New Voices in Science and Technology Studies: A C3 Symposium

At this symposium, seven early-career scholars from historically underrepresented groups will convene on the Williams campus to share new work in the vibrant, interdisciplinary field of Science & Technology Studies (STS). The papers to be presented scrutinize the imbrications of society with science and technology from diverse disciplinary vantages, offering new insights into such crucial matters as the automation of immigration and employment; public involvement in and alienation from public health regimes; and the racial investments of seemingly neutral techniques of quantification and measurement. This symposium is organized by the Williams College Science & Technology Studies Program and the Office of Institutional Diversity, Equity and Inclusion with generous support from the Creating Connections Consortium (C3) and the Thomas B. Healy ’50 Fund. Audience Q&A to follow each panel. All are welcome.

Symposium Schedule

9:00am – Panel I: Automated Connection, Automated Control

• Iván Chaar-López, “From the Green Card to ADIT: Alien Data and Regimes of Connectivity, 1940s-1970s”
• Rida Qadri, “Driving Disruption: How Jakarta’s Bike-Taxi Drivers Domesticate Digital Platforms”
• Discussant: Nicholas Carr, Richmond Visiting Professor of Anthropology & Sociology, Williams College

11:00am – Panel II: Ethnographic Perspectives on Infrastructure and Public Health

• Kessie Alexandre, “‘No Scientists Required’: Toxicity and Off-Grid Aspirations in the Newark Lead Crisis”
• Luísa Reis-Castro, “’To Enter the Territory’: Mosquitos, Health, and Science in the Streets of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil”
• Discussant: Eli Nelson, Assistant Professor of American Studies, Williams College

2:00pm – Panel III: Epistemic Borders and Solidarities

• Clare Kim, “Universal Subjects: Modern Mathematics and the Problem of ‘Oriental’ Mathematics”
• Meredith Palmer, “The Racist Acre: Rendering Settler Sovereign Landscapes in Haudenosaunee Homelands”
•  Catherine Tan, “Collective Epistemic Identity and the Preservation of Contentious Knowledge and Practices”
• Discussant: Brittany Meché, Bolin Fellow in Environmental Studies, Williams College