Symposium

A conference in four phases

On Tuesday, March 8, the first phase of the conference, will be aimed at Master's and doctoral students at Nantes University (limited number of places). The aim is to familiarise students with the cross-analysis in the history of knowledge and the history of gender of corpora built around women scholars, based on feedback and practical application to extracts from the writings of Victorine de Chastenay (1771-1855).

On Tuesday, March 8, from 5:00 pm to 7:00 pm, the opening conference of the public colloquium will be held as a part of research seminars of the François Viète Center and of the Center for Research on Identities, Nations and Interculturality. Two editors of the special issue of the Cahiers François Viète, Juliette Lancel and Isabelle Lémonon-Waxin, will present a reflexive analysis related to the co-construction of their reflections on the history of women and gender and on the seminar "Femmes et Savoirs".

Wednesday, March 9, from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm, several sessions will bring together researchers in the humanities and social sciences on the topic of the special issue.

Finally, from 5:15 pm to 7:00 pm, a multidisciplinary round table entitled "Research and activism, what dialogues are possible?" aims to discuss the political aspects of scientific research and the questions raised by the articulation between research and activism.

This event will be punctuated by readings given by Marion Le Nevet (Compagnie Les majorettes d'Azay-Le-Rideau) in the form of a fictional radio programme entitled "Géniales".

Argument of the round table Research and activism, what dialogues are possible?

For several decades, feminist epistemologies of situated knowledge have shown that the production of knowledge is as much a scientific as a political act[1]. What is at stake here is the reflexivity of the researcher on his or her own relation to knowledge. This situated character goes far beyond gender issues and characterizes any scholarly act. It is mainly the researchers concerned by the dominations (class, gender, race, handicap...) they study who, on the one hand, develop a reflexive approach in relation to their position and, on the other hand, are classified as activists by people who do not suffer from these dominations. The knowledge they produce is then often disqualified for it is considered politically situated, and therefore not scientific. Yet "the credibility of the approach of the engaged historian" [and of scientists in general] "rests on the transparency of the administration of proof[2]". Research projects rooted in activism give rise to renewed epistemological reflections[3] and demonstrate the interest of this dialogue. For example, in the fields of sociology and health anthropology, experiential knowledge is becoming an increasingly important part of research[4]. Thus, after several decades of commitment, associations (such as AIDS for example) and patients have been fully recognized as actors in the production of knowledge and expertise in health[5]. However, the last few months have shown to what extent the topic of political involvement in research may be sensitive in our country.

This round table aims to extend, in various fields of research, the previous reflections through two main questions:

• What are the modalities and possibilities of knowledge production in the context of engaged research?

• What are the forms of legitimization and defense of this knowledge?

[2] Cock Laurence de, Mathilde Larrère, and Guillaume Mazeau, 2020, L'Histoire comme émancipation, Paris, Agone, p. 112.

[3] Among others, the epistemologies of the South in a decolonial social science perspective by Boaventura de Sousa Santos, The End of a Cognitive Empire: the Coming of Age of the Epistemologies of the South (Duke University Press, 2018. https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/socsoc/2017-v49-n1-socsoc03347/1042809ar/

[4] Simon, Emmanuelle, Sophie Arborio, Arnaud Halloy, and Fabienne Héjoaka, eds. Les savoirs expérientiels en santé: fondements épistémologiques et enjeux identitaires. Nancy: Presses universitaires de Nancy, 2020.

[5] Let's mention for example the work of Catherine Tourette-Turgis and the creation of the University of Patients-Sorbonne in 2010).