DOCSLIB.ORG

Transforming Technocultures Feminist Technoscience, Critical Design Practices and Caring Imaginaries

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Transforming Technocultures Feminist Technoscience, Critical Design Practices and Caring Imaginaries TRANSFORMING TECHNOCULTURES ABSTRACT The digital era has brought forward many innova- The different projects present a complex scenar- TRANSFORMING TECHNOCULTURES tive technologies but their contribution to resilient, io of how technoscientific stories are power-lad- inclusive and sustainable societies remain ambig- en, contradictory and messy. I have located several Feminist Technoscience, Critical Design Practices uous. Innovation has often been considered a key dominant narratives that affect, and are also affect- component for production and economic growth, ed by, the actors in the different technocultures. and Caring Imaginaries but this notion is gradually changing. Innovation is The dominant narrative of a linear development of turning into a practice for societal responsibility economic growth and technological advancement and sustainable development, transforming the di- creates technocultures of marginality and inequal- rectionality of the grand challenges of our time. I ity that have ethical implications for individuals and address this transformation of directionality by fo- infrastructures in Uganda. Working with feminist cusing on the norms and values which are embed- and postcolonial technoscience I challenge the bi- ded in technology design. The main objective of this nary innovation systems of science and modernity thesis is to develop knowledge on how norms of in- and argue for a more heterogeneous approach to Linda Paxling novation, technology and development are embed- development and epistemology. Another dominant ded in technoscientific storytelling and how these narrative concerns the norms and values of how narratives affect and are affected by technocultural games and media technology can and should be practices. I have approached this objective by en- performed. Working with critical design practices I gaging with technocultures in Uganda and Sweden encourage a learning platform that creatively cri- where I have explored how assemblages of people, tiques design processes of ‘the no longer and the technologies and infrastructures merge, overlap and not yet’. contrast with each other in technological develop- ment. The empirical work has been quite different The historical present has created unjust relation- in scope and context and have tackled norms and ships that are systematically power-laden and vio- values differently. In Uganda I met with representa- lent. We cannot ignore these relationships. When tives from the urban ICT community to discuss the we choose to re-imagine science, technology and challenges and possibilities with the mobile phone innovation as transformative with the possibility of infrastructure. I held an Open Space Workshop on subverting these violent relationships, we may be mobile development, and met with the co-found- able to foster more response-able and caring rela- ers of two women’s tech initiatives. In Sweden I did tionships. When we acknowledge knowledge pro- a pilot study on a norm-critical game culture and duction as situated, partial and located we learn to worked with critical design practices in a higher listen for more stories than one. learning context. Linda Paxling Blekinge Institute of Technology Doctoral Dissertation Series No. 2019:02 2019:02 ISSN: 1653-2090 Department of Technology and Aesthetics 2019:02 ISBN: 978-91-7295-362-8 Transforming Technocultures Feminist Technoscience, Critical Design Practices and Caring Imaginaries Linda Paxling Blekinge Institute of Technology Doctoral Dissertation Series No 2019:02 Transforming Technocultures Feminist Technoscience, Critical Design Practices and Caring Imaginaries Linda Paxling Doctoral Dissertation in Technoscience Studies Department of Technology and Aesthetics Blekinge Institute of Technology SWEDEN 2019 Linda Paxling Department of Technology and Aesthetics Publisher: Blekinge Institute of Technology SE-371 79 Karlskrona, Sweden Printed by Exakta Group, Sweden, 2018 ISBN: 978-91-7295-362-8 ISSN:1653-2090 urn:nbn:se:bth-17376 Abstract The digital era has brought forward many innovative technologies but their contribu- tion to resilient, inclusive and sustainable societies remain ambiguous. Innovation has often been considered a key component for production and economic growth, but this notion is gradually changing. Innovation is turning into a practice for societal re- sponsibility and sustainable development, transforming the directionality of the grand challenges of our time. I address this transformation of directionality by focusing on the norms and values which are embedded in technology design. The main objective of this thesis is to develop knowledge on how norms of innovation, technology and development are embedded in technoscientific storytelling and how these narratives affect and are affected by technocultural practices. I have approached this objective by engaging with technocultures in Uganda and Sweden where I have explored how as- semblages of people, technologies and infrastructures merge, overlap and contrast with each other in technological development. The empirical work has been quite different in scope and context and have tackled norms and values differently. In Uganda I met with representatives from the urban ICT community to discuss the challenges and possibilities with the mobile phone infrastructure. I held an Open Space Workshop on mobile development, and met with the co-founders of two women’s tech initiatives. In Sweden I did a pilot study on a norm-critical game culture and worked with critical design practices in a higher learning context. The different projects present a complex scenario of how technoscientific stories