Workshop: Ignorance and non-knowledge: what consequences for democratic governance, politics and policy?
When: November 13-14, 2018
Where: University of Vienna, Austria
Confirmed keynote speakers:
Linsey McGoey (University of Essex),
Matthias Gross (University of Jena, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ),
Stefan Böschen (RWTH Aachen)
Ulrike Felt (University of Vienna, Department of Science and Technology Studies).
About the workshop:
Ignorance and non-knowledge have become the subject of a growing body of research in the social sciences and humanities, giving rise to a new “sociology of ignorance.” In this line of thought, ignorance is not merely a consequence of the limits of our knowledge practices, but a knowledge practice in its own right. Concepts such as McGoey’s ‘strategic unknowns’ also challenge the assumption that power thrives only on information: In this perspective, ignorance and non-knowledge are often actively produced, cultivated, and exploited as a resource and a strategy.
While engagements with ignorance and non-knowledge have become more salient over the past decade, there are different conceptual understandings of these phenomena across disciplines. To begin with, sociologists of ignorance have highlighted the importance of nonknowledge practices as a resource for industry actors. Moreover, political sociologists, such as Matthias Gross, have recently made more explicit links between Beck’s concept of ‘risk society’, ignorance studies, and contemporary governance of risks and security. From a slightly different perspective, political scientists approach uncertainty – sometimes termed ‘contingency’ – as an inherent condition or even mechanism of governance, rather than an instrumentally negotiated outcome of governance.
This workshop takes these different understandings and concepts as points of departure and seeks to spark an interdisciplinary dialogue. In doing so, we seek to enhance our understanding of non-knowledge practices and their consequences for democratic governance, politics and policy. Specific questions of interest are:
• What relevance do different understandings of ignorance, contingency and uncertainty have for the study of governance?
• What practices of governing unknowable or unknown objects, and futures, can be discerned empirically?
• What strategies of action or inaction do non-knowledge and/or uncertainty provoke on the part of governance actors, and where and how can we identify such strategies?
• How do non-knowledge practices challenge or reinforce governance practices?
• What taxonomies of knowledge practices emerge in particular case studies and policy areas, and what do these practices mean for our understandings of governance in contemporary democracies?
• How are unknowns and uncertainties currently addressed in different policy arenas and research practices, and with what consequences?
Participation & Registration
Attendance of the workshop is free. Please sign up by emailing us at ignorance-workshop@univie.ac.at by 31 October and let us know which parts of the workshop you wish to attend.
Podiumsdiskussion
Wann: Dienstag, 13 November 2018, 18:00 – 19:30
Wo: Alte Kapelle, Campus, Spitalgasse 2, University of Vienna
Wissenswert(e) Demokratie: Was hat Nichtwissen in evidenzbasierter Politik zu suchen?*
Klassische Modelle von demokratischer Politikgestaltung sind untrennbar mit der Vorstellung verbunden, dass politische Maßnahmen sich auf das beste vorhandene Wissen gründen sollten. Dass neben Wissen auch Werte und Ideologie Politikgestaltung färben, sehen BefürworterInnen von evidenzbasierter Politik oft als Störfaktor. Ebenso wird Nichtwissen häufig als Leerraum betrachtet, den es mit neuem Wissen zu füllen gilt. Diese Podiumsdiskussion versucht, die Rolle von Nichtwissen in der Politikgestaltung aus anderen Perspektiven zu beleuchten. Den Ausgangspunkt dafür bildet die These, dass Nichtwissen integraler Bestandteil jeder Wissensschöpfung ist, eine strategische Rolle spielen kann und damit auch mancher politischen Unentschlossenheit entgegenkommt. Wer entscheidet, was wissenswert ist, und wie gehen wir mit diesen „Wissenswerten“ in demokratischer Politikgestaltung um? Inwiefern lassen sich wissenssoziologische Thesen überhaupt mit dem Paradigma evidenzbasierter Politik vereinbaren?
Keynote: Matthias Gross „Die Evidenz für Nichtwissen“
Podium:
Matthias Gross (University of Jena, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ)
Stefan Böschen (RWTH Aachen)
Ulrike Felt (Universität Wien)
Moderation: Katharina T. Paul
* Diese Podiumsdiskussion findet statt im Rahmen des internationalen Workshops „Ignorance and Non-knowledge: what consequences for democratic governance, politics, and policy?”
Organisers
The workshop is organised by Katharina T. Paul, Ingrid Metzler, Erik Aarden (University of Vienna), and Helene Sorgner (AAU Klagenfurt). The Key Research Area ‘Knowledge societies in turbulent times’ (Faculty of Social Sciences) of the University of Vienna has generously agreed to co-fund the workshop, and additional funding will come from the FWF Austrian Science Fund (Grant #VA561), the Department of Political Science and STS Austria.
Programme
Attention! Room has changed due to construction work!
