Call for proposals: "Roots of Production: National Value, Design, and Technology in Historical Perspective" at MIT
[From Anne McCants, Valeria Pinchera, and Ellan Spero]
Dear Colleagues,
We invite you to participate in a workshop "Roots of Production: National Value, Design, and Technology in Historical Perspective" at MIT April 3-4, 2020 (Deadline for abstracts is January 15, 2020). This workshop is part of a larger collaborative project "Waves of Globalization, Between Tradition and Innovation" shared by Anne McCants, Ellan Spero (MIT), and Valeria Pinchera (University of Pisa).
How does the value and associated narrative of “nation” take hold amidst the global challenges of industrialization? What factors (material/immaterial, value, and other differentiators) determine the emergence, consolidation, or even decline of nationally-branded industrial sectors? This workshop invites scholars interested in understanding the intersection of nation, manufacturing, design and technology, and the co-production of these narratives in shaping industrial sectors for both products and regions from an interdisciplinary historical perspective. We especially encourage comparative approaches to management and organization, supply chains, entrepreneurship and technological innovation, value and communication strategy. We are particularly interested in how these phenomena have evolved over time.