Call for papers

Thinking Together

Interdisciplinary Workshop on Collective Memory & Collective Knowledge

Murdoch University, 31 October – 2 November 2023, in-person

 

Much of our memories, narratives, and knowledge are social in character: collectively generated and interdependent. To a large extent, the philosophical discourses on these issues – questions of how we ‘think together’ – have been conducted separately. Thinking together: Interdisciplinary Workshop on Collective Memory & Collective Knowledge attempts to bring these discourses into dialogue and, what is more, tap into related debates occurring in philosophy, cultural history and indigenous studies to deepen our understanding of the fundamentally social aspect of who we are and how we make sense of ourselves and the world around us.

 

This event will create a space where people from diverse areas of expertise, levels of career, and academic backgrounds can meet to discuss problems, questions, and issues concerning collective forms of memory and knowledge. The aim of Thinking Together is to be an interdisciplinary effort to share and explore innovative ways to understand collective memory and collective knowledge as valuable sources of knowledge for diverse humanistic, social, and scientific disciplines. 

 

Confirmed speakers: 

 

• John Sutton (Macquarie University) (online)

• Kellie Pollard (Charles Darwin University)

• Nicolas Bullot (Charles Darwin University)

• Glenda Satne (University of Wollongong)

• Robert A. Wilson (University of Western Australia)

• Anne Schwenkenbecher (Murdoch University)

• Alessandro Portelli (The Sapienza University of Rome) (online)

 

Conference Venue:

 

Boola Katitjin building

Murdoch University

Perth, Australia

 

Presentations

 

This workshop aims to bring together participants from at least four areas: Philosophy (social epistemology, philosophy of mind, philosophy of memory), Cognitive sciences, Indigenous studies, and History. In addition to the invited speakers, a number of slots will be allocated for scholars and researchers to conduct 45 min presentations (25 min for presentation + 20 min for Q&A) on the workshop’s topics. 

 

Topics include (but are not restricted to) the following:

• The epistemic value of collective knowledge and collective memory
• Relevance of collective memory for Historiography
• Extended cognition and collective thinking
• Collective Memory and Identity
• Non-western epistemologies and community knowledge
• Collective epistemology and collective beliefs
• 4E cognition and collective thinking
• Metaphysics and/or ontology of collective remembering 

 

Abstract submission:

 

Authors should submit a 400 – 500 words paper proposal (excluding references) outlining the main argument. Please submit your abstract using the submission form.

 

Proposals addressing emergent discussions, interdisciplinary views, and new perspectives will be prioritized. Postgraduate students, early career researchers, and members of underrepresented minorities are particularly encouraged to participate. The participation of members of communities, social groups, and independent researchers that use diverse forms of collective thinking as a cultural feature in their work (such as indigenous collectives or historical memory researchers) will be highly appreciated.

 

Submission Deadline:

 

16 August 2023, 23:45 hrs, Perth time (GMT+8)

 

Organisers:

 

• Anne Schwenkenbecher (Murdoch University)

• Alberto Guerrero Velazquez (University of Western Australia) 

 

Sponsors:

• Australasian Association of Philosophy
• International Social Ontology Society
• Society for Applied Philosophy

 

Website:

 

   https://thinkingtogether.au

 

For further information, please contact Alberto Guerrero Velazquez at: alberto.guerrerovelazquez@research.uwa.edu.au