[act-ma] 04/11-13 Science for the People: The 1970s and Today (Conference)

[Charlie Welch]

      Online registration now available.

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We are a group of 50+ people who are coming together to plan a
conference on the *history *of the organization Science for the People
and the *future *of science activism, to be held *11-13 April 2014 at
UMass Amherst*. Some of us are former members of the original
1970s-1980s organization; some are currently active participants in the
current Science for the People list-serv; some are historians or
sociologists of science interested in the legacy of Science for the People.

See the future post-conference website here
<http://science-for-the-people.org/conference.htm>. *Science for the People: The 1970s and Today*
  A 3-Day Conference (11-13 April 2014) at UMass Amherst



           Hosted by the Social Thought & Political Economy Program

Co-Sponsors:

UMass Units: History Department; College of Humanities and Fine Arts;
Afro-American Studies Department; Economics Department; School of
Education; Political Science Department; Science, Technology, and
Society Initiative; Women, Gender, Sexuality Studies Program

Other Five-College Units: Hampshire College Dean of Faculty; Hampshire
College School of Critical Social Inquiry; Hampshire College School of
Natural Science; Smith College History of Science

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This conference on the history of the 1970s-1980s organization Science
for the People (SftP) and its implications for science activism today
will bring together veteran members of the organization along with other
scientists, Science and Technology Studies (STS) scholars, science
activists, graduate students, and undergraduates. The conference will
include keynote speakers representing SftP and STS perspectives, panels
on the historical and sociological significance of SftP, and panels on
approaches to issues (e.g., energy policy, agricultural science and food
justice, and the scientific construction of race and gender) that SftP
addressed and that our society continues to face now.

Science for the People arose out of the anti-war movement during the
Vietnam War era. With a Marxist analysis and non-hierarchical governing
structure, SftP tackled the militarization of scientific research, the
corporate control of research agendas, the political implications of
sociobiology theories, environmental consequences of energy policy,
inequalities in health care, and many other issues. Its members opposed
racism, sexism, and classism in science and above all sought to mobilize
people working in scientific fields to become active in agitating for
science, technology, and medicine that would serve social needs rather
than military and corporate interests. They organized in universities
and communities, published a magazine offering sharp political analysis,
and sought meaningful scientific exchange internationally in Vietnam,
China, Cuba, Nicaragua, and other countries.

Some of the issues we face today have changed in important ways, but
fundamental questions of power, ideology, and democracy in science
remain. The time is ripe to gather SftP veterans with other scientists,
activists, students, and STS scholars in an exploration of what the
history of SftP can teach us. Scientists need to develop more effective
analyses of the social and political causes of the problems they seek to
address. Activists need to obtain a better grasp of the scientific
dimensions of their causes and a clearer sense of who their allies are
in the scientific world. Students need to learn strategies for putting
their science education to work in ways consistent with their social and
political goals. And STS scholars need to deepen our understanding of an
organization that had an important, though under-acknowledged, early
influence on our field and to explore how re-establishing engagement
with activist scientists might enrich our own research and writing.

http://science-for-the-people.org/

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