Summer School
Organised jointly by the Cité des Télécommunications, the Paris-Sorbonne University, the Foundation for the History of Technology SHT at Eindhoven University of Technology, and Transfers, Interdisciplinary Journal of Mobility Studies, the summer school aims at providing doctoral students with an overview of relevant research results and of innovative tools and methodologies in the field of communication and mobility studies, and their history.
Students (including mostly PhD students and a limited number of young post doc) will spend five days at the Cité des Télécommunications in the northern part of Brittany (see: http://www.cite-telecoms.com/). They will present and discuss their research in conjunction with lectures presented by scholars.
Daily language will be English.
The summer school will focus on the relationship between mobility and communication history seen from a long-term perspective. This means that we are interested in projects dealing with the history of electronic systems connected or included in a mobility system broadly defined, but also in approaches of intermediality in history.
The framework of the summer school will be twofold. On the one hand, we are indebted methodologically to the history of technology and innovation studies, including large technical system and social construction of technology approaches. On the other hand, we are interested in studies that explore the very borders of the concept of mobility, including studies that approach transport vehicles as media, just like means of communications such as the one enumerated above, but also novels, films, and other carriers of messages and knowledge. Topics could include wireless telegraphy, radar, mobile phone, mobile information systems, computerized traffic system regulation, radio, GPS as applied in walking, trains, cars, airplanes, boats, and rockets.
The summer school will be structured as follows. Each half-day session will be based on a keynote lecture by an invited scholar and followed by student presentations and discussions of their work in progress. Social events and visits will give the opportunity to discover either traditional or modern faces of this high tech part of Brittany.
The academic organizers are: Mathieu Flonneau (University Panthéon-Sorbonne) Irice-CRHI, Pascal Griset (University Paris-Sorbonne) Irice-CRHI, and Gijs Mom (Eindhoven University of Technology; editor of Transfers)
Teachers during the week will be:
Paul Cerruzzi, Air and Space Museum, Washington DC.
Mathieu Flonneau, Université Panthéon-Sorbonne
Pascal Griset, Université Paris –Sorbonne
Gisela Hürlimann, Universität Zurich
Vincent Kaufmann, Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
Gijs Mom, Eindhoven University of Technology
Frank Schipper, Leiden Institute for History
Heike Weber, Technische Universität Berlin
Participation to the program, including social events, is free.
All local costs (accommodation and food) will be covered by the organizers.
Participants are expected to pay their own travel to and from Lannion, the closest railway station linked to Paris by TGV. There is a limited amount of travel stipends available, sponsored by SHT and Transfers. The stipend from the latter are available for those students who agree to submit their paper to Transfers for a special issue on Mobility and Communication.
Participation will be limited to 15-18 students. Those interested in attending the summer school should send the following documents by e-mail to Mathieu Flonneau at: mattaflo@aol.com:
- a CV,
- a summary of their dissertation project and an example of their work in progress (provisional chapter of the dissertation or a published article in any langage),
- a summary of their project for post doc candidates.
The deadline for applications is April 25th 2011. Students selected will be notified before May 16th 2011.