scholarly journals (Dis)entangling Barad: Materialisms and ethics

2017 ◽  
Vol 47 (6) ◽  
pp. 918-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Hollin ◽  
Isla Forsyth ◽  
Eva Giraud ◽  
Tracey Potts
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Quantum Physics ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Material World ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Agential Realism ◽  
Karen Barad

In the wake of the widespread uptake of and debate surrounding the work of Karen Barad, this article revisits her core conceptual contributions. We offer descriptions, elaborations, problematizations and provocations for those intrigued by or invested in this body of work. We examine Barad’s use of quantum physics, which underpins her conception of the material world. We discuss the political strengths of this position but also note tensions associated with applying quantum physics to phenomena at macro-scales. We identify both frictions and unacknowledged affinities with science and technology studies in Barad’s critique of reflexivity and her concept of diffraction. We flesh out Barad’s overarching position of ‘agential realism’, which contains a revised understanding of scientific apparatuses. Building upon these discussions, we argue that inherent in agential realism is both an ethics of inclusion and an ethics of exclusion. Existing research has, however, frequently emphasized entanglement and inclusion to the detriment of foreclosure and exclusion. Nonetheless, we contend that it is in the potential for an ethics of exclusion that Barad’s work could be of greatest utility within science and technology studies and beyond.

The Revenge of the Humanities: Reality, Rhetoric, and the Politics of Postmodernism

1995 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 109-128 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Ward
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Social Theory ◽  
Scientific Realism ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Organizational Strategies ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
The Status

The debate between scientific realists and postmodern relativists has been generally treated as a philosophical disagreement over the status of epistemology. Here, however, I use material from Bourdieuian social theory and science and technology studies to illustrate how both scientific realism and postmodern deconstructionism can be seen as political and organizational strategies used in the historical and ongoing struggle between scientific and literary fields and camps. I argue that just as scientific realism and experimentalism were used to dismiss the knowledge contributions of literary fields and to relegate them to secondary status in the seventeenth century, postmodern deconstructionism and its turn to rhetoric and textualism is now being employed as a strategy to counter the political and intellectual dominance gained by the sciences over the last few centuries.

scholarly journals The Responsibilities and Obligations of STS in a Moment of Post-Truth Demagoguery

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 ◽  
pp. 444 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steve G. Hoffman
Keyword(s):  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
The Political ◽  
Right Wing ◽  
Free Press ◽  
Right Wing Authoritarianism ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Technological Tools ◽  
Fact Checking ◽  
Scientific Expertise

Scientific expertise and the free press have come under sustained partisan attack with the political ascendance of right-wing nationalism. This has put some science and technology studies (STS) scholars in the difficult position of defending the legitimacy of science while maintaining a characteristic agnosticism toward “the facts.” In this essay, inspired by a reading of Noortje Marres’s (2018) critique of fact-checking services, I seek to relieve some of the background anxiety I sense that perhaps STS research paved a path for the rise of right wing authoritarianism and “post-truth” politics. We are not dealing with a process of fact making in this environment, at least not of the scientific variety. Instead, we are dealing with political demagoguery. As scholars, we should therefore equip ourselves with the appropriate analytic and technological tools, and as many as possible, for engaging this political moment.

scholarly journals Trois regards sur la notion de « culture chinoise »

2018 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-116
Author(s):  
Basile Zimmermann
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Science And Technology Studies ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Historical Overview ◽  
Asian Studies ◽  
Interactional Expertise ◽  
General Argument ◽  
Technology Studies ◽  
Chinese Studies

Abstract Chinese studies are going through a period of reforms. This article appraises what could constitute the theoretical and methodological foundations of contemporary sinology today. The author suggests an approach of “Chinese culture” by drawing from recent frameworks of Science and Technology Studies (STS). The paper starts with current debates in Asian studies, followed by a historical overview of the concept of culture in anthropology. Then, two short case studies are presented with regard to two different STS approaches: studies of expertise and experience and the notion of interactional expertise, and the framework of waves and forms. A general argument is thereby sketched which suggests how “Chinese culture” can be understood from the perspective of materiality.

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