Institutional History
There are multiple histories of the diverse ways by which researchers around the world have encountered and transformed ideas originating from psychologists and linguists in Moscow, Leningrad, Kharkov, Berlin during the 1920s and 1930s. This page provides some fragments of more recent efforts to continue to elaborate and develop those ideas.
ISCAR was formally constituted in June 2002, reflecting a decision to integrate two organizations -- International Society for Cultural Research and Activity Theory (ISCRAT) and Conference for Sociocultural Research -- that were each oriented to supporting scientific communication about different aspects of sociocultural, culturalhistorical and activity theory approaches. These organisations arose out of meetings and activities that had started initially and independently in the early 1980s, which subsequently developed into quadrennial Congresses (five ISCRAT Congresses from 1986-2002, and three Conferences for Sociocultural Research from 1992-2000) -- involving researchers from five continents. Below you find the archives of this history.
History of the Transition
ISCRAT-SSCS Transition Committee
Minutes from Transition Committee Meeting, 16 June 2001 (Aarhus, Denmark)
Minutes from Transition Committee Meeting, 20 July 2000 (Campinas, Brazil)
Society for SocioCultural Studies (SSCS)
Conference for Socio-cultural Research (and Publications)
Madrid (1992) — “ ”
— Book Publications
— del Río, P., Álvarez, A. & Wertsch, J. V. (General Editors) (1994). Explorations in Socio-Cultural Studies. Obra completa. ISBN: 84-88926-00-6 (4 vols.)
— Rosa, A. & Valsiner, J. (Eds.) (1994). Explorations in Socio-Cultural Studies, Vol. 1. Historical and Theoretical Discourse. 256 pp. ISBN: 84-88926-01-4.
— Wertsch, J. V. & Ramírez, J. D. (Eds.) (1994). Explorations in Socio-Cultural Studies, Vol. 2. Literacy and Other Forms of Mediated Action. 208 pp. ISBN: 84-88926-02-2.
— Mercer, N. & Coll, C. (Eds.) (1994). Explorations in Socio-Cultural Studies, Vol. 3. Teaching, Learning and Interaction. 224 pp. ISBN: 84-88926-03-0.
— Álvarez, A. & del Río, P. (Eds.) (1994). Explorations in Socio-Cultural Studies, Vol. 4. Education as Cultural Construction. 252 pp. ISBN: 84-88926-04-9.
Geneva (1996) — “Vygotsky-Piaget”
Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil (2000) — “New conditions of knowledge production: Globalization and social practices”
—Papers
International Society for Cultural Research and Activity Theory (ISCRAT)
Short History of ISCRAT
Congresses (and Publications)
Berlin (1986) — “ ”
— Congress Proceedings
Lahti, Finland (1990) — “Individuality and Transformation”
— Book Publication: Perspectives in Activity Theory
(hardback) (paperback) opens in a new window
Moscow (1995) — “Activity Theory and Social Practice”
Aarhus, Denmark (1998) — “Activity Theory and Cultural Historical Approaches to Social Practice”
— Congress Programme
— Book of Abstracts
Hedegaard, Mariane, & Chaiklin, Seth (Eds.). (1998). Activity theory and cultural historical approaches to social practice: Abstracts from the 4th Congress of the International Society for Cultural Research and Activity Theory. Aarhus, Denmark: Aarhus University.
available through inter-library loan, ISBN number: 8798508253
—Book Publications
Amsterdam (2002) — “Dealing with Diversity: Tools and Resources for Human Development in Social Practices”
— Congress Programme
ISCRAT Organizational Documents
Executive Committee (1998-2002)
Minutes from the General Meeting, Amsterdam, 19 June 2002
Minutes from the Executive Committee Meeting, Campinas, Brazil, 17 July 2000
Minutes from the Executive Committee Meeting, Amsterdam, 12 June 1999
Minutes from the General Meeting, Aarhus, 10 June 1998
Minutes from the ISCRAT Working Committee Meeting, Rome, 10-13 December 1993
Minutes of Foundation, 20 February 1988
Founding Statutes of ISCRAT (1988)