully inform contemporary debates in philosophy,
methodology, politics, or the sciences are particularly welcome.
*Deadline for Submissions: 31.10.2024*
Notification: 30.11.2024
*Workshop I in Vienna: 12.02.-14.02.2025*
Save the date for workshop II in Linz: 23.09.-25.09.2025
*You find more information and the abstract submission form here: *
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd5Mg7ThW9ufbzUkJcEk7ZodNnraJ7PuiZ…
*Scientific Committee: *Alexander Linsbichler, Julian Reiss, Georg
Schiemer, Friedrich Stadler
*Queries:* Alexander Linsbichler (alexander.linsbichler(a)jku.at)
*Alexander Linsbichler*
Institute of Philosophy and Scientific Method (Johannes Kepler University
Linz)
alexander.linsbichler(a)jku.at
Department of Philosophy (
<https://ufind.univie.ac.at/de/person.html?id=47545>University of Vienna)
<https://ufind.univie.ac.at/de/person.html?id=47545>
alexander.linsbichler(a)univie.ac.at
*neu erschienen: Viel mehr
<https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/detail/index/sArticle/57805/sC…>als
nur
<https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/detail/index/sArticle/57805/sC…>Ökonomie
<https://www.vandenhoeck-ruprecht-verlage.com/detail/index/sArticle/57805/sC…>
(Böhlau, 2022)*
We are happy to invite you to our 4th talk of the Vienna STS Talk Series in 2024W
[cid:image001.jpg@01DB2601.605AD570]
FutureSpace Talk by Julie Michelle Klinger
Department of Geography & Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware
October 24, 2024 04:00 PM-05:00 PM
Extractive Labor in Extraglobal Geographies.
You can register for the talk here<https://futurespace-project.eu/futurespace-talk-registration/>
Abstract
Contemporary space activities rely on hardware, and hardware is comprised of minerals, metals, and materials wrested from the Earth by human labor. This embeds the extraglobal geographies in extractive supply chains and labour regimes on Earth, and shapes the manner in which the immensity of the cosmos is understood and engaged by diverse publics. Drawing on several examples from around the world, this talk presents a conceptual architecture for centering the politics of labor and land use in outer space geographies, while also reflexively examining the potential epistemic violence of using extractivism as a spatial analytic to link Earthly and outer space geographies.
Biography
Dr. Julie Michelle Klinger (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences at the University of Delaware, and a member of the International Standards Organization Technical Advisory Group 298: Rare Earth Supply Chain Transparency and Traceability. Dr. Klinger and her research team are supported by the National Science Foundation, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Ford Foundation to conduct grounded yet global-scope research on competing uses for energy-transition metals, materials, and infrastructures. She has published numerous articles on rare earth elements, natural resource use, environmental politics, and outer space, including the award-winning 2018 book Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes. She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley.
Organiser
Nina Klimburg-Witjes, Assist. Prof. STS Dep Vienna / PI "FutureSpace" & Joseph Popper (Postdoc Researcher, STS Dep Vienna / FutureSpace)
FutureSpace (ERC Starting Grant Project), Department of Science and Technology Studies
Location
online via zoom<https://univienna.zoom.us/j/63251489007?pwd=FBTgiIoQbHPTvmHhnjFwObba9mAGqZ.1>
[cid:image003.png@01DB2601.FBE4F2F0]
Best wishes,
Katrin Hackl
__________
Mag. Katrin Hackl
Research Support & Communication
Department of Science and Technology Studies
University of Vienna
Universitätsstraße 7 /II/ 6th floor (NIG)
1010 Vienna / Austria
Tel.: 0043-1-4277-496007
[cid:image002.jpg@01DB2601.605AD570]<https://sts.univie.ac.at/>
We are happy to invite you to our 4th talk of the Vienna STS Talk Series in 2024W:
[cid:image001.jpg@01DB1FE6.0F050D10]
FutureSpace Talks by Julie Michelle Klinger
Department of Geography & Spatial Sciences, University of Delaware
October 24, 2024, 04:00 PM-05:00 PM
Extractive Labor in Extraglobal Geographies.
You can register for the talk here<https://futurespace-project.eu/futurespace-talk-registration/>
Abstract
Contemporary space activities rely on hardware, and hardware is comprised of minerals, metals, and materials wrested from the Earth by human labor. This embeds the extraglobal geographies in extractive supply chains and labour regimes on Earth, and shapes the manner in which the immensity of the cosmos is understood and engaged by diverse publics. Drawing on several examples from around the world, this talk presents a conceptual architecture for centering the politics of labor and land use in outer space geographies, while also reflexively examining the potential epistemic violence of using extractivism as a spatial analytic to link Earthly and outer space geographies.
