"The Politics of Knowledge in Universities and the State"
Workshop planned for 2011-12

The Warren Center is planning a 2011-12 workshop on “The Politics of Knowledge in Universities and the State,” to be led by Andrew Jewett (History Department) and Julie Reuben (School of Education).  The aim will be to convene a multidisciplinary group of intellectual and cultural historians, historians of higher education and the natural and human sciences, sociologists of knowledge, scholars from science and technology studies, students of American political development and political theory, and others in relevant fields of inquiry. The workshop will explore the intersection of knowledge production with political thought and practice, focusing on key institutional sites in higher education and government. How has the authority, and possibly the content, of knowledge been shaped by these political contexts? How have intellectuals engaged with the state and what have been the consequences for public policy and the production of knowledge? How have the institutional politics of universities intersected with the politics of the state? Does it even make sense to speak of “knowledge” and “politics” as distinct entities, or are interpretive frameworks such as “construction,” “co-production,” or “power/knowledge” more appropriate? The workshop will also offer participants an opportunity to think systematically about the historically and socially situated nature of their own scholarly endeavors. Applications will be welcomed for comparative and transnational projects that take North American developments as a point of departure.