are power-laden, contradictory and messy. I have located several dominant narratives that affect, and are also affected by, the actors in the different technocultures. The dominant narrative of a linear development of economic growth and technological advancement creates technocultures of marginality and inequality that have ethical implications for individuals and infrastructures in Uganda. Working with feminist and postcolonial technoscience I challenge the binary innovation systems of science and modernity and argue for a more heterogeneous approach to development and epistemology. Another dominant narrative concerns the norms and values of how games and media techno- logy can and should be performed. Working with critical design practices I encourage a learning platform that creatively critiques design processes of ‘the no longer and the not yet’. The historical present has created unjust relationships that are systematically power- laden and violent. We cannot ignore these relationships. When we choose to re- imagine science, technology and innovation as transformative with the possibility of subverting these violent relationships, we may be able to foster more response-able and caring relationships. When we acknowledge knowledge production as situated, partial and located we learn to listen for more stories than one. 7 8 Table of Contents Acknowledgements 11 PART A 13 Introduction 15 A brief overview 23 Research objectives 25 Main objective and aim 26 Significance 27 The wondrous worlds of feminist technoscience 29 Background 30 A transdisciplinary field 32 Feminist interventions in science and technology 33 Situated knowledge 34 Feminist figurations 34 The cyborg figuration 36 Posthumanism and agential realism 38 Technoculture is culture 39 From Science and Society to society in science 40 A diffractive framework 45 Messy Matters 48 Heterogeneous research practices 50 Diffraction makes a difference 51 Critical thinking and academic writing 53 A transformative research process 54 PART B 57 Zones of transformation I 59 Postcolonial technoscience 64 The (post-)colonial era in Uganda 65 The different stages of ICT4D 65 Centre-periphery imaginaries 66 Mobile infrastructures of Uganda 68 Stories of infrastructural inversion 68 Infrastructuring as a hybrid practice 74 [the hybrid self] 75 The technological imagination 77 Transforming designers and users 78 Gendering the ICT community 79 Gender as a category 81 Zones of transformation II 85 A different media technology 90 A norm-critical game culture: exploring norms among media technology students 91 9 A participatory framework 92 Critical making and situated knowledge 95 Challenges of the second order 97 Design fiction and future-making practices 98 What is design fiction? 98 The design fiction workshop 99 PART C 103 Zones of transformation III 105 A personal reflection 108 Trying transformations in Kampala and Karlshamn 109 Transforming technoscience 110 Making kin in cyborg worlds 110 A cat’s cradle of viscous numbers 112 Response-able engagement 113 Matters of care 115 Caring imaginaries 116 An adaptive design manifesto 117 PART D 119 Paper 1: A conversation on mobile phone practices and development – writings by a feminist postcolonial technoscientific scholar 121 Paper 2: Exploring the technological imagination among young entrepreneurs in Kampala: a feminist postcolonial technoscientific perspective 135 Paper 3: Women’s tech initiatives in Uganda – doing intersectionality and feminist technoscience 153 Paper 4: A norm-critical game culture: exploring norms among media technology students 169 Paper 5: Exploring Situated Making in Media Technology Education 183 Paper 6: Design fiction as norm-critical practice 195 References 207 10 Acknowledgements This PhD has been quite an adventure. Far from easy but definitely worth it. I want to begin by thanking my research collaborators in Kampala and Karlshamn.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Journal 2018
    The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Journal 2018 Through subtle shades of color, the cover design represents the layers of richness and diversity that flourish within minority communities. The Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Journal 2018 A collection of scholarly research by fellows of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Program Preface We are proud to present to you the 2018 edition of the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship Journal. For more than 30 years, the Mellon Mays Undergraduate Fellowship (MMUF) program has endeavored to promote diversity in the faculty of higher education, specifically by supporting thousands of students from underrepresented minority groups in their goal of obtaining PhDs. With the MMUF Journal, we provide an additional opportunity for students to experience academia through exposure to the publishing process. In addition to providing an audience for student work, the journal offers an introduction to the publishing process, including peer review and editor-guided revision of scholarly work. For the majority of students, the MMUF Journal is their first experience in publishing a scholarly article. The 2018 Journal features writing by 27 authors from 22 colleges and universities that are part of the program’s member institutions. The scholarship represented in the journal ranges from research conducted under the MMUF program, introductions to senior theses, and papers written for university courses. The work presented here includes scholarship from a wide range of disciples, from history to linguistics to political science. The papers presented here will take the reader on a journey. Readers will travel across the U.S., from Texas to South Carolina to California, and to countries ranging from Brazil and Nicaragua to Germany and South Korea, as they learn about theater, race relations, and the refugee experience.
