March for Science, Washington 2017

March for Science. Source: ©Becker1999/ CC-by-sa 2.0.

Dept. II

Knowledge Systems and Collective Life

Department II studies the relationship between how we know and how we live together—that is, between knowledge systems, which determine what kinds of knowledge are valued, how knowledge is produced, and who is authorized to know, and collective life, which encompasses a variety of efforts to fashion our lives with others, including but not limited to conventional politics. Researchers in the department use historical and ethnographic methods to explore the relationship between these overlapping domains in the past and present.

The research of the department centers on three themes: Environmental Knowledge in Times of CrisisPolitics and Practices of Data and From Trust in Science to Knowledge in Relation.  These themes inform the projects of individual researchers, as well as the collective projects of the department's working groups.

The department is also home to a laboratory that supports researchers using oral history and audiovisual media. Open positions and fellowships in Department II are advertised on the Institute-wide Career page.

Working Groups

A man stands beside a checkdam

Unknowing Environmental Crisis

Becquerel, Antoine Henri: Recherches sur une propriété nouvelle de la matière: activité radiante spontanée ou radioactivité de la matière (1903).

Troubling Exposure

Hands of a Geneticist

Living Knowledge

Research Group

AmericanCensus

Data, Media, Mind

Research Infrastructures

OH Lab landing page

Laboratory for Oral History and Experimental Media

News & Press

Alfred Freeborn awarded Early Career Prize by the History of the Human Sciences journal

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The Institute welcomes Journalist in Residence Chermaine Lee

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Interview on NursingClio with Research Scholar Jesse Olszynko-Gryn about the history of pregnancy testing

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Media & Digital Resources

Events

At Arm’s Lengths: Octopus Consciousness as a Scientific and Legal Artifact

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Käthe Seidel and the Social Life of Sediments

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Publications