CALL FOR ABSTRACTS: “KNOWHOW IN A SHIFTING WORLD”

Series Editors: Aarti Kawlra, Philippe Peycam Volume Editors: Barbara Čurda, Nicolas Bautès, and Aryo Danusiri Contact: Publications Officer, Mary Lynn van Dijk, at m.l.c.van.dijk@iias.nl Abstract submission deadline: 30 August 2023

KNOWHOW IN A SHIFTING WORLD

IntroductionThis volume follows discussions initiated during a workshop held at the French Institute of Pondicherry in February 2023, on the question of knowhow, not only as an epistemic question of knowledge production but also, as overt, and or covert, process(es) of transmission and learning, in different contexts, and to address, methodologically, the prevailing binary between knowhow and knowledge. Our point of departure is the contemporary acceleration in technological mediations and fractures in human cognition and social interaction, accentuated by the COVID-19 physical distancing and confinement policies, and the attendant crisis of isolation among scholars and educators these have triggered around the world. We are particularly aware of the significance of spaces of human interaction and exchange as critical to the production and reproduction of culture, and within it, of different forms of knowledge, knowhow and knowing in a broad sense. Assuming that modes, codes, and forms of transmission are socially, spatially, culturally and politically motivated, focusing on ways of knowing the world, of acting in and on it, especially at moments of rupture like the pandemic, can be particularly revealing. In the emerging era of artificial intelligence and machine learning, we are pressed to understand the role and significance of human choice, meaning, and decision-making, through both the minuscule and the multitude of tactics and strategies deployed in the mobilization and manipulation of materials, tools and bodily skills in the production and transmission of knowledge.   Our aim is to draw from a variety of cases to build a common vocabulary, to articulate and problematize the question of knowhow, to expand its conceptual contours, examine the various material objects, tools, skills, ideas, persons/bodies and spaces that mediate knowing in all its variations. As what appears to be ‘technical’ is inevitably intertwined with what is ‘social’ (Digard, 1979), different modalities of knowhow benefit from different forms and levels of recognition within specific communities of practice (Lave, 1991)—which may, or may not, be acknowledged within the institutionalized world of knowledge. We here wish to make such processes visible by examining how knowing circulates, is being transmitted through human as well as human–non human relationships in diverse spheres. Through the restitution of lived situations in their contexts of formulation and expression, in this volume, we would like to build a dynamic framework of research and method that privileges knowing and learning contexts, enunciations, and mediations.  By describing the ways in which knowhow circulates, this volume also documents the gap between actual practices and commonsense notions of teaching and learning embedded within the idea of a dyadic teacher-learner relationship. Dewey reminds us that “society exists not only by transmission, by communication, but it may fairly be said to exist in transmission, in communication” (Dewey, 1916: 5). On the one hand, he seems to suggest that transmission can mean “sending,” “delivering,” or “imparting” given knowledge (Carey, 1992). This gives an impression that knowhow and transmission can be seen as two separate practices in the social world. On the other hand, he also seems to view those things as inseparable, because transmission is the space in which the social is becoming. Exposing the ways in which learning operates then leads us to problematize the notion of transmission itself.  So, how is knowhow being transmitted? Is it being captured by stealth (Herzfeld, 2004)? Ingold and Lucas remind us that “[…] novices are not passive recipients whose mental capacities are waiting to be ‘filled up’ with content peculiar to their tradition, but are rather active participants in a process in which knowledge is forever being created and discovered anew” (Ingold & Lucas, 2007). This question is relevant because, not only do knowing and learning involve different modes of engaging with and being in the world, on cognitive, emotional, and sensory planes but also, render visible the shifting relations between human and non-human interactions. Finally, examining knowhow within the theoretical framework of academic research also poses the question of the interferences between what is deemed to be knowledge and who is the learner and who is the teacher, of their status, and their influence in the academy and, in turn, on the social world. What does one restitute, and how? For whom and for which purpose?

Call for Abstracts Cases drawing from vastly diverse contexts such as mining, fishing, recycling to art, craft, dance, music, and new media are invited. Each contribution based on empirical observation, will examine the conditions and practical modalities of the transmission of specific forms of knowhow that could potentially address the following questions:  What are the manifest and tacit elements in spatial and social knowledge, and how are they enunciated as knowhow and knowing?What are their (individual, social, linguistic, political, and so on) contexts of formulation?In what ways are persons/bodies, spaces, objects, images, tools, and other media imbricated in knowledge production and transmission? Possible focus areasModes, codes, and forms of transmissionThe tacit questions in spatial and social knowledgeIntercultural relationships, expectations and conflicts in knowledge exchangeExperiential learning, disciplinary learningLearning through repetition, learning through inventionApprenticeship, learning by doing, place-based learningProcess-based and outcome-based instructionKeywords: Spaces, tools, skills, objects, persons/bodies, mediations, situations, knowledge production, knowhow, transmission, teaching, learning.

Submission guidelines Please submit an abstract of up to 500 words, and include the title of your paper, your name and affiliation. In your abstract, indicate which focus area/s your study covers, and how you plan to address the abovementioned three questions. Please send your abstract as a Word attachment to m.l.c.van.dijk@iias.nl, Mary Lynn van Dijk, Publications Officer. On the subject line, please put Knowhow in a Shifting World.

Submission and tentative publication scheduleAbstract Submission Deadline: 30 August 2023Notification of Acceptance of Abstracts: 30 September 2023Notification of Inclusion in Knowhow Workshop at ICAS 13 in Surabaya, Indonesia: 15 October 2023Submission of Final Papers: 30 March 2024Online Workshop: 15 June 2024Presentation at ICAS 13 Knowhow Workshop: 28 July–1 August 2024Submission of Full Paper for Inclusion in the Edited Volume: 30 September 2024Notification of Decision on Edited Volume, after Peer Review: 15 January 2025Revised Paper Submission Deadline: 15 April 2025Open Access Publication of Edited Volume: 15 September 2025.

References Cited Carey, James W. (1992). Communication as Culture: Essays on Media and Society. London: Psy-chology Press.  Dewey, John. (1916). Democracy and Education. New York, NY: Macmillan  Digard, J.P. (1979). La technologie en anthropologie: fin de parcours ou nouveau souffle? L’homme: revue francaise d’anthroplogie, Janvier-Mars, 73–104.  Herzfeld, M. (2004). The body impolitic: artisans and artifice in the global hierarchy of value. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press. Ingold, Tim & Lucas, Ray. (2007). “The 4 A’s (Anthropology, Archeology, Art and Architecture): Reflections on a teaching and learning experience”. In Mark Harris (Ed.), Ways of Knowing – New Approaches in the Anthropology of Experience and Learning, pp. 287–305. New York, NY/ Ox-ford: Berghahn Books. Lave, J. (1991). Situating learning in communities of practice. In L. B. Resnick, J. M. Levine, & S. D. Teasley (Eds.), Perspectives on socially shared cognition, pp. 63–82. Washington, DC: Ameri-can Psychological Association. https://doi.org/10.1037/10096-003.