Presented By: Science for the People
Science for the People: Then and Now
Organizers from the original and current Science for the People will discuss the history of the radical science movement, the consequences of apolitical science, and the challenges the revitalized Science for the People faces. The event consists of three 30-minute presentations by the speakers, followed by a question-and-answer session.
Speaker Bios:
Ben Allen is a biologist and activist in east Tennessee. He is an organizer for the revitalized Science for the People and was a member of the Science for the People Research Collective. He works as a contractor on computational biology projects related to energy and environment.
Dr. Sigrid Schmalzer is a professor in the History Department and an officer in the faculty union at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her publications include two books, The People's Peking Man: Popular Science and Human Identity in Twentieth-Century China (2008) and Red Revolution, Green Revolution: Scientific Farming in Socialist China (2016). She was also the lead organizer for the 2014 conference "Science for the People: The 1970s and Today,” and she is co-editor, with Alyssa Botelho and Daniel S. Chard, of the new primary source volume Science for the People: Documents from America’s Movement of Radical Scientists (2017).
Dr. John Vandermeer is the Asa Gray Distinguished University Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology as well as the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in LSA's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He has been involved in research and teaching in food and agriculture related topics for the past 40 years. His research has concentrated on the ecology of the coffee agroecosystem in Mexico, elaborating the complex ecological structures involved in complicated dynamics of the pest control system there. He has authored 15 books, mainly concerned with agroecosystems and more than 200 publications in theoretical ecology, tropical ecology and agroecology. He is a founding member of the New World Agriculture and Ecology Group. He is currently a professor of ecology at the University of Michigan.
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This event kicks off Science for the People's weekend-long convention. During the convention, we will be making collective decisions about our organizational structure, ratifying our foundational principles and bylaws, and developing national projects, we plan to include time to get to know one another, to learn from each other, and to further our political self-education. The original Science for the People arose in 1969 out of the anti-war movement and lasted until 1989. With radical analysis and non-hierarchical governing structure, Science for the People tackled the militarization of scientific research, the corporate control of research agendas, the political implications of sociobiology and other scientific theories, the environmental consequences of energy policy, inequalities in health care, and many other issues.
Its members opposed racism, sexism, and classism in science and above all sought to mobilize people working in scientific fields to become active in agitating for science, technology, and medicine that would serve social needs rather than military and corporate interests. They organized in universities and communities, published a magazine offering sharp political analysis, and sought meaningful scientific exchange internationally in Vietnam, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, and other countries.
Some of the issues we face today have changed in important ways, but fundamental questions of power, ideology, and democracy in science remain.
Speaker Bios:
Ben Allen is a biologist and activist in east Tennessee. He is an organizer for the revitalized Science for the People and was a member of the Science for the People Research Collective. He works as a contractor on computational biology projects related to energy and environment.
Dr. Sigrid Schmalzer is a professor in the History Department and an officer in the faculty union at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. Her publications include two books, The People's Peking Man: Popular Science and Human Identity in Twentieth-Century China (2008) and Red Revolution, Green Revolution: Scientific Farming in Socialist China (2016). She was also the lead organizer for the 2014 conference "Science for the People: The 1970s and Today,” and she is co-editor, with Alyssa Botelho and Daniel S. Chard, of the new primary source volume Science for the People: Documents from America’s Movement of Radical Scientists (2017).
Dr. John Vandermeer is the Asa Gray Distinguished University Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology as well as the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor in LSA's Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology. He has been involved in research and teaching in food and agriculture related topics for the past 40 years. His research has concentrated on the ecology of the coffee agroecosystem in Mexico, elaborating the complex ecological structures involved in complicated dynamics of the pest control system there. He has authored 15 books, mainly concerned with agroecosystems and more than 200 publications in theoretical ecology, tropical ecology and agroecology. He is a founding member of the New World Agriculture and Ecology Group. He is currently a professor of ecology at the University of Michigan.
*
This event kicks off Science for the People's weekend-long convention. During the convention, we will be making collective decisions about our organizational structure, ratifying our foundational principles and bylaws, and developing national projects, we plan to include time to get to know one another, to learn from each other, and to further our political self-education. The original Science for the People arose in 1969 out of the anti-war movement and lasted until 1989. With radical analysis and non-hierarchical governing structure, Science for the People tackled the militarization of scientific research, the corporate control of research agendas, the political implications of sociobiology and other scientific theories, the environmental consequences of energy policy, inequalities in health care, and many other issues.
Its members opposed racism, sexism, and classism in science and above all sought to mobilize people working in scientific fields to become active in agitating for science, technology, and medicine that would serve social needs rather than military and corporate interests. They organized in universities and communities, published a magazine offering sharp political analysis, and sought meaningful scientific exchange internationally in Vietnam, China, Cuba, Nicaragua, and other countries.
Some of the issues we face today have changed in important ways, but fundamental questions of power, ideology, and democracy in science remain.
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