Call for Papers and Sessions

ICOHTEC Symposium –– Rio de Janeiro, Brazil –– 23 ... 29 July 2017

The deadline extended to 29 February 2016

The International Committee for the History of Technology (ICOHTEC) will hold its 44^th symposium as part of the 25^th International Congress of the History of Science and Technology in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, on 23-29 July 2017 (http://www.ichst2017.sbhc.org.br). The general theme of the Congress is “Science, Technology and Medicine between the Global and the Local.” The Programme committee of ICHST suggests interpreting this theme broadly and encourages studies of the History of Science, Technology and Medicine at global, national and local levels, across all periods, and from a variety of methodological and historiographical approaches. While open to all proposals, the programme committee suggests the following sub-themes for the consideration of session organizers and contributors:

1. Does technology have a homeland or is it international, multicultural, transnational, universal or something else?

2. Interspatial dependence: Local activities and global consequences and vice versa

3. Can technology save the world? Geographical dimensions of technological fix

4. Race, gender, age and class: Social dimensions of technology

5. Impact of the market scale on technology

6. Made in the spot: Will indigenous, local and national technology have a future?

7. Culture, education, economy and politics: Societal contexts of technology

8. Reflections of users’ surroundings in shaping technology and designing products

9. Moving and removing technology: Territorial movements of technology and technological knowledge

10. Failed technology: How to define it and who decide on it?

11. Medicine and technology as tools of imperialism/colonialism

12. Interrelations between medicine and globalization: From national to international medicine R&D

13. Vision on media history: Technological bases of the ‘global village’

We urge contributors to organize a full session of three papers, or multiple related sessions of three papers each, with a named chair for each session. Individual paper submissions will, of course, be considered and grouped into sessions if deemed appropriate, but full sessions are strongly preferred. The ICOHTEC programme committee encourages the organizers of sessions to announce their plans to compile sessions and communicate with potential collaborators through H-NET and other networks such as social media. It is also possible to propose papers unrelated to the general theme. They can be presented in a “Special Topics” session.

Note: Membership in ICOHTEC is not required to participate in the symposium. We especially encourage graduate students and young researchers to participate in the symposium and submit their proposals. Limited travel grants will be available; see further information at:

http://www.icohtec.org/ .

SESSION proposals must include: (1) an abstract of the session (300 - 450 words), listing the proposed papers (see individual paper proposal guidelines below) and the chairperson; (2) abstracts for each paper (200 - 300 words); (3) a one-page biographical sketch for each contributor and chairperson. Sessions consist of at least three or four speakers, and may include several sections of three or four speakers each, which might extend over more than one day. Each individual section of a session should have a chairperson.

INDIVIDUAL PAPER proposals must include: (1) a 200 – 300 -word abstract in English; and (2) a one-page biographical sketch. Abstracts should include the author’s name and email address, a short informative title of the paper, a concise statement of the thesis, a brief discussion of the sources, and a summary of  expected conclusions. In preparing your paper, remember that presentations are not full-length articles. You will have no more than 20 minutes speaking time, which is roughly equivalent to 8 double-spaced typed pages. Contributors are encouraged to submit full-length versions of their papers after the congress for consideration by ICOHTEC’s journal ICON. If you are submitting an independent paper proposal dealing with a particular sub-theme mentioned above, please, indicate this in your proposal.

The ICOHTEC Board will make available a limited number of travel grants for graduates, post-gra-duates and young researchers who are giving papers at the Symposium.

Proposal Submissions

The final deadline for all submissions is 29 February 2016.

Please, submit proposals for papers and sessions via the ICOHTEC online submission system at: http://icohtec.org/annual-meeting/cfp-system/2017-rio/

Please pay close attention to the instructions, particularly those that relate to the word length of submitted documents.

Should you have any queries on the procedure, please contact Timo Myllyntaus, the chair of the programme committee, via email (timmyl@utu.fi).

If you are unable to access the submission website, you may sent your proposal by email to Timo Myllyntaus. Otherwise, they may be sent via regular mail, postmarked 15 February 2016 to

Timo Myllyntaus
School of History, Culture and Arts Studies
Historicum, Kaivokatu 12
University of Turku
20 014 Turku
Finland