    [Show full text]
  • Social Oral Epidemi(Olog)
    Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2014; 42; 481–494 Ó 2014 The Authors. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. All rights reserved Unsolicited Narrative Review 2 Sarah R. Baker and Barry G. Gibson Social oral epidemi(olog) y Unit of Dental Public Health, School of Clinical Dentistry, University of Sheffield, where next: one small step or Sheffield, UK one giant leap? Baker SR, Gibson BG. Social oral epidemi(olog)2y where next: one small step or one giant leap?. Community Dent Oral Epidemiol 2014; 42: 481–494. © 2014 The Authors. Community Dentistry and Oral Epidemiology Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribu- tion-NonCommercial-NoDerivs License, which permits use and distribution in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, the use is non-com- mercial and no modifications or adaptations are made. Abstract – Since the early 1990s, there has been heated debate critically reflecting on social epidemiology. Yet, very little of this debate has reached oral epidemiology. This is no more noticeable than in the field of oral health inequalities. One of the significant achievements of social oral epidemiology has been the persistent documentation of social patterning of oral disease. Nevertheless, where social oral epidemiology has fallen down is going beyond description to explaining these patterns. Thinking how and in what way things happen, not just in relation to oral health inequalities but also more broadly, requires a more creative approach which links to scholarship outside of dentistry, including the work from critical epidemiologists to that within the social sciences.
    [Show full text]
  • The Victorian Body
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Faculty Publications -- Department of English English, Department of 3-2018 The icV torian Body Peter J. Capuano University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishfacpubs Part of the Comparative Literature Commons, English Language and Literature Commons, Modern Literature Commons, Reading and Language Commons, and the Women's Studies Commons Capuano, Peter J., "The ictV orian Body" (2018). Faculty Publications -- Department of English. 201. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/englishfacpubs/201 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the English, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Faculty Publications -- Department of English by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. digitalcommons.unl.edu The Victorian Body Peter J. Capuano University of Nebraska–Lincoln Introduction The nineteenth century is extremely important for the study of embodiment be- cause it is the period in which the modern body, as we currently understand it, was most thoroughly explored. This was the era when modern medical models of the body were developed and disseminated, when modern political relations to the body were instantiated, and when modern identities in relation to class, race, and gender were inscribed. While questions about the distinctions between personhood and the body were studied
    [Show full text]
  • UC Berkeley Recent Work
    UC Berkeley Recent Work Title Emotional Meaning Making with Data Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5nn8m5nj Author Howell, Noura Publication Date 2020-04-01 Peer reviewed eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California Emotional Meaning Making with Data by Noura Howell Adissertationsubmittedinpartialsatisfactionofthe requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Information Management and Systems and the Designated Emphasis in New Media in the Graduate Division of the University of California, Berkeley Committee in charge: Associate Professor Kimiko Ryokai, Chair Professor John Chuang Associate Professor Greg Niemeyer Associate Professor Abigail De Kosnik Spring 2020 1 Abstract Emotional Meaning Making with Data by Noura Howell Doctor of Philosophy in Information Management and Systems in School of Information and the Designated Emphasis in New Media University of California, Berkeley Associate Professor Kimiko Ryokai, Chair How many steps did you take today? Counting steps may seem like a clear-cut number, but this number is embroiled in bigger goals around health, broadly conceived, how we feel about our bodies, behavior, and lifestyle. We engage these issues on a personal level while also influenced by social relationships and societal narratives. Technologies such as step- counters influence what “counts”, or what seems important, valid, or worthwhile. In addition to step counts, other physiological sensors are increasingly embedded in wearables, walls, and furniture, producing data–implicitly deciding what “counts”–about people’s bodies, behaviors, and even claiming to measure thoughts and feelings. My work in this space starts from the simple yet often-overlooked observation that these are embodied social and emotional issues.
