The Exchange Programme of the Belgian American Educational Foundation: An Institutional Perspective on Scientific Persona Formation (1920-1940)
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18352/bmgn-lchr.10267Keywords:
Scholarly Persona, Belgium, United States, Institutional Perspective, Funding, Belgian American Educational FoundationAbstract
In this article we propose an institutional perspective on persona formation. Not unlike individual scientists, institutions such as funding bodies took an active interest in shaping the scientific persona. As a case in point, we discuss the Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF) that sent hundreds of aspiring Belgian scientists to the United States during the Interwar period. The BAEF went to great lengths to optimise its selection procedure and formulated conditions pertaining to both the mental and physical fitness of its grantees. In this way, the BAEF cut off some repertoires of being a scientist and encouraged its fellows to demonstrate certain qualities when in front of the funding body. This, we argue, points to the performative and occasional character of scientific personae.
This article is part of the special issue 'Scholarly Personae'.
Geschikt om te reizen. Het uitwisselingsprogramma van de Belgian American Education Foundation. Een institutioneel perspectief op de vorming van wetenschappelijke personae (1920-1940)
In dit artikel benaderen wij de vorming van personae vanuit een institutioneel perspectief. Net als individuele wetenschappers zijn instituties zoals funding bodies actief betrokken bij het scheppen en in standhouden van wetenschappelijke personae. Als voorbeeld hiervan bespreken wij de Belgian American Educational Foundation (BAEF). In het Interbellum zond de BAEF honderden wetenschappers-in-wording naar de Verenigde Staten. Daarbij getroostte de organisatie zich veel moeite om de selectieprocedure te optimaliseren en stelde zij voorwaarden aan zowel de mentale als fysieke conditie van haar fellows. De BAEF maakte hiermee sommige repertoires van het wetenschapper-zijn onmogelijk, terwijl zij haar fellows aanmoedigde om bepaalde andere kwaliteiten voor het voetlicht te brengen voor de ogen van de funding body. Dit toont aan, zo betogen wij, dat de wetenschappelijke persona gesitueerd en performatief is.
Dit artikel maakt deel uit van het themanummer 'Scholarly Personae'.
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