Examining the cosmopolitan and the local in science and nature: Building a Canadian/Indian research and education partnership

Abstract

This paper will discuss the burgeoning collaborations between Canada and India in the expanding field of “Science and Technology Studies” and the effects on joint educational and research initiatives. In 2014, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, with support from institutions and scholars across Canada, India and S.E. Asia, initiated a three-year exploratory project aiming to increase collaboration between Indian and Canadian scholars working in the field of the “humanities and social studies of science” (i.e. Science and Technology Studies). Building on previous Indo-Canadian collaboration fostered by the highly successful SSHRC Strategic Knowledge Cluster, “Situating Science” (2007-2015), this project takes as its theme “Cosmopolitanism and the Local in Science and Nature, East and West”, examining the growth of science and its relationship to regional/local knowledge. By emphasizing “cosmopolitanism”, the collaborative project rejects dominant “Centre/Periphery” models of knowledge dissemination and domination and fosters a deep engagement with the actual types of multidirectional negotiations and exchanges in the making of modern science. The project goals are to (a) expose a hitherto largely Eurocentric scholarly and educational community in Canada to widening international perspectives and methods, (b) build on past successes at border crossings and exchanges between the participants, (c) facilitate a much needed nationwide organization and exchange amongst Indian and South-East Asian scholars, in concert with their Canadian counterparts, (d) open up new perspectives on the genesis and place of globalized science and thereby (e) offer alternative ways to conceptualize and engage globalization itself, especially the globalization of knowledge and science. At the core is the goal of educational reform and collaboration by promoting online networking, real-time exchange of papers, research and presentations, joint teaching, and the dissemination of research into a wider educational and cultural forum. This paper will discuss the opportunities (and difficulties) in building such an international collaboration.