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Science & Technology Studies Elsewhere ALEXANDRA HOFMÄNNER SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES ELSEWHERE A Postcolonial Programme SCIENCE & TECHNOLOGY STUDIES In April 2017, scientists took to the streets in a historically unprecedented Global March for Science. The event was seen as symbolic of a crisis in the relationship of science and society. This book considers the Global March ELSEWHERE for Science from a postcolonial perspective to inquire into the toolkit that the academic field of Science & Technology Studies (STS) has to offer. It HOFMÄNNER ALEXANDRA argues that new concepts and analytical approaches are necessary to in- A POSTCOLONIAL vestigate current global dynamics in science, technology and society, so as to deliver insights that the recent expansion of STS scholars beyond PROGRAMME Western Europe and North America alone is unlikely to provide. The book presents a Programme in Science Studies Elsewhere (SSE) to demonstrate the urgent need to carry postcolonial issues right into the centre of STS’s intellectual programme. Hofmänner possesses a potent antidote for the field’s inability to see science and technology outside of European or North American experiences. Rayvon Fouché, Professor and Director, American Studies, Purdue University, USA A compelling case for revisiting some of the traditional assumptions in the field of STS. Prof. Dr. Sabine Maasen, Director of the Munich Center for Technology in Society Alexandra Hofmänner is assistant professor in Science & Technology ELSEWHERE STUDIES TECHNOLOGY & SCIENCE Studies ( ST S) at the University of Basel, Switzerland. She received a PhD at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology ( ETH Zürich ) and has carried out extensive research in Switzerland and South Africa. www.schwabeverlag.de Alexandra Hofmänner Science & Technology Studies Elsewhere A Postcolonial Programme Schwabe Verlag Published with the support of the Swiss National Science Foundation and the Freiwillige Akademische Gesellschaft. A research grant from the Max Geldner Foundation is gratefully acknowledged. Published in 2020 by Schwabe Verlag Berlin Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de. This work is licenced under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0) Cover illustration: Photography reproduced with kind permission of the artist Izel Lutz; Karoo, South Africa. Copy-editing: Katherine Bird, Berlin Cover design: icona basel gmbh, Basel Graphic design: icona basel gmbh, Basel Typesetting: 3w+p, Rimpar Print: CPI books GmbH, Leck Printed in Germany ISBN Print 978-3-7574-0034-7 ISBN eBook (PDF) 978-3-7574-0039-2 DOI 10.24894/978-3-7574-0039-2 The ebook has identical page numbers to the print edition (first printing) and supports full-text search. Furthermore, the table of contents is linked to the headings. [email protected] www.schwabeverlag.de We thoroughly tried to identify all rights holders. In those cases where we failed to do so, all rightful claims will be reimbursed within usual scope. To Mias Contents Preface ........................................................ 11 1. The Global March for Science, and STS ........................ 13 2. Science and Technology Studies Goes Global .................. 19 2.1 The Paradox:STS’sCollective Blind Spot .................... 22 2.2 What is STS?............................................ 25 2.3 Transporting the CollectiveBlind Spot of STS ................ 31 2.4 APostcolonial Lens:Science and Technology as North Atlantic Universals.............................................. 35 3. Technological Change and the “Savage Slot” .................. 43 3.1 Thomas Hughes’ Electrification in Western Society ............. 43 Chicago, Berlin, London – Johannesburg .................... 44 Hughes’ Model of Technological Change ..................... 49 3.2 Electrification in Johannesburg ............................. 53 1878 to 1882:Edison the Hedgehog ......................... 54 1882 to 1894:Gold and light ............................... 76 1894 to 1905:Power Stations for the Gold Mines .............. 81 1905 to 1914:AGigantic Power Scheme for the Gold Mines .... 95 1914 to 1930:Enter Escom ................................ 124 3.3 “How Do Technological Systems Evolve?” ................... 138 Themes in the History of Electrification of Johannesburg ....... 139 Hughes in Johannesburg:New Concepts..................... 191 8 Contents 3.4 Seamlessness ............................................ 206 Hughes’ Seamless Web of Technology and Society ............. 207 The Seamless Web Metaphor in STS ........................ 210 The Seamless Web of Technology and Society in Johannesburg .. 