“Decentralising the history of knowledge: The co-construction of knowledge through discussions on the importance of informal agents and circulation processes (16th to 19th centuries)”.
Over the last twenty years, from a fundamentally historical perspective, the production of knowledge and its circulation have been understood as an essentially communicative practice. From this communicational process, we can understand the dynamics surrounding the production of knowledge, its acceptance and validation. These new forms of knowledge production are analysed today based on the observation of a series of exchanges, negotiations and resistance between the various agents involved in the process, closely linked to cultural, economic, social, and political aspects. With this symposium, between global histories and microhistories of science, I intend to bring together works that seek to understand these dynamics of knowledge production, the agents involved, and the nature of the works produced in the fields of Medicine and Natural Philosophy related to the material, visual, and textual cultures of science.
Topics of the symposium might include, but are not limited to:
– Knowledge Circulation mechanisms
– Informal agents and the importance of networks of knowledge
– Practical knowledge and its importance in shaping early modern science
– The social, material and intellectual impacts of the flows of Knowledge
Interested scholars should send their abstracts (max 250 words) and a short CV (max 50 words) to Gisele C. Conceição gconceicao@letras.up.pt by 10 November.