    [Show full text]
  • Otak-Who? Technoculture, Youth, Consumption, and Resistance
    Lawrence Eng Research Seminar Methods in STS Spring, 2002 Otak-who? Technoculture, youth, consumption, and resistance. American representations of a Japanese youth subculture. Abstract The otaku are a youth subculture first characterized in Japan, but beyond that basic definition of the term, there have been numerous, often contradictory and routinely contested, ways the otaku have been represented by various segments of Japanese society over the course of the last 2 decades. The otaku in Japan (and abroad) have attracted non- Japanese attention as well, and the otaku have been studied, mimicked, ridiculed, romanticized, etc. by Americans who have become interested in this apparently fascinating Japanese (sub)cultural export. Influenced by Japanese conceptions of otaku as obsessed fans, technological fetishists, avid collectors, antisocial outcasts, and/or borderline psychopaths, but informed by American attitudes toward geek culture, hackers, cyberpunks, individualism, and lay expertise, representations of otaku by American observers of the culture have been equally varied (and contested) over the last decade. This paper will examine the various and changing representations of otaku culture by Americans, and attempt to unpack the context behind and the implications of those representations. Drawing upon themes uncovered in this critical discourse analysis, I will suggest a new way of defining otaku as 'reluctant insiders' engaged in the appropriation of technology and science as a means of cultural resistance. I will argue that their activities are informed by a particular otaku ethic that distinguishes them from other subcultures with similar motivations. Introduction My paper is divided into three parts. In Part 1, I ask: Why do we care about otaku, and how will we study them? In Part 2, I will critically analyze the various ways otaku have been represented since they were first characterized as a subculture in the early 80s.
    [Show full text]
  • Sacred Rhetorical Invention in the String Theory Movement
    University of Nebraska - Lincoln DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research Communication Studies, Department of Spring 4-12-2011 Secular Salvation: Sacred Rhetorical Invention in the String Theory Movement Brent Yergensen University of Nebraska-Lincoln, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/commstuddiss Part of the Speech and Rhetorical Studies Commons Yergensen, Brent, "Secular Salvation: Sacred Rhetorical Invention in the String Theory Movement" (2011). Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research. 6. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/commstuddiss/6 This Article is brought to you for free and open access by the Communication Studies, Department of at DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. It has been accepted for inclusion in Communication Studies Theses, Dissertations, and Student Research by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. SECULAR SALVATION: SACRED RHETORICAL INVENTION IN THE STRING THEORY MOVEMENT by Brent Yergensen A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of The Graduate College at the University of Nebraska In Partial Fulfillment of Requirements For the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Major: Communication Studies Under the Supervision of Dr. Ronald Lee Lincoln, Nebraska April, 2011 ii SECULAR SALVATION: SACRED RHETORICAL INVENTION IN THE STRING THEORY MOVEMENT Brent Yergensen, Ph.D. University of Nebraska, 2011 Advisor: Ronald Lee String theory is argued by its proponents to be the Theory of Everything. It achieves this status in physics because it provides unification for contradictory laws of physics, namely quantum mechanics and general relativity. While based on advanced theoretical mathematics, its public discourse is growing in prevalence and its rhetorical power is leading to a scientific revolution, even among the public.
    [Show full text]
  • ICIR 227 Approaches to Culture and Society
    ICIR 227 Approaches to Culture and Society Course Description & Aims ‘Culture’ is foundational for the human condition – it distinguishes us from other primates, and – as ‘cultural identity’ – from fellow humans in other societies. Consequently, ‘culture’ is also a perilous idea: together with history it provides a basis for nationalist ideologies and inter-group conflict. It facilitates communication and understanding by devising symbols and value systems, and at the same time it divides in- from out-group based on the very same frameworks of meaning. It can be regarded as the expression of collective identities, a set of customs and mores, values and ideas – or as a tool of domination and exploitation. What exactly is ‘culture’? And how can cultural variation be explained and assessed? This course introduces and discusses a range of foundational anthropological approaches to the study of culture and society. Students will compare different conceptualizations of ‘culture’ and develop a critical understanding of related issues, ranging from value systems and language use to the understanding of rituals, social drama and cultural identities. The course examines early paradigms in the study of social life and outlines the development of more critical approaches to the configurations of culture. Students will learn to distinguish evolutionist and diffusionist approaches to cultural variation, and discuss the merits and challenges of cultural relativism. They will compare functionalist and cultural materialist theories and contrast them with the insights of symbolist and interpretive reasoning. The relationship of methodology and epistemology in the study of culture and society are explored and students will engage with an application of anthropological theory to selected case studies.
