The Self as Political and Scientific Project in the 20th Century: A Symposium on the Human Sciences Between Utopia & Reform, University Park, PA, 2003

SES 0217266

The Self as Political and Scientific Project in the 20th Century: A Symposium on the Human Sciences Between Utopia and Reform The Self as Political and Scientific Project in the 20th Century: A Symposium on the Human Sciences Between Utopia and Reform

Greg Eghigian, Pennsylvania State University

This award provides funding for a two-day conference on 'The Self as Political and Scientific Project in the 20th Century: A Symposium on the Human Sciences Between Utopia and Reforml' to be held in the fall of 2003 at Penn State University. The organizers intend to bring together scholars conducting research in science & technology studies -- in particular, in the fields of the sociology, history, anthropology, and ethics of the human sciences -- for the purpose of disentangling the interaction between science and politics in the shaping of the twentieth-century self. In particular, the forum of a symposium serves as an opportunity for scholars to discuss how selfhood became a crucially important focal point of scientific research and social engineering in contemporary fascist, communist, and liberal polities. The event will be held at Penn State University-University Park campus and will be open to the public.

Tentative themes for the panels are: The Making of the Socialist Self, Psychiatry and Identity in the United States, Fashioning the Fascist Self, Medical Ethics and the Making of the Self, Religion and the Self, and Medicalization and the Self. The focus is to be broadly interdisciplinary and comparative, encompassing developments within and across Europe, the former Soviet Union, and the United States. In addition to the panels, planned breakout sessions will enable participants to address issues raised during the previous panels and provide an opportunity for participants and audience members to interact, discuss, and develop ideas across disciplinary boundaries. It is the intention of the organizers to publish most of the contributions in the form of an edited volume or a special issue of a journal.