J. B. (Jack) Owens

J. B. Owens is Professor of History and Directory of the Geographically-Integrated History Laboratory at Idaho State University (USA). He is the lead Principal Investigator (PI) for a new collaborative research project entitled “Understanding social networks within complex, nonlinear systems: geographically-integrated history and dynamics GIS” [acronym: SOCNET], which is administered by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) Office of Cyberinfrastructure (OCI). In support of the project for four years, NSF provides $1,761,897, of which Idaho State University’s portion is $1,290.704 (OCI-0941371) and that of the University of Oklahoma is $471,193 (May Yuan, PI; OCI-0941501). The award is part of NSF’s Cyber-Enabled Discovery and Innovation (CDI) program. An abstract of the project is available in the “papers” section.

He currently serves as co-Project Leader of a multidisciplinary, multinational research project he created for the European Science Foundation’s EUROCORES (European Collaborative Research) Scheme’s program “The Evolution of Cooperation and Trading” (TECT). The title of his project is “Dynamic Complexity of Self-Organizing Cooperation-Based Commercial Networks in the First Global Age” (acronym: DynCoopNet). His participation is funded by the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF), Award Number SES-0740345 ($394,000; 2007-2010). He is also a member of the TECT Scientific Committee. An attractive, heavily illustrated booklet (aka Brochure), which includes Owens’ article on the DynCoopNet Project, is available for a free download from the TECT web site:

http://www.esf.org/activities/eurocores/programmes/tect.html

Owens' research has focused on the cultural, economic, and social contexts shaping the exercise of political authority in the Kingdom of Castile during the period 1400-1700. As a vehicle for studying world history, he explores social networks and dynamic, nonlinear change in complex human communities, particularly the global Hispanic Monarchy, which integrated the domains of the Iberian crowns of Aragon, Castile, and Portugal. His pioneering 1980 book, _Rebelión, monarquía y oligarquía murciana en la época de Carlos V_, stimulated numerous publications by others on Spain's municipal oligarchies during the first global age and contributed to the debate over the rebellion of the comuneros, 1520-21, and its impact. In addition to articles and reviews, he published another book in 2005, _"By My Absolute Royal Authority": Justice and the Castilian Commonwealth at the Beginning of the First Global Age_, which argues that perceptions of royal judicial administration shaped the degree of collaboration with the Crown by the kingdom's politically important groups. The abstract and critical comments about this book are available at the URL:

http://www.boydell.co.uk/www.urpress.com/80462014.HTM

For the past decade, Owens has explored smuggling networks within the global Hispanic Monarchy and the use of geographic information systems (GIS) for the organization and analysis of information. With Laura Woodworth-Ney (see her Academia page), he is the co-creator of an innovative, GIS-based Master's degree program in geographically-integrated history, the M.A. in Historical Resources Management, of which Kevin Marsh (see his Academia page) is the current graduate director. Information about the program can be obtained at the URL:

http://www.isu.edu/departments/history/gradprogram.shtml

A proposal, in part created by the ISU History Department, for an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program in Social and Environmental Dynamics is currently making its way through the administrative procedure toward approval.

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