Biography
Dr. Julie Michelle Klinger (she/her) is an Associate Professor in the Department of Geography and Spatial Sciences at the University of Delaware, and a member of the International Standards Organization Technical Advisory Group 298: Rare Earth Supply Chain Transparency and Traceability. Dr. Klinger and her research team are supported by the National Science Foundation, The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Ford Foundation to conduct grounded yet global-scope research on competing uses for energy-transition metals, materials, and infrastructures. She has published numerous articles on rare earth elements, natural resource use, environmental politics, and outer space, including the award-winning 2018 book Rare Earth Frontiers: From Terrestrial Subsoils to Lunar Landscapes. She holds a PhD in Geography from the University of California, Berkeley.
Organiser
Nina Klimburg-Witjes, Assist. Prof. STS Dep Vienna / PI "FutureSpace" & Joseph Popper (Postdoc Researcher, STS Dep Vienna / FutureSpace)
Location
online via zoom<https://univienna.zoom.us/j/63251489007?pwd=FBTgiIoQbHPTvmHhnjFwObba9mAGqZ.1>
[cid:image002.png@01DB1FE6.0F050D10]
Best wishes,
Katrin Hackl
_____________
Mag. Katrin Hackl
Research Support & Communication
Department of Science and Technology Studies
University of Vienna
Universitätsstraße 7 /II/ 6th floor (NIG)
1010 Vienna / Austria
Tel.: 0043-1-4277-496007
[cid:image003.jpg@01DB1FE6.0F050D10]<https://sts.univie.ac.at/>
Dear all,
it is my pleasure to remind you of the third installment of the
Trans*formations talk series, which will take place THIS FRIDAY. The
talk is part of an event series organized by the Vienna Doctoral School
of Philosophy at the Institute of Philosophy, University of Vienna,
which provides insights into recent developments in trans*
philosophizing.
This time, Eric Llaveria Caselles, currently working at the Center for
Interdisciplinary Women and Gender Studies (ZIFG) at the Technical
University Berlin, will give a talk titled "Epistemic Violence and Trans
Theory. A Cartography of Minor Truths."
When: Friday, October 18th 2024 15:00 - 16:30
Where: HS 3B, 3. Stock Neues Institutsgebäude (NIG), Universitätsstraße
7, 1010 Wien (wheelchair accessible through main entrance elevator)
If you want to follow the talk online, please join using the following
link:
https://univienna.zoom.us/j/67838003396?pwd=jmudw0UhAfnZdnkbYipm1ARVS0B28a.1
Kenncode: 0000
Abstract:
For the transsexual subject to be able to emerge as a source of credible
speech, a fundamental critique of the western epistemic and symbolic
order had to gain traction. When Susan Stryker stood up at a Lesbian and
Gay History conference in New York in 1995 and yelled “I am a
transsexual and I am not sick!”, she reclaimed the participation of the
transsexual intellectual in the production of truths, refuting
discourses of dehumanization. This inaugural scene of Trans Studies
places the undoing of epistemic violence as both a precondition and a
fundamental commitment of trans theoretical practice.
But what does this commitment to emancipatory forms of knowledge
production entail? What are the contradictions of aspiring to
anti-normative purity? What conversations can we build on the repeated
condemnation of those reproducing symbolic violence? Does this
commitment not miss the practical reason of cultural narratives? And is
it possible to separate the epistemic violence from our sense of self,
our needs and desires? Do the voices of trans people really hold the key
to an emancipatory meaning? And if we betray the idea that we just need
to let trans people speak, what then can hold the possibility of undoing
epistemic violence?
In this talk, I reflect on these questions based on my own research
trajectory, which spans topics such as trans subcultural spaces,
neuroscientific studies of (trans)gender identity and trans social
reproduction in global capitalism. The talk traces the shifts of my
theoretical practice by building a personal cartography of minor truths.
I take the term “minor truths” from the title of a show by the artist
Spence Messih. Their glasswork compositions and philosophical
considerations introduce a phenomenological sensibility in my analysis,
inspiring me to search for a language that reflects the inseparability
of theoretical standpoint from affective states, social relationships
and political conjunctures. In conversation with Messih’s work, the talk
evolves in a non-linear motion connecting five modes of epistemic
experience: abstraction, vulnerability, praxeology, dialogue and
betrayal.
