Knowledge and Society in Times of Upheaval

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Knowledge and Society in Times of Upheaval

Veranstalter
Andreas Eckert, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin/Forum Transregionale Studien; Simone Lässig, German Historical Institute Washington DC; Franz Waldenberger, Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien Tokyo
Veranstaltungsort
Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung (WZB), Reichpietschufer 50 in 10785 Berlin
Ort
Berlin
Land
Deutschland
Vom - Bis
20.11.2018 - 21.11.2018
Website
https://trafo.hypotheses.org/14469
Von
Barbara Bishay

On 20th-21thNovember 2018, the Annual Conference 2018 of the Forum Transregionale Studien and the Max Weber Stiftung, “Knowledge and Society in Times of Upheaval”, will be held at the Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung Berlin (WZB). It will be convened by Andreas Eckert (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin / Forum Transregionale Studien), Simone Lässig (German Historical Institute Washington DC), and Franz Waldenberger (Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien Tokyo).

The concept of a knowledge society has featured prominently in both academic and public discussions. In recent years it has been supplemented by the internet, digitalization, big data, and the specter of artificial intelligence. While knowledge is always socially constructed, access to knowledge is economically and politically determined. Knowledge and its dissemination define, control and sustain power relations and social rank. In its applied form as technology and skills, knowledge constitutes a productive asset essential for competitive advantage, innovation and growth. But what happens when knowledge becomes data? How do technological innovations transform the relationship of the individual or the community to state and society? How do societies cope with the unprecedented growth of knowledge and the scale of its dissemination and control? What are the links between knowledge, technology and the transformation of publics and labour?

We live in times of great upheaval. The political and epistemic order established in the 19th and 20th centuries appears in disarray as new authoritarian movements and unprecedented forms of control challenge both the ideas and practice of liberal democracy. This change is increasingly perceived as a crisis, and the mobility of people, goods and ideas have emerged as issues of controversy and containment. The conference will focus on four constitutive relations: 1) new infrastructures as drivers of change, 2) discourses and publics, 3) migration and mobility, and 4) labour and technological change. A closing roundtable discussion will address the question of knowledge and society in light of the state of Europe today.

The Annual Conference is part of the strategic cooperation between the Forum Transregionale Studien and the Max Weber Stiftung – Deutsche Geisteswissenschaftliche Institute im Ausland. It is organized in a collaboration with the Wissenschaftszentrum für Sozialforschung Berlin (WZB) and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF).

Programm

PROGRAM:
20 November 2018

14:00 Welcome
Andreas Eckert (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin/ Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin), Simone Lässig (German Historical Institute Washington DC) & Franz Waldenberger (Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien Tokyo)

14:30 New Infrastructures as Drivers of Change
Anja Senz (Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg): “China’s Belt and Road Initiative as a Driver of Change in South and Southeast Asia”
Johann Kranz (Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München): “How to Tame the Tech Giants? Blockchain and the Future of the Internet Economy”
James Sidaway (National University of Singapore): “Planetary Urbanization’s Multiple Frontiers: Viewed Through Security Infrastructures of Yangon, Myanmar”
Chair: Franz Waldenberger (Deutsches Institut für Japanstudien Tokyo)

16:30 Coffee Break

17:00 Discourses and Publics
Omar Al-Ghazzi (London School of Economics): “The Politics of Infantile Communication in Syria’s War“
Nataliya Gumenyuk (hromadske.ua, Kyiv): “Regaining Public Trust in Times of Populism. Lessons from Ukraine”
Alia Mossallam (Cairo/EUME Fellow der Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung 2017-19): “Visualising, Enacting and Writing Histories in Times of Political Upheaval”
Chair: Georges Khalil (Forum Transregionale Studien, Berlin)

19:00 Reception

21 November

10:00 Migration and Mobility
Jan C. Jansen (German Historical Institute Washington DC): “Papers and Trails: Migration Control and Agency During the Atlantic Age of Revolutions (1770s-1820s)”
Xóchitl Bada (The University of Illinois at Chicago): “Portable Labour Rights for Migrant Workers in North America”
Leo Lucassen (International Institute of Social History/Leiden University): “Expert Knowledge on Migration in the Public Arena: How to Get Your Message Through?”
Chair: Simone Lässig (German Historical Institute Washington DC)

12:00 Lunch

13:30 Labour and Technological Transformation
Prabhu Mohapatra (University of Delhi): “Notes on Technology and the Future of Work: A View from India”
Nicole Mayer-Ahuja (Georg-August-Universität Göttingen): “The Fourth Industrial Revolution? Labour in Times of Digitisation“
Frank Bösch (Zentrum für Zeithistorische Forschung Potsdam): “Western Knowledge About Reforming China, 1972-1989“
Chair: Andreas Eckert (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin/Forum Transregionale Studien Berlin)

15:30 Coffee Break

16:00 ROUNDTABLE: Wissenschaft und Gesellschaft an den Grenzen Europas
Jeanette Hofmann (Wissenschaftszentrum Berlin für Sozialforschung)
Paweł Machcewicz (Polnische Akademie der Wissenschaften/Fellow des Imre-Kertész-Kolleg Jena)
Ernst Dieter Rossmann (Ausschuss für Bildung, Forschung und Technikfolgenabschätzung, Deutscher Bundestag)
Amr Hamzawy (Stanford University/Fellow des Wissenschaftskollegs zu Berlin 2018-19)
Chair: Christoph Möllers (Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin/Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin)

17:30 Reception

Kontakt

Botakoz Kassymbekova
Wallotstr. 14
14193 Berlin
030 890 01 424
030 890 01 440

initiatives@trafo-berlin.de

https://trafo.hypotheses.org/14469