Abstract

Decolonization is not merely a historical process, but also an epistemological one; Decolonizing the Plan’s format of short, empirically-grounded case studies produces a complex, multi-layered picture of how plans in colonial, postcolonial, and settler colonial contexts shape how knowledge is produced. Rather than producing a simplifying or flattening account of decolonization, this research project broadens understanding of decolonizing processes as taking place at a number of different levels simultaneously.

In this workshop, scholars contributing to our book project, Decolonizing the Plan: Keywords for Rethinking the Histories of Planning, will present both case studies and primary source material (including archival documents, artefacts, images, field notes, and excerpts from ethnographies). Empirical case studies in the history, politics and lived experience of technoscientific, cultural, and economic planning that probe, question and shift key concepts in the fields of History of Science, History of Technology, Science and Technology Studies, and Anthropology will form the center of workshop discussions as participants consider how particular case studies and primary source material can inform the development of new decolonizing methodologies for scholarship in the histories of planning.

Organizers

Sarah Blacker, MPIWG
Emily Brownell, University of Northern Colorado
Anindita Nag, MPIWG
Kavita Philip, University of California, Irvine
Martina Schlünder, University of Toronto
Sarah Van Beurden, The Ohio State University
Helen Verran, Charles Darwin University, Northern Institute

List of Presenters

Benjamin Allen, Stanford University
Itty Abraham, National University of Singapore
Lily Irani, University of California, San Diego
Robert Kett, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach, Universität Konstanz
Laura Mitchell, University of California, Irvine
Gregg Mitman, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Tamar Novick, MPIWG
Benjamin Zachariah, Universität Heidelberg
Benjamin Peters, University of Tulsa

Workshop Schedule

Monday, June 12:  14:00–17:00
Tuesday, June 13:  09:30–17:30
Wednesday, June 14: 09:30–16:00
Thursday, June 15: 09:30–17:30
Friday, June 16: 09:30–16:00