Bio:
Eric Llaveria Caselles is a PhD Candidate at the Center for
Interdisciplinary Women and Gender Studies (ZIFG) at the Technical
University Berlin. His recent publications explore the limitations of
gender identity positivism and queer deconstructivism as the two main
approaches to trans theory. His research builds on current trans Marxist
proposals and historical materialist traditions of gender theory to set
the groundwork for an alternative framework in Trans Studies.
Poster Art Work credit: Spence Messih, Minor truths, 2022; Kiln formed
glass, jarrah; Install: Murray Art Museum Albury | Commissioned by
Murray Art Museum Albury | Collection: Art Gallery of NSW & Murray Art
Museum Albury | Photo: Jeremy Weihrauch
There will be snacks and drinks!
Please feel free to forward this invitation to all who might be
interested to partake.
There is also a poster attached to this email!
Looking forward to seeing you at the talk and all the best,
Flora Löffelmann
--
Flora Löffelmann, MA MA
University assistant & doctoral candidate
Department of Philosophy at University of Vienna
Pronouns: they/them (for more info see:
https://www.mypronouns.org/what-and-why/)
Happy about a gender neutral "hello"!
Dear all,
This is a Reminder and an Update to the Semester Opening Event for the
EST Master!
When? 17.10.2024, 18:30
Where? Hörsaal 3D, NIG 3rd Floor
We have also reserved a table at the Wiener Deewan, so after our lively
preparations for the next semester we want to invite you to enjoy the
evening with us!
Thanks to everybody that already responded!
Please let me (Vinzenz, vinzenz.fischer(a)univie.ac.at) know if you want
to join so I know roughly how many we are.
We hope to see you there!
Vinzenz and Philipp
We are happy to invite you to our 2nd talk of the Vienna STS Talk Series in 2024W:
[cid:image001.jpg@01DB1027.07CE6F60]
FutureSpace Talk by David Valentine
10.10.2024 16:00 - 17:00
We are thrilled to announce David Valentine's Talk on 10th October 2024, 4:00 pm
When You Look at Earthrise, You Are Seeing the Wrong Thing (Or: An Autobiography of Earth)
You can register for the talk here<https://futurespace-project.eu/futurespace-talk-registration/>
Abstract
Since the photograph Earthrise was taken - specifically, by NASA astronaut Bill Anders during Apollo 8's fourth lunar orbit on (the Earth equivalent of) December 24th, 1968 CE at 16:39:39.3 UTC- it has been analyzed exhaustively to reveal a broad range of general, universalizing, and uncompromising claims about Earth, humanness, and the future. These claims, however, are also often orthogonal to one another or even contradictory. (Here are a few: Earthrise shows a fragile biosphere endangered by human excess... or it demonstrates that human technological ingenuity can solve terrestrial problems with outer space resources... or it masks a militarized, nationalist project as a moment of sublime transcendence... or it shows that humanity is ready to leave Earth's cradle and spread life elsewhere in the cosmos....) This paper's concern, however, is not with these analyses nor with their contradictions, but rather with the curious fact of their common generality and universality despite the spatiotemporal precision and specificity of Earthrise's provenance.
In this paper, I continue my ongoing project of thinking humanness from elsewhere in the cosmos to argue that Earth's fundamental conditions (its gravity, active core, radiation profile, magnetosphere, atmospheric chemistry, solar distance, and more) can sustain multiple-and even contradictory-generalized spatiotemporal analyses of the world, humanness, and the future without the specific autobiography of any individual terrestrial analyst of Earthrise being of relevance. Indeed, I will argue that Earthrise produces the aesthetic and embodied effect, for terrestrial viewers, of looking at Earth as if you were looking at it from Earth by obscuring the specific autobiographical moment of space-based viewing; the specific human-nonhuman assemblages and the simultaneous precision and compromise demanded by the always-contingent conditions of such viewing; and their radical non-equivalence to terrestrial spatiotemporal conditions. To put it another way: Any specific Terran could write an uncompromising and general autobiography of Earth without consequence to the whole world, a possibility that cannot be extended beyond its surface where the specificity of any act can be generally and immediately consequential. I will conclude by arguing that in looking at Earthrise from elsewhere in the cosmos, a non-Terran you would see not a general view of Earth, but rather, a specific example of how terrestrial humans are privileged to look at themselves in the multiple, contradictory, and uncompromising ways that their home world still sustains.
Biography
David Valentine is Associate Professor in the Department of Anthropology at the University of Minnesota Twin Cities.