    [Show full text]
  • Media Ecologies: Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture, Matthew Fuller, 2005 Media Ecologies
    M796883front.qxd 8/1/05 11:15 AM Page 1 Media Ecologies Media Ecologies Materialist Energies in Art and Technoculture Matthew Fuller In Media Ecologies, Matthew Fuller asks what happens when media systems interact. Complex objects such as media systems—understood here as processes, or ele- ments in a composition as much as “things”—have become informational as much as physical, but without losing any of their fundamental materiality. Fuller looks at this multi- plicitous materiality—how it can be sensed, made use of, and how it makes other possibilities tangible. He investi- gates the ways the different qualities in media systems can be said to mix and interrelate, and, as he writes, “to produce patterns, dangers, and potentials.” Fuller draws on texts by Félix Guattari and Gilles Deleuze, as well as writings by Friedrich Nietzsche, Marshall McLuhan, Donna Haraway, Friedrich Kittler, and others, to define and extend the idea of “media ecology.” Arguing that the only way to find out about what happens new media/technology when media systems interact is to carry out such interac- tions, Fuller traces a series of media ecologies—“taking every path in a labyrinth simultaneously,” as he describes one chapter. He looks at contemporary London-based pirate radio and its interweaving of high- and low-tech “Media Ecologies offers an exciting first map of the mutational body of media systems; the “medial will to power” illustrated by analog and digital media technologies. Fuller rethinks the generation and “the camera that ate itself”; how, as seen in a range of interaction of media by connecting the ethical and aesthetic dimensions compelling interpretations of new media works, the capac- of perception.” ities and behaviors of media objects are affected when —Luciana Parisi, Leader, MA Program in Cybernetic Culture, University of they are in “abnormal” relationships with other objects; East London and each step in a sequence of Web pages, Cctv—world wide watch, that encourages viewers to report crimes seen Media Ecologies via webcams.
    [Show full text]
  • Entangled Histories and Imaginative Geographies of Technoscientific Innovations
    Science as Culture ISSN: 0950-5431 (Print) 1470-1189 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/csac20 Entangled Histories and Imaginative Geographies of Technoscientific Innovations Amit Prasad To cite this article: Amit Prasad (2014) Entangled Histories and Imaginative Geographies of Technoscientific Innovations, Science as Culture, 23:3, 432-439, DOI: 10.1080/09505431.2014.927629 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2014.927629 Published online: 16 Jul 2014. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 188 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=csac20 Download by: [Northwestern University] Date: 12 November 2016, At: 08:22 Science as Culture, 2014 Vol. 23, No. 3, 432–439, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09505431.2014.927629 Entangled Histories and Imaginative Geographies of Technoscientific Innovations AMIT PRASAD Department of Sociology, University of Missouri-Columbia, Columbia, MO, USA KEY WORDS: Vilnius Declaration, innovations, role of social sciences and humanities (SSH), entangled histories, imaginative geography Ah! ‘Factory.’ Is the word the same as our factorerie ...No Your Majesty. ‘Factory’ comes from a word that was first used by the Venetians and then by the Portuguese, in Goa. (Amitav Ghosh, River of Smoke, 2011, p. 172) We are obliged more or less constantly to rethink our notions of frontiers and circuits, to redraw maps that emerge from the problematics we wish to study rather than invent problematics to fit our pre-existent cartographies. (Sanjay Subrahmanyam, Explorations in Connected History, 2005, p.
