Narrating Science: The Power of Stories in the 21st Century

In the latter decades of the twentieth century, discourses on science and technology began to spread beyond the professional communities of scientific experts involved in knowledge production. In the cultural realm, we saw the rise of the “popular science” genre, of science series and documentaries on TV, and, around the turn of the millennium, an increase in the amount, depth, and quality of attention paid to science in literary and mainstream fiction. How do these stories about science contribute to understandings of scientific processes and issues of societal concern such as climate change, genetic engineering, nuclear physics, evolution, concepts of cognition, pharmaceutics, and nuclear power?

The Narrating Science conference brings together scholars, writers, and scientists to examine how storytelling about science across a spectrum of genres and media----fiction and non-fiction, print and film--is engaging scientific concepts and facts, practice and practitioners, institutions and societal impacts.

Conference Booklet

Program outline

Registration

There is no conference fee, but space is limited. Online registration is now closed.  If you would like to attend, please send a note detailing your background and interests to Susan Gaines at smgaines@uni-bremen.de and we will try to fit you in.

Conference Information

Sponsors: The College of Arts, University of Guelph, Canada, and the “Fiction Meets Science” research and fellowship program.