Women's Bodies: The Gendered Construction of Science Across time and Cultures

University Of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison WI

Investigators

Abstract

SES 00-80696 - Rima D. Apple (University of Wisconsin - Madison) "Women's Bodies: The Gendered Construction of Science across Time and Cultures" At the end of the 20th century, the history of bio-medical sciences, particularly its gendered contours, has attracted increasing attention from scholars of the history of science, the history of medicine, and women's history. This is an age of dramatic developments in bio-medical science and its history has become even more important as we seek to document the ways in which this new scientific knowledge has been produced. This award provides partial support for a workshop conference, "Women's Bodies: The Gendered Construction of Science across Time and Cultures," which is intended to bridge scholarship generally separated by geography and discipline. Senior and younger scholars from the United States, Australia, and New Zealand will engage in an intensive cross-national and cross-cultural program that will highlight the history of the production of bio-medical knowledge, in particular beginning an international dialog to examine the critical role of gender in the evolution of science research and theory. The workshops, to be held at the University of Melbourne, Australia on 3 June 2001, are designed to extend and strengthen international dialog on the history and significance of gender in the production of scientific knowledge by bringing together a small group of senior and younger scholars and graduate students in order to facilitate an intensive cross-cultural conversation. This award supports the travel and conference per diem costs of four United States scholars who will be involved in the leadership of the workshops. In highlighting the significance of the gendered development of critical science, "Women's Bodies: The Gendered Construction of Science across Time and Cultures" will foster creative and distinctive new avenues of international collaborative research. Moreover, the establishment of closer working relationships among the workshop presenters and attendees will serve as a cornerstone for an open-invitation international conference that will follow on 4-6 June 2001. In addition, conference organizers are preparing to offer each workshop presenter from the United States a visiting research award that will enable speakers to extend their stays in Melbourne, conducting research in Australian materials and continuing collaborative efforts initiated during the conference. The workshop conference is distinctive in women's health history for its emphasis on the history of the production of scientific knowledge. Previous conferences on allied areas have ignored this critical foundational knowledge. Also, though some of the earlier conferences were international in scope, they did not incorporate scholarship and scholars from Australia and New Zealand. The proposed auxiliary activities -- the University of Melbourne-affiliated visiting researcher awards for United States participants, the subsequent public conference, and an integrative book -- will enrich and deepen the development of collaborative, international relationships fostered by the workshops of "Women's Bodies: The Gendered Construction of Science across Time and Cultures."