Research lies at the heart of the modern world. An estimated trillion dollars are spent yearly on research across a spectrum from government to private corporations, and from the military to medicine. In the humanities, it is our central credo. As a subject of research, it raises vital issues: about public and private goods, about the implications of basic as opposed to applied research, about the relationship between academia, art, government, and business, about the allocation of resources, about the possibility of attaining the truth about something, and about what we see and what we take for granted. It leads us into questions of individual motivation and towards the histories of institutions. "Search" and "re-search" enter our lives at nearly every turn. We want to engage the public on this ground. But we believe that to do this well, these conversations must rest upon a solid base of historical understanding.

"Research" as a window through which to study the changing shape of knowledge brings the humanities and natural sciences into the same frame. At a time when perceived divisions between these two types of  knowledge seem large, and are growing, the perspective offered by our approach could help build an argument that could not so much as bridge differences between the "two cultures," as show that they are only one culture: a culture of research.  

Then there are the dark sides of research—research done badly on purpose or research done well, but put  to evil ends. How are we to think about research when its connection to imperialism and colonialism cannot be undone? A history of research would have to include not only what we have come, however unsystematically, to understand as research, but also all the knowledge practices of prior times and different places that were excluded from consideration and adoption as research.

Join us for a two day conference, featuing eight sessions and discussions with 26 pre emininent international scholars. For more information: https://voices.uchicago.edu/globalshapesofknowledge/

Sponsors: The Institute for the Formation of Knowledge; The Franke Institute for the Humanities; The Committee on South Asian Studies; The Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago; THe Department of East Asian Languages and Civilizations, University of Chicago; The American Academy in Rome