Vol. 42, No. 1, January 2013
Printer friendly version of Newsletter
Reaching Beyond the Discipline
by Melinda Gormley 3, Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values, University of Notre Dame
A matter gaining traction among historians of science is the discipline's isolationism and impracticality. Steven Shapin lamented the discipline's hyper-professionalization in Isis in 2005 (vol. 96, no. 2, pp. 238-43). In many cases, the scope of our topics has moved from the general to the specific, and we write not for the public but for the profession. We have shrunk our audience. In this Newsletter one year ago HSS president Lynn Nyhart echoed Shapin's concerns. Why shouldn't we write for the general public, contribute material to science textbooks, and become film-makers?
Quick Links....
Notes from the Inside
------------------------------------
News from the Profession
------------------------------------
Upcoming Conferences, Meetings, and Events
------------------------------------
Job and Fellowship Announcements
------------------------------------
Member News
------------------------------------
From the HSS President: Making A Difference
------------------------------------
Article: The "Dinosaurs" Guide to Technology in the History Classroom
------------------------------------
Article: That Was Then. This Is Now
------------------------------------
Article: Reaching Beyond the Discipline
------------------------------------
Article: A Conversation with the American Historical Association's Jim Grossman, 4 October 2012
If we cultivate different styles of communication, it will surely open up opportunities: from writing blogs and op-eds to giving interviews and expert testimonies. Nurturing various styles of speaking and writing, whether for print, radio, or TV/film, requires practice. Knowing your audience and learning how to communicate your knowledge to them is pivotal. If you are not sure how to speak about your work in ways that make it relevant to media, Nancy Baron's Escape from the Ivory Tower has useful pointers. If you are looking to write differently, read the style of writing that you want to create. Read it continuously and often and when writing emulate it.
But is it enough to diversify your communication skills? Some philosophers do not think so. Rather than taking an academic research project and communicating it in new ways, these scholars embark on a project with the goal of addressing current social and political issues involving science, technology, and medicine. They interact with those who have a problem that needs solving, and from these experiences they refine their research and dissemination methods.
Socially-Relevant Philosophy of Science (SRPoS) is the name given to an approach described by Katie Plaisance and Carla Fehr of the University of Waterloo. SRPoS (pronounced sir-row-pose) projects analyze scientific research topics and practices that bear on issues of public welfare. SRPoS can engage stakeholders, including members of the public and policymakers, and it uses practices and venues that guarantee broad dissemination of the work. Plaisance and Fehr identify four themes: "(1) developing collaborative relationships with scientists, (2) addressing policy, regulation, and institutional structure, (3) investigating the relationships among scientific and non-scientific communities, and (4) assessing the effectiveness of the disciplinary norms, practices, and structures of philosophy of science itself" (Synthese 177.3, Dec 2010, p. 304). Plaisance and Fehr were two of nine presenters at a conference on SRPoS held at Michigan State University on 19 October 2012. About thirty scholars from Michigan State, the University of Waterloo, Pennsylvania State, and the Universities of Notre Dame and Michigan were in attendance, and many agreed that this should be the first of many gatherings to discuss original contributions to and methodologies for SRPoS. For more information see the 2010 issue of Synthese devoted to the topic.
Field philosophy, another area gaining attention, also engages stakeholders and aims to produce practical outcomes. It is especially relevant to policy. J. Britt Holbrook with the Center for the Study of Interdisciplinarity at the University of North Texas states that field philosophy begins with a problem in the real world. The field philosopher engages with those who have a problem, ascertains the underlying philosophical issues, and then works with the stakeholders to redirect the discussion. Philosopher Adam Briggle, who is Holbrook's colleague, provides an example of field philosophy in action. Briggle hosts meetings to discuss various dimensions of fracking and drilling. He is chair of the Denton Stakeholder Drilling Advisory Committee, a group of concerned citizens and experts who advise the formation of drilling policy in Denton, Texas. He has written for the local newspaper and the online magazine Slate. Holbrook and Briggle presented this material at Science-Policy Interactions and Social Values, a symposium held at University of Texas, Dallas on 13-14 April 2012.
