The 4th Annual Binocular Conference

C H I M E R I Z A T I O N S Hybrid Thinking and Being through Science and Technology

May 18-19, 2018 @

Bahen Centre for Information Technology, BA2185 University of Toronto | Toronto, Canada

Co-Hosted by the Department of Science and Technology Studies, York University & the Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology, University of Toronto

Day 1 / May 18

*Unless otherwise noted, all events to be held at Bahen Centre for Information Technology, BA2185.

(08:30-09:00) Welcome breakfast ____________________________________________________

(09:00-09:15) Introductory remarks __________________________________________________

(09:15-10:30) ______________________________________________________________________

1. WAYS OF KNOWING / Post-Truth Worlds

a. “Post-Truth Academia: Towards an Understanding of Subjectivity and Personal Knowledge” — Anna Nguyen (Communication Studies, Concordia University)

b. “Chimerizations: Bridging the Historical and Contemporary” — Connie (Kangli) Xiao (History, Brock University)

c. “Tattered Worlds for New People: Humanity and Personhood in The Windup Girl and Oryx and Crake” — Cat Ashton (Humanities, York University)

Moderator Paul Toro (STS, York University)

(10:30-11:45) ______________________________________________________________________

2. ECONOMICS / Tracing Economic Spaces

a. “Is Economics an Exact Science? William Stanley Jevons on Economic Knowl-edge” — Adrian K. Yee (IHPST, University of Toronto)

b. “Discursive Spaces: Blockchain and the Materialities of Digital Objects” — Yousif Hassan (STS, York University)

c. “Tracing the hybrid intellectual contributions of urban theorist Jane Jacobs in economics. Part economic development thinker, part social engineering critic, part diversity promoter, full chimera” — Joanna Szurmak (STS, York University)

Moderator Aftab Mirzaei (STS, York University)

(11:45-12:00) Tea / Coffee __________________________________________________________

(12:00-1:00) _______________________________________________________________________

3. BODIES / Playing Dancing

a. “365 Solos: Traces of a Dancefied Body” — Sebastian Oreamuno (Dance, York University)

b. “The League of Legends Player” — Nancy Guo (STS, York University)

Moderator Angela Cope (STS, York University)

(13:00-14:30) Lunch _______________________________________________________________

(14:30-16:15) ______________________________________________________________________

4. KEYNOTE SPEAKER

“Chimeric Encounters: Biology, Myth and Medicine” — Dr. Amy Hinterberger (Department of Sociology, University of Warwick).

Chimeric life forms constitute mergers between two or more distinct beings. In this talk, I will explore the making of interspecies mammalian chimeras in biomedical research where the availability of hu-man embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells has opened the way to radically hu-manize the biology of other organisms. By showing how chimeric life forms are foundational to biolo-gy, however, I loosen the compelling grip that chimeras have as liminal and monstrous. To the story of the chimera, I will reply with another story, that of the human as it is differently enacted at the levels of cells, tissues and organisms. Drawing on fieldwork conducted at a stem cell laboratory, farm animal research institute and primate research centre, I will show how meanings of the human become elu-sive and unknown when intertwined with chimeric life. In concluding the talk, I will reflect on what chimeras can tell us about the transforming politics of the human in biomedical research.

With introduction and commentary from Dr. Aryn Martin (Department of Science and Tech-nology Studies, York University).

(16:15-16:30) Tea / Coffee __________________________________________________________

(16:30-17:15) ______________________________________________________________________

5. PERSONHOOD / Average Diagnoses

a. “At the Borders of the Average Man” — Filippo Sposini (IHPST, University of Toronto)

b. “Drapetomania: The Discourse on Discriminating Diagnoses” — Rebecca Pyrah (History, University of Guelph)

Moderator Vincent Auffrey (IHPST, University of Toronto)

(17:15-17:30) Closing remarks _______________________________________________________

(19:00) Reception Victory Cafe, 440 Bloor St W, Toronto, ON M5S1X5 ____________________

Day 2 / May 19

*Unless otherwise noted, all events to be held at Bahen Centre for Information Technology, BA2185.

(08:45-09:30) Welcome breakfast ____________________________________________________

(09:30-10:30) ______________________________________________________________________

1. MEDIA / Microdosing Non-Extractive Impacts

a. “Patchwork Impacts: Wildlife Films and the Challenge of Measuring Experi-ence” — Ellie Louson (STS, York University; Michigan State University)

b. “Researching Extraction, Refusing Extractive Research” — Merle Davis (STS, York University)

d. “A Preliminary Study of Microdosing Psychedelics” — Rotem Petranker (Psychology, York University)

Moderator Raheleh Abbasinejad (STS, York University)

(10:30-10:45) Break ________________________________________________________________

(10:45-11:45) ______________________________________________________________________

2. INFRASTRUCTURES / Concrete Conversation Debris

a. “Concrete Politics, Imaginary Infastructures: Postwar State-Making in the Pe-ripheries of Turkey” — Aybike Alkan (Koç University, Istanbul)

b. “The Salon: Bringing Intellectual Conversation into the Living Room” — Thomas Anderson (Psychology, University of Toronto)

Moderator Joanna Szurmak (STS, York University)

(11:45-13:30) Lunch _______________________________________________________________

(1:30-2:30) ________________________________________________________________________

3. PEDAGOGIES / Re-encountering Curricular Heterogeneity

a. “The fusion of popular and academic influences on the Soviet mathematics curriculum reform in the 1960s and 1970s” — Mariya Boyko (IHPST, University of Toronto)

b. “Chimerical Ethics: Heterogeneity in Engineering Micro/Macroethics, Knowl-edge/Ignorance, Realities/Imaginaries” — Mitch Cieminski (STS, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute)

c. “Re-encountering lives and nature: a re-turn onto our epistemological ap-proaches to life history research” — Sarah El Halwany, Larry Bencze, Nurul Hassan, Kristen Schaffer, Minja Mi-lanovic, and Majd Zouda (OISE, University of Toronto)

Moderator Felix Walpole (IHPST, University of Toronto)

(14:30-15:00) Closing remarks _______________________________________________________