Cyborgs, Microbes and Black Boxes: History(s) of Feminist Science and Technology Studies with Jannis Steinke

With its approach of researching science and technology as an amalgamation of sociocultural factors (cf. Bauer et al 2020, p. 13), science and technology studies is a research field that abandons the paradigm of passive nature processed and transformed by technology. It is thus extremely compatible with (queer) feminist research approaches and gender and diversity studies in particular. Binary gender notions sedimented in the maxim of passive nature and active technology can thus be identified, dissected, and deconstructed in this field as well, through the shift from science as the objective production of knowledge to science as politics. The seminar will begin by briefly outlining the history of science and technology studies from the first to the third waves.
The paradigm shift from an understanding of neutrality of technical sciences to the maxim of “Science is politics by other means” (Latour) towards participatory research will then be traced.

The specifics of feminist science and technology studies will be elaborated based on Donna Haraway’s seminal writings on situated knowledges and the cyborg manifesto. Susan Leigh Star’s approaches will subsequently be introduced as an important strand in science and technology studies that links Latour’s and Haraway’s approaches and renders them productive as a new research paradigm. The seminar will conclude by looking at examples of applications of feminist science and technology studies, with the reading and discussion of excerpts from Annemarie Mol’s recent work entitled ‘Eating in Theory’ (2021).

Pandemic permitting, the course will take the form of an in-person block seminar.

Preliminary meeting (online): 4–6 pm on 30.05

In-person attendance: 10 am–4 pm on 01.07 and 02.07

In-person attendance: 10 am–4 pm on 08.07 and 09.07