http://www.psy.vu.nl/iscrat2002/
Fifth Congress of the International Society for Cultural Research and
Activity Theory
Dealing with Diversity
Tools and resources for human development in social practices
*
Amsterdam
Vrije Universiteit
18 – 22 June, 2002
First announcement
Presentation of the Fifth Congress of ISCRAT
In our times processes of globalisation and particularisation play an
important role, not only in world politics but also in our everyday lives.
We are confronted with a proliferation of meanings, tools, information and
identities, with an ever-increasing diversity of cultural points of view,
values, and activities. We need to understand these processes and their
consequences for the development of human beings and their cultures. For
maintaining social cohesion and solidarity, for promoting peace and
cultivating humanity, we need to find new ways of constructing identities
and communities.
Cultural-historical activity theory is uniquely situated to tackle such
problems. It addresses the phenomenon of cultural development of the human
being as a mediational process that takes place within and by participation
in sociocultural activities. Cultural diversity and its consequences is one
of the major problems in sociocultural theory, nonetheless we have only
begun to understand its meaning. Diversity, in the widest sense of the
word, will therefore be the main focus for the fifth ISCRAT congress in
Amsterdam. The topic was already discussed in the previous congress in
Aarhus by such scholars as Jerome Bruner, Vera John-Steiner and Martha
Nussbaum. At the fifth congress, we intend to bring together scholars and
students from different disciplines and cultural backgrounds to examine how
cultural-historical activity theory can contribute to human development in
a diversifying world.
Cultural-historical activity theory, based on the legacy of Vygotsky, Luria
and Leontiev, has developed into an important paradigm in the social
sciences. The lively discussions on topics like ontogenesis, activity,
meaning, participation, and identity, have contributed to the evolution of
such fields as psychology, education, anthropology, linguistics,
philosophy, semiotics, communication, human-machine interaction, and
biology. In these discussions it was also made clear that disciplinary
boundaries have to be transcended. Cooperation between scholars in
interdisciplinary research is fruitful and, indeed, necessary. ISCRAT aims
at contributing to these exchanges by organising congresses every four
years. The Congress in Amsterdam will be the fifth in a series of
congresses organised by the International Society for Cultural Research and
Activity Theory. The previous ISCRAT congresses were organised in 1986
(Berlin), 1990 (Lahti), 1995 (Moscow), and 1998 (Aarhus). See also on
www.iscrat.org for more detailed information. There is a substantial link
with the conferences convened by the Society for Sociocultural Studies
(Madrid, 1992; Geneva, 1996; São Paulo, 2000).
On behalf of the International Board of ISCRAT, the organising committee in
the Netherlands invites all people interested in the ideas of
socio-cultural activity theory to attend the congress in Amsterdam.
International Recommending
Committee
Amelia Alvarez
Jerome Bruner
Jacques Carpay
Michael Cole
Yrjö Engeström
Mariane Hedegaard
Vladislav Lektorsky
Elsie Rockwell
Barbara Rogoff
Gün Semin
Susan Leigh Star
Charles Tolman
Peter Tulviste
Jaan Valsiner
James Wertsch
Local organising committee
Bert van Oers (President)
Sarah Blom
Ed Elbers
Bea Pompert
René van der Veer
Wim Wardekker
To the Congress Program
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