Resistance Unbound
Technologies
of Imagination
in the Public
Square
Around
the world, rupture
and resistance seem
to have taken over
from the orderly
routines of
democracy. Slogans
such as No Kings,
Stand Up for Science,
Je
suis Marine
(I am Marine), 스탑
더 스틸 (Stop the
Steal), and Bharat
Jodo (Unite
India) challenge ruling authorities—while implicitly
imagining different
states of the world
and ways in which
lives should be
lived. For STS
scholars, such
moments of rupture
signal simultaneous
breakdowns in shared
knowledge and social
order. Whether
through moves to
make some lives
matter more or to
make entire
countries “great”
and “healthy” again,
advocates for change
are asserting ideas
of legitimate
expertise, good
citizenship, and
accountable
governance. Science
and technology are
inseparable from
these notions of how
to make, or remake,
good societies.
Public health
interventions
constrain civil
liberties and civic
duties, digital
transformations and
green investments
promise equitable
futures, and
government spending
cuts aim to demote
particular forms of
knowledge and public
benefit.
Increasingly fraught
disputes in the
public square demand
deeper reflection
from STS scholars
about the epistemic
and political norms
that bind ruling
authorities to the
people. Amidst moves
to dismantle,
defund, and
challenge once
taken-for-granted
institutions, the
6th GRiSTS
conference invites
applicants to
explore how actors
envision and contest
what makes for the
right forms of
knowledge and
collective life. We
welcome proposals
that engage with
questions such as:
What knowledge and
expertise do
citizens—and their
rulers—draw on to
identify
transgressions and
injustices? How do
calls for resistance
reflect imaginaries
of stable order,
and,
correspondingly,
contest the
legitimacy of
existing
institutions (e.g.,
courts,
universities,
technology
companies)? To the
extent that such
institutions are
seen as custodians
of knowledge or
justice, what forms
of delegation and
deference underwrite
their authority, and
what accounts for
their vulnerability
or loss of trust
vis-à-vis their
clients or publics?
The
conference will be
held at Harvard
Kennedy School in
Cambridge, MA on
October 16-18,
2025. Prospective
presenters should
submit abstracts
of up to 300 words
by September 19,
2025.
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