Organiser
FutureSpace (ERC Starting Grant Project), Department of Science and Technology Studies
Location
online via zoom<https://univienna.zoom.us/j/63251489007?pwd=FBTgiIoQbHPTvmHhnjFwObba9mAGqZ.1>
[cid:image002.jpg@01DB1027.07CE6F60]
Best wishes,
Katrin Hackl
__________
Mag. Katrin Hackl
Drittmittelreferentin
Department of Science and Technology Studies
University of Vienna
Universitätsstraße 7 /II/ 6th floor (NIG)
1010 Vienna / Austria
Tel.: 0043-1-4277-49607
katrin.hackl(a)univie.ac.at<mailto:katrin.hackl@univie.ac.at>
http://sts.univie.ac.at<http://sts.univie.ac.at/>
Dear all,
We are happy to announce the Vienna Science Studies Lab Reading-Group
Cycle of this academic year.
The overall topic will be:
Artefacts: confronting the bio-social. - There will be three sessions:
11.11.24 Langdon Winner (1980) - Do artefacts have politics? 15-16:30
27.1.25 Craver, C. F., & Dan-Cohen, T. (2024). Experimental artefacts.
15-16:30
28.4.25 Arina Aristarkhova (2016). - A feminist object 15-16:30
There is also the opportunity to do a work in progress meeting to
discuss a paper draft you are interested in receiving feedback on. If
you are interested in doing one, contact me
(sophie.juliane.veigl(a)univie.ac.at)
For now, please let us know whether you plan on attending the first
meeting. If so, send us an email, and we'll forward the reading!
Please feel free to share this invitation with others who might be
interested!
All the best,
Olesya, Elis, and Sophie
We are happy to invite you to our 3rd talk of the Vienna STS Talk Series in 2024W:
[cid:image001.png@01DB14D0.42EA3540]
INNORES Talk by Mike Michael
15.10.2024 17:00 - 18:30
We are thrilled to announce Mike Michaels's Talk on 15th October 2024, 5:00 pm
Inventive problems and speculative things: What can (an ontologised) aesthetics offer STS and PEST, (and vice versa)?
Abstract
In this presentation I consider how an ontologised aesthetics might play a role in contemporary Science and Technology Studies (STS) and especially Public Engagement with Science and Technology (PEST), and vice versa. Drawing on the work of Whitehead and others, an ontologised version of aesthetics is outlined and related to STS and PEST. At base, the 'research event' of STS and PEST is understood as a process whereby heterogeneous elements 'aesthetically' combine to produce a cogent actual occasion. Re-visiting three empirical examples - the artistic controversy surrounding the nanotechnology Vantablack (the 'blackest black'), the enactment of the institutional 'defeat' of the London fatberg, and the use of lay metrology as a sociopolitical tool - the paper examines how technoscientific publics are 'aesthetically rendered aesthetic'. It is suggested that an STS/PEST attuned to 'speculative things' in material culture (e.g. respectively, Stuart Semple's 'the world's pinkest pink', Mike Thompson and Arne Hendriks floating fatberg, and Matty Benedetto's Vague Ruler) further opens up how aesthetics operates in the 'research event', not least by inventively problematising the parameters of both 'aesthetics' and 'publics'.
Biography
Mike Michael is a sociologist of science and technology, and a Professor of Sociology at the University of Exeter, UK. His research interests have touched on the public understanding of science, everyday life and technoscience, biomedical innovation and culture. Recently he has worked on lay metrology, design and speculative methodology. Major publications include Actor-Network Theory: Trials, Trails and Translations (Sage, 2017) and The Research Event: Towards Prospective Methodologies in Sociology (Routledge, 2021).
Organiser
Institut für Wissenschafts- und Technikforschung
Location
Seminarraum STS, NIG, 1010 Wien, Universitätsstraße 7/II/6. Stock and online via zoom<https://univienna.zoom.us/j/63251489007?pwd=FBTgiIoQbHPTvmHhnjFwObba9mAGqZ.1> (Meeting ID: 632 5148 9007, Passcode: 789205)
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Best wishes,
Katrin Hackl
__________
Mag. Katrin Hackl
Drittmittelreferentin
Department of Science and Technology Studies
University of Vienna
Universitätsstraße 7 /II/ 6th floor (NIG)
1010 Vienna / Austria
Tel.: 0043-1-4277-49607
katrin.hackl(a)univie.ac.at<mailto:katrin.hackl@univie.ac.at>
http://sts.univie.ac.at<http://sts.univie.ac.at/>