10. Emplacements of Science: Establishing Local-Global Correspondences and Circulations
Jennifer Croissant, University Of Arizona; Elie Danziger, EHESS (School of Social Sciences); Timothy Sacco, NOIRLab;
How is the place of science negotiated? How is the specificity of a location situated within discourses of universality? This open panel will explore how supposedly universally natural, complex knowledge is crafted in situ by negotiating what can be afforded by a local site or model in relation to generalizing theories. Cases should consider the role of institutions, social power, discourse, and practice in forging correspondences so that local sites can stand for universal processes. We hope to extend conversations in STS that engage the place-fullness of scientific practice in the context of hybrid experimental systems, instruments, and research infrastructures that are situated in specific contexts and communities and yet extend to extra-local claims and networks.
Topics envisioned include:
Explorations of scientific knowledge about complex interrelations between water/climate/soil (sea/sky/ land) in environmental sciences as they negotiate the specificity of research sites with aspirations to general models.
Studies of universalizing work and claims-making as a mode of colonizing and how this is instantiated in historical or contemporary research projects.
Examples of the movement of samples, instruments, and personnel among different places, and the work done to establish correspondences and spread knowledge and methodologies to new sites.