What are historians doing? In his article "Applied History of Science," John L. Heilbron proposed three ways for reaching beyond the discipline: general education, science education, and science policy (Isis, Dec 1987). A few recent examples come from other members of the HSS community. Daniel Kevles's contributions to Inventing America: A History of the United States (2006) offers an example of applying one's expertise to general education. This textbook's first edition was adopted by more than 250 colleges and universities. Two recent books provide models for contextualizing recent public affairs and science policy issues. In Vaccine: The Debate in Modern America (2012) Mark Largent uses the methods of an historian to explore an ongoing public health issue in the United States: government-required vaccinations and parents' resistance to these requirements. He, like other historians, seeks to complicate what appears to be simple—or is depicted that way in polemics—so that the reader gains a more sophisticated understanding of the issue's underlying features. Merchants of Doubt (2010) by Naomi Oreskes and Erik Conway is another example of using historical evidence to explore issues surrounding controversial issues, such as climate change. Edward Larson suggests using historical narrative to explain ethical dimensions of current events and then publishing your ideas promptly in newspapers, as op-eds, and on blogs. Largent, Oreskes, and Larson were panelists of "Bringing Science to the Public: What Can the Science Studies Scholar Do?," a session hosted by HSS's Graduate and Early Career Caucus (GECC) at the 2011 annual meeting in Cleveland.
Communication skills and research methods are two pieces. Another is pedagogical approaches. Nyhart is not alone in thinking that historians should train students for a wide array of careers, such as teaching K-12 and working in museums, the entertainment industry, and government. Today's job market necessitates that university and college professors reconsider the training that history Ph.D. candidates receive. There are too few tenure-track jobs for the number of scholars earning Ph.D.s, and there are many other careers for which historians are qualified. Preparing graduate students for a broad range of careers requires a new approach to training. Students need to cultivate skills in addition to expertise. A dialogue in The Chronicle of Higher Education spurred by the American Historical Association's past president Anthony T. Grafton and executive director James Grossman is a good starting point for those seeking more information on the problem and possible solutions. For additional methods look to public history. Public historians have been preparing students for careers at museums and historical sites, in media and government, and with private corporations and public agencies since the 1970s.
This is hardly an exhaustive guide to methods in communication, research, and teaching of the history of science in the 21st century. As more individuals shift from making calls for action to explicating methods, we can expect to see additional models for reaching beyond the discipline.
Bibliography
- Nancy Baron, Escape from the Ivory Tower: A Guide to Making Your Science Matter (Washington, D.C.: Island Press, 2010).
- Leonard Cassuto, "OK, Let's Teach Graduate Students Differently. But How?," The Chronicle of Higher Education (8 Jan 2012).
- Anthony T. Grafton and James Grossman, "No More Plan B," The Chronicle of Higher Education (9 Oct 2011).
- ---, "Time to Craft a Plan C," The Chronicle of Higher Education (1 Nov 2011).
- John L. Heilbron, "Applied History of Science" Isis 78.4 (Dec 1987): 552-563.
- Jennifer Howard, "Historians Reflect on Forces Reshaping Their Profession," The Chronicle of Higher Education (8 Jan 2012).
- Mark Largent, Vaccine: The Debate in Modern America (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2012).
- Pauline Maier, Merritt Roe Smith, Alexander Keyssar, and Daniel J. Kevles, Inventing America: A History of the United States (New York: W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2006).
- Lynn K. Nyhart, "From the HSS President: History of Science Unbound," HSS Newsletter 41.1 (Jan 2012): 1-2, 4.
- Naomi Oreskes and Erik M. Conway, Merchants of Doubt: How a Handful of Scientists Obscured the Truth on Issues from Tobacco Smoke to Global Warming (New York: Bloomsbury Press, 2010).
- Kathryn S. Plaisance and Carla Fehr, eds., "Making Philosophy of Science more Socially Relevant," Synthese 177.3 (Dec 2010).
- L. Maren Wood, "What Doors Does a Ph.D. in History Open?," The Chronicle of Higher Education (30 Oct 2012).
3: Melinda Gormley is Assistant Director for Research of the Reilly Center for Science, Technology, and Values at University of Notre Dame. She fosters professional development through Notre Dame's Graduate School and the HSS Graduate and Early Career Caucus.