Colloquium 12 and 13 june: Sciences, technology and nationalism in India

The question of nationalism in India has been of interest to many social science scholars. However, the relationship between science and nationalism has seldom been discussed in a more in-depth manner.

The question of nationalism in India has been of interest to many social science scholars. However, the relationship between science and nationalism has seldom been discussed in a more in-depth manner. STS perspectives and debates allow a framework that investigates the pivotal role and position of science and technology in the realization of state policies in India through several technoscientific projects and illustrates how deeply it is enmeshed within the larger political and social goals of national growth and development. Therefore, we would like to investigate the role science and technology play in these imbrications, the challenges they pose, and how these new assemblages reconfigure power relations between the Global North and the Global South within India, between States and markets.  

To help illuminate and further understand these urgent debates in the context of rising nationalisms across the globe, we propose to engage with the discussions on contemporary postcolonial development in India as a place of production of science, technology, and nationalism rather than a place dominated by the Global North. We want to invite postcolonial STS scholars to a 2-days international scientific hybrid workshop that will be held on the 12th and 13th of June 2023, including a roundtable in Paris that will aim at making issues related to technology, science and nationalism in India known to a larger audience.