SCIENCE

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SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY IN A MULTICULTURAL WORLD
THE CULTURAL POLITICS OF FACTS ARTIFACTS
BY DAVID J. HESS
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David J. Hess

• Anthropologist
• Faculty development grant from Rensselear
  Polytechnic Institute
• STS interdisciplinary study of science,
  technology and society

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Combinations, Contrasts, and Complexities

• Generalist
• Wide in scope
• Cross-cutting
• Dynamic and flexible

Culture
Power
Politics
Society
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What is Knowledge?

• finding patterns in observations and then
  organizing the observations into explanations..

negotiated
Knowledge is a socially shaped process
constructed
re-constructed
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Ways of knowing .

• Philosophical and Historical Debate

Are there similarities in the way the human mind
organizes the world?
Is there an inherently structured world?
or
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Things to think about

• Do different cultures have different sciences and
  technologies or is science and technology
  socially neutral and above and beyond culture?
• In what ways is scientific knowledge socially
  constructed and in what ways is it not? How can
  this concept be made both useful and meaningful?
• Can you think of ways that the absence of
  historically excluded groups (e.g., women,
  underrepresented ethnic groups, the poor) shape
  the content of scientific knowledge?
• Is there discrimination in science? If so, what
  should be done about it?
• In what ways can society influence the course of
  scientific research?

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Definitions and Concepts

• Science
• knowledge about the natural
• world
• Technology
• knowledge about how to create
• effects via artifacts

• Social Constructivism made up of decisions,
  observations, generalizations, theories and
  methodology
• Cultural Relativism interpreting the meaning of
  science technology relative to the
  understanding of local communities
• Techno totemism identification of social
  groups with natural phenomena or cultural objects

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What does X mean to Y?

• What is the social significance of
• Science and/or Technology to
• Class Race
• Gender Nationality
• Context possibilities for alternate theories

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International Science?
E I N S T E I N
Pasteur

Galileo
Aristotle
Newton
Copernicus
Mendel
Watson and Crick
DARWIN
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Temporal Cultures

• Epistemes assumptions about knowledge, method
  and theory that in any given time period are
  shared across disciplines (Foucault, 1986)
• Paradigms scientific frameworks that can
  undergo dramatic shifts (Kuhn, 1970)

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Scientific Revolution vs Scientific Evolution

• 1600-1800s
• Modern science is it historically
  ethnocentric?
• Philosophy
• Religion
• Capitalism
• Colonialism
• Counter-culturalism

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How does science gain authority to direct truth
practices?

• Actor-network theory
• Institutional influence
• Public controversy
• Religion
• User Acceptance

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The Scientific and Technical Communities

• Intercultural communication
• Concepts of self
• Body language
• Conversation style
• Hierarchy/Equality relationships

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Non-Western Knowledge Systems

• New World vs Old World societies
• Indigenous people
• Boomerang effect/Pluralism and convergence
• Accupuncture
• Ayurvedic
• Reiki
• Shamanism
• Tai-chi
• Yoga

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The good, the bad and the ugly

• Extraction Settlement-Domination
• Knowledge and Power
• Grassroots resistance and development

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Earned Doctorates for U.S. Citizens in the
Physical Sciences
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Multicultural Education

• Recruitment and
• Retention of
• the underrepresented

• Curriculum reform

Diversification of knowledge, design and practice
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New Frontiers

• How are new technologies affecting fundamental
  cultural categories such as life, death, and
  kinship? (i.e. stem cell research, human genome
  project)
• Does the Internet promise to increase or
  decrease social inequalities, and how might
  changes in the technology reduce or exacerbate
  this effect?