SHOT in challenging times – Parting message from SHOT President Gabrielle Hecht
Dear SHOT Community,
The US has sunk into dark times. Racism, misogyny, and transphobia have become badges of honor. Millions of people embrace hatred and cruelty. The collapse they champion, starting with the dismantling of regulatory institutions, will suffocate millions and accelerate the climate catastrophe. I’m heartbroken. It feels almost impossible to wrap my brain around our current predicament. How to summon the courage to continue?
Over the last few years, SHOT has built essential tools for confronting the challenges to come. Foremost among these are our REDI initiative and the intensification of our efforts to foster global community. Since its creation four years ago, the Racial Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion committee has laid a foundation for anti-racist work. We commissioned an anti-racist bibliography for the history of technology. We organized numerous well-attended sessions at recent annual meetings. We created a Race and Technologies prize for junior scholars. We sponsored a trans-hemispheric workshop on race and technology. And more.
Meanwhile, SHOT’s renewed efforts to build global community have also been transformative. We co-sponsored a groundbreaking workshop in Dar es Salaam. Last year we were able to offer substantial increases in travel grants for scholars from Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Our Executive Committee has become more geographically diverse. We’ve supported the creation of an Africa SIG, which will soon roll out an ambitious mentoring and publishing partnership with Technology and Culture and Indiana University Press. The recent meeting in Viña del Mar was our first in the southern hemisphere, and our first bilingual meeting. Future plans include sponsoring a second transhemispheric workshop in 2025, in close collaboration with our scholarly kin in Brazil.
These accomplishments provide essential tools for confronting the bigotry promoted by the world’s authoritarian leaders. They result from collective effort. Sustaining and growing these initiatives requires focused labor. It requires financial investment. Above all, it requires the moral clarity and drive to work unflinchingly in favor of solidarity, kindness, and care.
Hence my plea in this last missive to you as president:
Let’s pour time and energy to ensuring that our society offers a haven in the storms ahead. Let’s resist the isolation that authoritarians seek to impose. Let’s deepen our empathy and broaden how and to whom we listen. Let’s fight for professional and epistemological justice.
Let’s stay awake.
Thank you for your trust and support. It has been an honor to serve as SHOT’s president.
Wishing you courage and fortitude,
Gabrielle
Gabrielle Hecht, President Society for the History of Technology 2023-2024