New venue: The workshop will take place at the BIG-Hörsaal (BIG HS) in the main building of the University of Vienna, Tiefparterre, Universitätsring 1, 1010 Vienna (Map)
DAY 1 - Tuesday November 13
12:30 – 13:00: Welcome & Introductions
PANEL I: 13.00 – 15.00: “Interdisciplinary Perspectives on (Non)Knowledge”
• François Dedieu (INRA, Paris): “Ignorance: the tacit control of the pesticide risk regulation”
• Eva Barlösius and Eva Ruffing (co-authors), Yvonne Hegele (co-author and presenter), (Leibniz Universität Hannover): “How to deal with contested knowledge in public decision-making? An analytical framework and first answers”
• Kellie Owens (UPENN): “The Passivists: Managing Risk Through Intentional Ignorance in Medicine and Finance”
• Madeleine Pape (U of Wisconsin-Madison): “Institutional Ignorance and Complexity: The Case of Sex and Gender”
COFFEE BREAK
PANEL II: 15.15 – 17.00: “Producing and Neglecting Evidence”
• Ilil Benjamin (Johns Hopkins): “Filling in the Numbers: The Utility of Ignorance about Aid Work in Israel and Palestine”
• Erik Aarden (Vienna): “Performing ignorance as postcolonial asymmetry in global health – reflections on the production of mortality statistics in India”
• Samantha Vanderslott (Oxford Vaccine Group): “From outsider to insider: The inclusion of Neglected Tropical Diseases into the Sustainable Development Goals”
18.00 – 19.30: Public Panel Discussion
NB: This event will be held in German.
Wissenswert(e) Demokratie: Was hat Nichtwissen in evidenzbasierter Politik zu suchen? at Alte Kapelle, Hof 1, Unicampus Alser Straße 2-4, 1090 Vienna
Key note: Matthias Gross (Jena/UFZ)
Panelists: Ulrike Felt (Vienna), Stefan Böschen (RWTH Aachen), Matthias Gross (Jena/UFZ)
Chair: Katharina T. Paul
Klassische Modelle von demokratischer Politikgestaltung sind untrennbar mit der Vorstellung verbunden, dass politische Maßnahmen sich auf das beste vorhandene Wissen gründen sollten. Dass neben Wissen auch Werte und Ideologie Politikgestaltung färben, sehen BefürworterInnen von evidenzbasierter Politik oft als Störfaktor. Ebenso wird Nichtwissen häufig als Leerraum betrachtet, den es mit neuem Wissen zu füllen gilt. Diese Podiumsdiskussion versucht, die Rolle von Nichtwissen in der Politikgestaltung aus anderen Perspektiven zu beleuchten. Den Ausgangspunkt dafür bildet die These, dass Nichtwissen integraler Bestandteil jeder Wissensschöpfung ist, eine strategische Rolle spielen kann und damit auch mancher politischen Unentschlossenheit entgegenkommt. Wer entscheidet, was wissenswert ist, und wie gehen wir mit diesen „Wissenswerten“ in demokratischer Politikgestaltung um? Inwiefern lassen sich wissenssoziologische Thesen überhaupt mit dem Paradigma evidenzbasierter Politik vereinbaren?
DAY 2 - Wednesday November 14
9.30 – 10.30: Keynote
Linsey McGoey (Essex): ‘Ignorance studies, oracular power and the great enlargement of knowledge’
COFFEE
PANEL III: 10.45 – 12-45: “Ignorance and Non-Knowledge in Institutional Practices and Governance”
• Funda Ustek Spilda (Goldsmiths): “’Give me a guesstimate, just how many refugees are there?’: Refugee Crisis and Uncertain Numbers”
• Katharina Paul (Vienna) & Christian Haddad (OIIP): “Beyond ‘evidence’ vs. ‘truthiness’: Towards a symmetrical approach to knowledge and ignorance in critical policy studies”
• Jeremy Brice (LSE): “Technologies of Ignorance in Supply Chain Governance: Un-known risks, crises of trust and the 2013 horsemeat scandal”
• Adriana Mica, Anna Horolets (co-authors and presenters, U of Warsaw), Mikołaj Pawlak (co-author, U of Warsaw) and Paweł Kubicki (co-author, Warsaw School of Economics): “The context of Ignorance: Waiting and Agency in the EU Relation System of Asylum Seekers”
12.45 – 14.00: LUNCH
PANEL IV: 14.00 – 15.45: “Making Futures: The Generative Force of Uncertainty & Non-Knowledge”
• Claudia Foltyn (Augsburg): “The Polish shale gas discourse as an example of dealing with specified ignorance? – A press analysis and some theoretical considerations”
• Sophie Ritson & Helene Sorgner (AAU): “Non-knowledge and future high-energy physics technologies”
• Birke Otto (Europa-Universität Viadrina): “Secrecy and ignorance in pharmaceutical innovation processes. Two vignettes from the field”
16.00 – 17.00: Wrap Up Matthias Gross & Katharina T. Paul
