Workshop Overview

Methods Intensive: A Master Class Series

A Master Class Series (with Kathleen Morrison from The University of Chicago )

Monday, October 26, 2015 - 09:30 to Tuesday, October 27, 2015 - 14:00

Organizers: 

Dagmar Schäfer, Chaonan Zhang

Venue: 

MPIWG Department III Conference Room (Room 265)

Master Class Description:

History of science has developed into a unified study of artefacts, practices, action and knowledge that brings together a multitude of scholars with different methodological skills and preferences. The Methods Intensive Master Class Series mobilises this methodological diversity as a reflexive tool for assessing the current state of the discipline and its cross-disciplinary potential.
The goal of the series is to identify, analyse, and discuss a number of questions concerning the essential characteristics of the history of science: Which topics are of interest for historians of science, and which methods do they customarily draw upon? What methods, presently, are we using to study “artefacts, practices, action and knowledge”? What are the exemplary studies? How will the effectiveness of different methods be assessed?
The Master Class series offers a forum where participants from a spectrum of disciplines can critically compare, confront and combine their specific methodological skills and training in scientific, practical or humanistic analysis. We see this as a creative platform to explore agendas, discuss limits, and expand the cross-disciplinary boundaries of history of science.

Priliminary Program:

Day 1 (Monday, 26.10.2015):

09:30-11:00 First Lecture Session

Title:“Narratives of Environmental Change: Stories with Substance”

11:00-11:15 Coffee Break

11:15-12:00 Discussion with Readings

Theme: Narratives and their Stakes

12:00-13:00 Lunch Break at Harnack Haus

13:00-14:00 Methodological Talk, Part I

Theme: Behind the Curtain: Paleovegetation Studies

14:00-14:15 Coffee Break

14:15-15:00 Discussion with Readings

Day 2 (Tuesday, 27.10.2015):

10:00-11:00 Methodological Talk, Part II

Theme: Pollen and Stable Isotopes

11:00-11:15 Coffee Break

11:15-12:00 Discussion with Readings

Theme: Remote Sensing, Archaeology, and Conclusions

12:00-14:00 Lunch at Harnack Haus