212 The Grand Assumption:Seamlessness ....................... 228 Implications of Seamlessness for STS ........................ 232 4. Scientific Heritage as Transition Narrative .................... 239 4.1 Shapin and Schaffer’sExperimental Life ..................... 239 An Exercise in the Sociology of ScientificKnowledge ........... 241 The New World, ‘Inferior Creatures’ and ‘Savages’ ............. 242 4.2 Hobbes’sand Boyle’sNatural Philosophical Programmes ....... 243 Elsewhere in Robert Boyle’sNatural Philosophical Programme .. 243 Elsewhere in Thomas Hobbes’sPhilosophical Programme ...... 246 4.3 “What is Experiment?” ................................... 248 Experiment as Solution to Knowledge and Order .............. 249 Experiment as Cultural Practice ............................ 249 Experiment as aForm of Life .............................. 250 Experiment as Heritage ................................... 251 5. APostcolonial Programme in STS ............................ 257 5.1 Science &Technology Studies Elsewhere ..................... 257 5.2 Entangled Histories and Uneven Modernities ................. 259 5.3 The Programme in Science Studies Elsewhere ................. 263 6. The Revolving Door of STS ................................... 271 6.1 Latour’sNatureculture .................................... 272 Latour’sElsewhere:Playing the Stranger ..................... 272 Latour’sSeamlessness:More of the ‘Savage Slot’ ............... 278 6.2 The Imaginary Waiting Room of STS ....................... 282 Contents 9 7. The March forScience, and STS .............................. 285 7.1 Times of crisis ........................................... 285 7.2 Apostcolonial perspective on the March for Science ........... 289 7.3 Conclusions............................................. 293 Abbreviations .................................................. 301 Tables ......................................................... 303 Figures ........................................................ 305 References .................................................... 307 Preface In the many years it has taken to complete this book, Ihave received help from too many people to mention in apreface. Iwould like to express my special thanks and appreciation to Helga Nowotny, Aant Elzinga, and Yehuda Elkana, whose pioneering work has in many respects paved the way for this study. They have encouraged me to investigate further, rather than surrenderto, the formidable weight of history on today’sworldwideknowledge and power constellations.Iam also greatly indebted to the work of Edward Said, Michel-RolphTrouillot, Gurminder Bhambra, Shalini Randeria and Stuart Hall. Iamprivileged to have worked with many extraordinary academics in South Africa and Switzerland who continue their work undaunted by obstacles and challenges and would like to thank them for their commitment which has been an inspiration for this book. An earlier versionofthisbookwas submittedfor Habilitation at theUni- versityofBasel.Iwouldliketothank Sabine Maasen,RayvonFouché, and ElisioMacamofor their comments on theoriginal manuscript andAgnes Hess,Edwin Constable, KlausNeumann-Braun, Eveline Peterer andMoritz Maurer fortheir supportinthisprocess.AversionofChapterThree waspub- lished by Taylor &FrancisinSocial Epistemology,AJournalofKnowledge, Cultureand Policy (2016, 30/2,pp. 186–212).Iam indebted to my editors at theSchwabe Verlag fortheir assistance in thepublication process. Iwish to thank Bruce Lewenstein and the DepartmentofScience & Technology Studies at Cornell University for kindly hosting me and afford- ing me the time and space to review the manuscript. Finally, Iwould like to take this opportunity to express gratitude to my family and friends;this book would not have been possible without their support and encouragement. Any remaining errors are entirely mine. 1. The Global March forScience, and STS We live in an age that calls into question things that were previously tak- en for granted. The freedom of science is increasingly put under pressure internationally – and in Europe. And although science in the 21st century is as important as never before in view of pressing global challenges such as climate change, preservation of biodiversity, or combating infectious disease, there is asense that fact-based knowledge is questioned more and more. This is unacceptable in the name of science as well as in the name of civil societies. We bear the responsibility. The March for Science is an opportunity to make this visible. Prof. Martin Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society March for Science, Munich, April 2017.1 On 22 April 2017, scientists took to the streets in Silicon Valley, asymbol for leading-edge
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