Lives in STS “as a Series of Failed Political Experiments”

Session Submission Type: Open Panel

Abstract

This open panel invites exploration of how to make sense of the biographical changes in changing contexts of radical scientists and of critics of science since the 1970s, as well as of STS interpreters of science influenced by them. Papers for the session can be viewed and comments posted at http://livesinsts.wordpress.com. The panel hopes to “encourage[e] looser attachments, greater irony and a sense of humour when undertaking these engagements,” as Gary Werskey, following up the quote in the panel title, advocated when asked to reflect on transitions in his own life since his Visible College, a history of an earlier generation of radical scientists in the UK. The panel also hopes that contributions will apply back on STS itself Atsushi Akera’s emphasis in Calculating a Natural World on STS “avoiding the determination of any layer of… the complexity [of changing contexts]; capturing the interpretative openness (as against hermeneutic closure) for actors; and conveying the contingency and indeterminate quality of changes and of failed initiatives…” Formation of new professions, Akera notes, “often occurred at the intersection of multiple institutions and disciplines,” and involved “recombining prior knowledge and preexisting institutional forms,” and various actors “letting go” of some commitments in order to forge new associations. Contributors are welcome to try to make sense of their own biographies in and around STS in relation to what Kelly Moore has described as the “proliferation [since the 1970s] of new institutions of deliberation, participation, activism, enterprise, and social movement mobilization.”

Sub Unit

• Papers for Open Panels / Lives in STS “as a series of failed political experiments”

Chair

• Peter J. Taylor, UMass Boston

Individual Presentations

• Making Visible A Collage Of Radical Scientists And Critics - Peter J. Taylor, UMass Boston

• From radical scientist to STS intervener - Brian Martin, University Of Wollongong

• Motivating Investment in Interdisciplinary Infrastructure: What Can One Person Do? - Michael O O'Rourke, Michigan State University

Session Organizer

• Peter J. Taylor, UMass Boston