STS New Beginnings: Five Sessions with a Latin American Emphasis.
Society for Social Studies of Science(4S)Annual Meeting, 2009.
October 28 ? November 1, Washington, DC. USA.
This year the 4S gathers in Washington DC, an historical seat of
global influence and a
present node of much controversy. With the inauguration of a new U.S.
President, hopes
for change engage and excite both national and international
communities. Climate change,
sustainable development, financial stability, human rights (freedom,
education, health)
and global terror continue to be inter-dependent challenges around
which converges much
popular and scholarly attention. Advances in science and technology
over the past century
are often framed as both the culprit and panacea in discussions of how
we arrived in
these troubled global waters and how we might navigate our way out of them.
As has been noted in past STS work, the manner in which science and
technology are
produced or translated and then employed to address challenges depends
greatly on
historical and national contexts. The production of knowledge about
the interactions of
science, technology and society is not exempt from this
contextualization. Yet much like
the production of tehnoscientific knowledge, STS knowledge production
remains primarily
EuroAmerican despite the field's attempts to broaden its conceptual
perspectives.
The goal of these five sessions is three-fold: (1) to explore the
contributions to
thinking about science, technology and society by scholars in Latin
America: past and
present; (2) to provide scholars from around the world working on
Latin American STS
issues a space to showcase their investigation and findings; and (3)
to further
contextualize how science and technology innovation, diffusion and
adaptation in Latin
America are antecedents for, and perhaps solutions of, global and
local challenges in
this region.
Papers are invited to contribute to the following five thematic sessions:
1.Theories and Methods in Latin American STS:
Session Organizer: Ivan da Costa Marques [imarques@nce.ufrj.br]
Session Description: Although a thematic session entitled ?Theories
and Methods? in an
STS conference may come as a surprise for some, the title of this
session indicates a
special welcome to papers that make visible a permanent and
innumerable activity of
crossing over the mutating borders between theory and practice in
Latin American case
studies, rather than a landscape observed by a supposed purely
theoretical focus of a
bifocal lens.
2.Technologies of Health Care in Latin America
Session Organizer: Olarte Sierra, M.F. [M.F.OlarteSierra@uva.nl]
Session Description: Given that the field of STS on and in
Latin-American´s appropriation
and transformation of technologies is increasing in numbers and
relevance, we propose a
panel that explores STS on health care technologies in Latin America.
The panel has three
objectives. Firstly, to present the diverse academic interest and
scientific productions
from people working on medical technologies in Latin American
latitudes and realities;
secondly, to give room to discussing the theoretical and
methodological contribution that
such scholars are making to the broader field of STS studies; and,
thirdly, to enable a
network of scholars, with similar interest, in the area of STS and
medical technologies
working in and on Latin America. Papers are invited to address issues
such as: (1)
Approaches at studying to specific medical technologies, (2) Studies
addressing medical
technologies in relation with social processes; and (3) Studies on
power/knowledge struggles over medical or technological authority.
3.Bio-technologies in Latin America
Session Organizer: Christina Holmes [cpholmes@dal.ca]
"La buena noticia es que la biotecnología presenta una oportunidad
única. La mala es que
la historia nos dice que América Latina se ha especializado en
desecharlas todas."
(Tambornini, 2003, p.137)
Session Description: Biotechnology has been posited as a way for Latin
America to be both
internationally competitive and to redress its historically unequal position.
Biotechnology represents an important ?growth? area, in terms of
scientific knowledge
(and publication possibilities), as well as presenting potentially
applied uses. It has
been suggested as an important way of improving agricultural
cultivars; as a way of
mapping, managing, and profiting from biodiversity; as a way of
protecting a country?s
genetic patrimony; and as a way of creating new industrial and medical
applications. It
has also been associated with an emigration of graduate students and
scientists to North
America and Europe. This panel aims to foster discussion about
biotechnology and Latin
America by asking the following three questions: 1) How has Latin
America interacted with
what Tambornini refers to as the ?unique opportunity? of
biotechnology? 2) How have the
policies and practices surrounding biotechnology in Latin America
compared to wider,
global trends? 3) What approaches are important for analyzing the
creation of scientific
knowledge and technology in the field of biotechnology in Latin America?
4.Post-colonial Computing - Information Technology and Development
Session Organizers: Robert Olivo [olivo@vt.edu] & Richard Arias Hernandez
[richardariash@gmail.com]
Session Description: This Panel aims to promote a dialogue between
researchers interested
in exploring and questioning the role of ICTs in developmentalism.
During the last two
decades of the 20th century, electronically-based information
technologies became part of
the grammar of development, much of it spurred by the exponential growth and
privatization of the Internet during the mid-1990s. During this
decade, information
technology policies for development began emerging both in rich and
poor countries
recognizing the "need" to design and use information technologies to
promote the social
and economic development of the nations. Today several countries have
in place national
development plans that include intensive use and incorporation of information
technologies in e-government, e-health, e-democracy, e-ducation, and
e-commerce programs.
This gradual inclusion of IT in developmentalism is however still in
need of systematic
and critical analysis
especially from STS perspectives. Have the policies oriented to
reducing "digital
divides" and turning economies of poor countries into "digital
societies" improved the
economic and social conditions in these countries? What have been the
results of the
discursive construction of info-rich and info-poor categories and how
has it been
incorporated or resisted in poor countries? Is the informational phase of
developmentalism extending global capitalism while disproportionately
favoring rich
countries? What are the discursive and material mechanisms through
which informational
developmentalism has been created and resisted? How this discourse is
currently sustained
and mobilized from centers of power in the United States and Europe to
the rest of the
world?
We invite scholars interested in these or similar questions to
participate in this panel
and to participate in an ongoing conversation about informational
developmentalism,
post-colonial computing and the creation of "information societies" in
the global south.
We especially encourage the presentation of ongoing research in Latin
America, Africa,
Asia and Eastern Europe linking the material and discursive aspects of
informational
developmentalism.
5.Environment, Technology and Society Interactions in Latin America
Session Organizer: Rick B. Duque [rduque@tulane.edu]
Session Description: This panel converges upon research focused on
both the natural and
anthropogenic risks inherent when communities and environments
collide. The aftermath of
Hurricane Katrina reminds us that even resource-rich communities are
not immune to
extreme natural forces, technological failures, bureaucratic
mismanagement and root
social asymmetries. In resource-poor regions, environmental and
technological risks are
often magnified and the resilience of marginalized communities and
indigenous peoples
tested often beyond their limits. To address sub-regional distinctions
and offer
solutions, this session invites comparative and case study papers that
delve into
historical and contextual accounts of colonial and post-colonial
environmental and
technological dialogues in Latin America. The session is particularly
interested in
attracting work that compares indigenous and non-indigenous
technological responses to
the environmental and social
challenges of free-market global development like for example climate
change, ozone
depletion, water controversies, urban sprawl, waste management,
alternative energy
sources, disaster preparedness, industrial and natural toxic exposure and the
conservation of indigenous forests, fisheries and sacred artifacts and lands.
Please send an abstract of a paper (minimum 250 words, maximum of 400
words) to the
appropriate session organizer above.
Submission deadline: February 25, 2009.
See you in DC.
