At the nexus of science, technology, and women's studies

So I've said over there on the sidebar that I blog at the intersection of women's studies and engineering. I confess I bet Science Woman was hoping I'd do more of that than I have so far, and I was hoping to too. But I've been hobbled by the idea that I should publish it in the archival literature before I publish it on the blog.

Well, dear readers, I hope that your patience will be rewarded. I've got 2 papers submitted at the moment, not sure if they're both in review or if only one is, but the other I submitted to NWSAJournal, in hopes they'll publish it in their special issue on inclusive science.

However, in case that doesn't pan out, I have another possibility for you. The Science and Technology Taskforce co-chairs of the NWSA (=National Women's Studies Association) has sent out its call for papers for the national conference (which will be held in November in Atlanta). I'll reproduce it below the fold for you, abstracts are due Feb 15 (although NWSA does not publish proceedings) and it would be way cool to have a meet-up in Atlanta (so let me know if you plan to go!).

This overlap between science, technology, and women's studies is sometimes called "feminist science and technology studies," and as a result of last year's NWSA conference scitech push and request for a place to keep information, I started (yet another) blog over on Wordpress. It doesn't have a lot of posts so far, and I'm not quite sure if I need to redesign or pitch it differently, but this is all okay as it is a work in progress. The URL is http://femscitech.wordpress.com/, do come and visit.

In addition, if you're interested in contributing to the science & technology stream at NWSA2009, I've set up a wiki (with Bora and Anton's help) to start organizing a few panels. You need a pbwiki account, but they're free and easy to set up.

Or ping me in the comments here, and I'd be happy to hook you up either to the wiki or to the co-chairs. I can't wait to see what the conversations bring up!

Here's the CFP:

Happy New Year from the Co-chairs of the NWSA Science and Technology Taskforce.

1. We are writing to provide a gentle reminder that the deadline for papers, panels and roundtables for NWSA 2009 is February 15th. The conference will be in Atlanta, Georgia from November 12-15, 2009. The theme is "Difficult Dialogues," with Angela Davis as the keynote speaker. (See details from the CFP below.) We are proposing a gathering of scholars working in feminist science and technology studies at the conference, as a follow-up to a similar meeting organized at the last NWSA conference (June 2008).

   Our goal is to increase the number of feminist science and technology studies scholars who will attend and present at the conference. We encourage you to send individual papers or, better yet, involve some of your colleagues to create a panel around your area of specialization. We also encourage you to plan discussion-based roundtables around topics of your interest. Virginia Eubanks and Jane Lehr, two of the taskforce co-chairs, have offered to propose and chair one roundtable discussion at the conference on the theme of "Difficult Dialogues in Feminist Science & Technology Studies: Continuing Challenges and New Directions." Anyone who is interested in working with them on that proposal should contact them directly at veubanks@albany.edu or jlehr@calpoly.edu.

   Once the official conference program is set, we will identify a stream of papers and panels in the field of feminist science and technology studies and make that list available to interested parties. We also plan to organize one or two general meetings to discuss how we can continue to build a vibrant community of scholars.

   Once the schedule is clearer, we will write to you about potential times for a general meeting. We will send you a reminder in a few weeks, but please make this a priority. If we get a critical mass at this conference as we did in 2008, it will be an opportunity to continue to strengthen our community of scholars.

2. The next FEMMSS (Feminist Epistemologies, Methodologies, Metaphysics and Science Studies) meeting is from March 19-21 at the University of South Carolina. Some of us will be presenting papers, and want to know of folks would like to organize some kind of get together during the conference? For more info see: http://www.cas.sc.edu/wost/conference.html For more information on FEMMSS: http://myweb.dal.ca/lt531391/findex.html.
3. We would like to draw your attention to a Feminist Science and Technology Studies blog started by Alice Pawley. It can be found here: http://femscitech.wordpress.com/

Please distribute this announcement broadly.

Best Wishes,

Carole McCann
Jane Lehr
Virgina Eubanks
Alice Pawley