DESCRIPTION: MEPHISTOS is an international, interdisciplinary graduate student conference devoted to the History, Philosophy, Sociology and Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Medicine. It is the premier opportunity for young scholars to present papers, participate in discussions, and develop collaborations with others across the field of science studies. For many graduate students MEPHISTOS is often their first conference-presenting experience. The tone is therefore a refreshingly supportive one in which participants are remarkably curious and enthusiastic about others’ projects. Contacts and collaborations last long after the conference ends.
GOALS: The Organizing Committee for the MEPHISTOS 2007 conference at the University of California at Los Angeles hopes to maintain and further encourage this collaborative and interdisciplinary spirit. To that aim, we have chosen in the processes of planning the conference to highlight a few features in particular:
1. A geographical array of conference participants. MEPHISTOS is an international conference and we strongly encourage graduate students from universities throughout the world to apply. To this end the MEPHISTOS Organizing Committee will cover travel costs for conference participants.
2. An interdisciplinary array of conference participants. We strongly encourage applicants from all pertinent science studies disciplines. Further, we strongly encourage proposals related to non-Western and pre-modern science.
3. An interdisciplinary array of conference organizers. The Organizing Committee is made up of representatives from all pertinent science studies disciplines and we hope that this exercise of organizing and running an academic conference together will further foster interdisciplinary collaboration.
4. A chance to showcase the University of California at Los Angeles and the accomplishments of the History, Philosophy, Sociology, and Anthropology Departments as well as related research centers and institutes.
The graduate community of the University of
California at Los Angeles is proud to host the twenty-fifth annual MEPHISTOS
conference this coming spring of 2007 and welcome to opportunity to maintain
its great legacy. The MEPHISTOS Organizing Committee thanks you in advance
for your consideration.
MEPHISTOS IN RECENT YEARS:
2006: The University of
Chicago
2005:
Brown University
2004: The University of
Western Ontario
2003:
The University of Wisconsin - Madison
2002: Virginia Tech
2001:
The University of Notre Dame
2000/1999: The University
of Oklahoma
1998: The University of
Minnesota
1997: The University of
California at Los Angeles
HISTORY: The conference originated at
Princeton in 1981 focusing on the history and sociology of science. Since
that year, the scope of the conference has evolved considerably. Notably,
the conference has become more inclusive, incorporating the philosophy of
science, technology studies, and the history of medicine. This year,
we hope to continue this spirit of inclusiveness by adding the anthropology
of science to the purview of MEPHISTOS.
ACRONYM: ME = medicine, P = philosophy, HI = history, S = science, T
= technology, OS = (so)ciology.
As seen by the last two letters, the acronym is not perfect. And with the
inclusion of the anthropology of science this year, the acronym can only be
an approximation of what this conference is about.