EUGENE—Up to 500 scholars, environmental scientists and citizen activists will consider such questions as what feminism and science have to say to each other and whether the humanities are going green during an international conference hosted Feb. 25–27 by the University of Oregon.

The interdisciplinary "Taking Nature Seriously" conference, free and open to the public, will cover these and many other topics in panels, keynote addresses and other activities during the three-day event. Pre-registration is recommended.

Conference organizers expect the sessions to help establish a dialogue in circumstances where none may have existed before. They will bring together participants in the interdisciplinary fields of science studies (history, philosophy, sociology, literature and cultural studies) and environmental studies (biological and natural sciences, social sciences, humanities, management, policy, design and law) with academic researchers in the practice of science (via history, philosophy, sociology and rhetoric) and public activists.

"Sometimes activists get impatient with academics and scientists. There’s a tendency to think of them as doing ‘head’ work without thinking of social implications," says William Rossi, a conference co-organizer and UO associate professor of English. "The opposite is also true: some people in the academy see activists as rushing to act without being fully informed.

"Both are half-truths," Rossi says. "We hope that when people meet face to face, those stereotypes will break down. All we can do is create space for that to happen."

Most of the 48 panel presentations consist of an interdisciplinary mix of participants. Examples of panel topics include "Greening the Humanities," "The Rhetoric of Biodiversity and Sustainability," "Citizens Taking Action—Studies of Citizen Involvement," "Dialogues between Feminism and Science," and "Mediating Relations between Science and its Public."

Keynote speakers include:

• Donna Haraway, history of consciousness professor from the University of California, Santa Cruz, who researches cultural and historical studies of science and technology. She has authored several books including "Simians, Cyborgs, and Women: The Reinvention of Nature" and "Modest_Witness@Second_Millennium: Feminism and Technoscience."

• Renowned biologist Richard Lewontin from Harvard University, whose research focus is theoretical and experimental population genetics. He has recently published "It Ain’t Necessarily So: The Dream of the Human Genome and Other Illusions," in keeping with his long stream of thought provoking books that include "Biology as Ideology," "The Dialectical Biologist" and "Not in Our Genes."

• Public interest scientist Mary O’Brien of Eugene, whose work focuses on alternatives to toxics, alternatives to risk assessment, conservation of Hells Canyon native grasslands, citizen involvement in science-based decision-making, and encouragement of scientists to be advocates. She is the author of "Making Better Environmental Decisions: An Alternative to Risk Assessment."

• Andrew Pickering, professor of the sociology of science and technology at the University of Illinois, whose current research interests center on the interrelationships between science, technology and society, with special reference to warfare and industry. He is the author of "Constructing Quarks," "The Mangle of Practice" and "Science as Practice and Culture."

The international conference will feature presenters from Denmark, Canada, Australia, Switzerland and India. Participating UO faculty and graduate students are from many departments, including biology, environmental studies, English, sociology, philosophy, geography, and planning, public policy and management.

The conference is sponsored by the College of Arts and Sciences, the Center for the Study of Women in Society (CSWS), the Oregon Humanities Center, the Environmental Studies Program, the Institute for a Sustainable Environment and the philosophy, English and biology departments.

For more information, contact CSWS at (541) 346-5015, send e-mail to <tns@darkwing.
uoregon.edu> or visit the web site at <http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~tns>.

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