The Past Speaks

 The “STS and Business History” workshop aims to foster a conversation between Science and Technology Studies (STS) and Business History.  STS-inspired methods offer novel approaches for business historians to navigate the complexities of modern capitalism. In particular, STS scholars have provided useful ways of approaching the study of finance, logistics, human resource management, corporate planning, infrastructure, and big data. Paired with the detailed attention that business historians pay to the intersections between business practices and wider social, cultural, and political contexts, the integration of STS approaches into business history offers a fruitful mode of investigating modern capitalism.

The workshop builds on the conference Techniques of the Corporation, organized by Michelle Murphy, Kira Lussier, Bretton Fosbrook, and Justin Douglas at the University of Toronto in May 2017, to query the techniques, epistemologies, and imaginaries of the corporation.

We welcome emerging and experienced scholars from a variety of disciplines to submit an abstract (250 words) that focuses on the history of a particular technique or technology deployed by corporations. We invite papers from a range of approaches where STS and business history might be effectively placed in conversation. Abstracts will be examined starting February 1. Accepted participants in the workshop will pre-circulate a short (1500-2000 word) paper, with the ultimate aim of the workshop the preparation of a collection of  papers for a special journal issue. Please see the full call , with a link to the Google form for submission, at: http://www.thebhc.org/sts-and-business-history