Workshops

“From ‘Missing Persons’ to Critical Biography:  Reframing Minority Identity in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine”

October 13-15, 2016, Harvard University

Workshop leaders: 

Prof. Evelynn Hammonds, Harvard University 

Prof. Amy Slaton, Drexel University

Workshop 2016 Photo

The workshop, “From ‘Missing Persons’ to Critical Biography:  Reframing Minority Identity in the History of Science, Technology, and Medicine,” convened 12 senior and 12 junior scholars to discuss concepts of minority identity that have shaped both the fields of the history of science, technology, and medicine (HTSM) and historical patterns of participation in those scholarly fields by persons of various ascribed identities, specifically race, gender, ethnicity, sexuality or disability.

Understanding the social conditions of history writing and the content of historical narratives to be inseparable, we seek with this workshop to critique ideas of diversity and inclusion as they have shaped both institutional and historiographic agendas surrounding HTSM.  Attending his workshop  were scholars who have conducted historical research on identity at the margins of the scientific, medical and technical enterprise and who maintain an interest in the role of identity within HTSM institutions or within these fields’ epistemic commitments more broadly. Participants offered brief, informal descriptions of their work and interests. Workshop leaders provided more formal reflections on their work.