    [Show full text]
  • The Routledge Companion to Actor-Network Theory
    The Routledge Companion to Actor-Network Theory This companion explores ANT as an intellectual practice, tracking its movements and engagements with a wide range of other academic and activist projects. Showcasing the work of a diverse set of ‘second generation’ ANT scholars from around the world, it highlights the exciting depth and breadth of contemporary ANT and its future possibilities. The companion has 38 chapters, each answering a key question about ANT and its capacities. Early chapters explore ANT as an intellectual practice and highlight ANT’s dialogues with other fields and key theorists. Others open critical, provocative discussions of its limitations. Later sections explore how ANT has been developed in a range of so cial scientific fields and how it has been used to explore a wide range of scales and sites. Chapters in the final section discuss ANT’s involvement in ‘real world’ endeavours such as disability and environmental activism, and even running a Chilean hospital. Each chapter contains an overview of relevant work and introduces original examples and ideas from the authors’ recent research. The chapters orient readers in rich, complex fields and can be read in any order or combination. Throughout the volume, authors mobilise ANT to explore and account for a range of exciting case studies: from wheelchair activism to parliamentary decision-making; from racial profiling to energy consumption monitoring; from queer sex to Korean cities. A comprehensive introduction by the editors explores the significance of ANT more broadly and provides an overview of the volume. The Routledge Companion to Actor-Network Theory will be an inspiring and lively companion to aca- demics and advanced undergraduates and postgraduates from across many disciplines across the social sciences, including Sociology, Geography, Politics and Urban Studies, Environmental Studies and STS, and anyone wishing to engage with ANT, to understand what it has already been used to do and to imagine what it might do in the future.
    [Show full text]
  • Assemblages and Actor-Networks: Rethinking Socio-Material Power, Politics and Space
    Geography Compass 9/1 (2015): 27–41, 10.1111/gec3.12192 Assemblages and Actor-networks: Rethinking Socio-material Power, Politics and Space Martin Müller* Universität Zürich and University of Birmingham Abstract Assemblage thinking and actor-network theory (ANT) have been at the forefront of a paradigm shift that sees space and agency as the result of associating humans and non-humans to form precarious wholes. This shift offers ways of rethinking the relations between power, politics and space from a more processual, socio-material perspective. After sketching and comparing the concepts of the assemblage and the actor-network, this paper reviews the current scholarship in human geography which clusters around the four themes of deterritorialisation/reterritorialisation; power; materials, objects and technologies; and topological space. Looking towards the future, it suggests that assemblage thinking and ANT would benefit from exploring links with other social theories, arguing for a more sustained engagement with is- sues of language and power, and affect and the body. Assemblages and Actor-networks: New Paradigms? If language, representation and discourse were the pet concepts of the 1990s, assemblage, actor- networks and materiality might well be those of the 2000s. From geography’s preoccupation with meaning in the wake of the cultural turn in the late 1980s, the pendulum has come full circle with a return to a concern for materiality – objects, bodies and matter. Calls for ‘rematerializing geography’ have sounded throughout the sub-disciplines, in political geography (Dittmer 2013a; Meehan et al. 2013; Squire 2014a), feminist geography (Colls 2012; Slocum 2008), urban geography (Lees 2002), social and cultural geography ( Jackson 2000; Whatmore 2006), resource geographies (Bakker and Bridge 2006) or GIScience (Leszczynski 2009).
    [Show full text]
  • Sounding Situated Knowledges
    Title Sounding Situated Knowledges - Echo in Archaeoacoustics Type Article URL https://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/id/eprint/15312/ Dat e 2 0 1 7 Citation Goh, Annie (2017) Sounding Situated Knowledges - Echo in Archaeoacoustics. Parallax, 23 (3). pp. 283-304. ISSN 1 3 5 3-4 6 4 5 Cr e a to rs Goh, Annie Usage Guidelines Please refer to usage guidelines at http://ualresearchonline.arts.ac.uk/policies.html or alternatively contact [email protected] . License: Creative Commons Attribution Non-commercial No Derivatives Unless otherwise stated, copyright owned by the author Articles Sounding Situated Knowledges: Echo in Archaeoacoustics 1. Introduction What is at stake in considering how sound and listening produce knowledge? This article proposes that sound studies, largely occupied with theorizing how knowledge is produced through sound and listening, requires a greater interrogation of the subject-object relation via feminist epistemologies. I draw on the language of science studies to understand all sound studies scholarship as some form of sonic knowledge production. Feminist epistemologies, positioned against a presumed neutrality in science and philosophy, have demonstrated the uncritical continuation of a traditional subject-object dualism to be a crude limitation on knowledge practices. Much of this work has taken the gesture of ‘opening up’ and asking how re-thinking commonly held notions can lead to new insights into existing paradigms.11 This has been articulated in Evelyn Fox Keller’s hugely influential work on gender and science where notions of the masculinist objectivity in Western science are analysed. Keller writes of her investigation into how a ‘different subjectivity […] would affect our conception of science’ and alludes to a goal of ‘enabling us to glimpse what a science less constrained by such an ideology might look like’.
    [Show full text]