“Science, Technology, and National Identity” will examine the simultaneous development of the nation state and modern science. Workshop participants will explore the ways that states deploy science in the national interest and the way that citizens view scientific achievement as part of their national identity. Papers presented at the workshop will appear as the 2009 issue of Osiris, the journal of the History of Science Society. Sessions will be organized around the discussion of pre-circulated papers, available at this site.

“Science, Technology and National Identity” will bring together sixteen humanities scholars whose research covers a broad chronological and geographical scope. Papers discuss:

  • the simultaneous development of modern science and the nation-state in the West from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century.
  • “big science” in mature western nations, focusing particularly on the post-Second World War period.
  • post-colonial Asia, examining the role of science in the new project of nation-building in the post-colonial world.
Further Information

For the password to read the conference papers, contact SNIConference@gmail.com. For all other questions about the conference, contact either Ann Johnson (annj@sc.edu) or Carol Harrison (ceharris@gwm.sc.edu).

Members of the USC community and the general public are invited to attend.

This conference is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the History Department, the Walker Insitute of International and Area Studies, and the Philosophy Department of the University of South Carolina.