HUM596 Seminar III: Normative Claims for a Democratic Science
Spring 2009
This course is linked to the 3rd quarter of the 2008-09 Science Studies Network Colloquium on Democratizing Science, a year-long faculty and graduate seminar, sponsored by the Simpson Center, that will meet every second week through the academic year.
In the Spring quarter, the SSNet seminar will focus on a set of normative questions about why the sciences should be democratized and, more specifically, about how the epistemic resources of diverse communities—within and outside the conventional boundaries of established scientific disciplines—can be deployed effectively in the practice of science. Discussion will be grounded in examples of collaborative research in a range of fields in which various kinds of publics play a role, not just as beneficiaries of inquiry or as its subjects, but as active partners in all aspects of the research process, from setting the agenda for a research program through empirical investigation to the dissemination of results. Our goal is to specify conditions of best practice, clearly identifying what is to be gained epistemically, as well as socially or politically, from various forms of reciprocity, accountability, and research partnership.
Seminar meetings will be based on precirculated readings, to be announced at the initial planning meeting (April 6). The types of topics and authors we will be discussing include, for example, articles such as Burgess and O’Doherty’s “Deliberative Public Engagement Related to Governing Biobanks” (2007), Stokols’ “Toward a Science of Transdisciplinary Action Research” (2006), and Terry et. al’s “Advocacy Groups as Research Organizations: The PXE International Example” (2007), as well as selections from texts such as Epstein’s Inclusion: The Politics of Difference in Medical Research (2007); Suchman’s Human-Machine Reconfigurations: Plans and Situated Actions (2006); and Fortmann’s Doing Science Together: Participatory Research in Conservation and Rural Livelihoods (2008, forthcoming).
Information about the Science Studies Network and the year-long seminar on Democratizing Science of which it is a part is available here.
Requirements and Logistics
Graduate students who enroll in HUM596 will be expected to attend all the bi-weekly Science Studies Network seminar in the Spring quarter, as well as two additional meetings with core faculty at the beginning and end of the quarter. Each bi-weekly SSNet seminar will be a discussion of precirculated readings lead by members of the core organizing group. The two additional micro-seminar meetings dedicated to HUM596 discussion will focus on topics and readings relevant to the research interests of enrolled students. Writing requirements will include short on-line commentaries on assigned readings, and reflection on the seminar as a whole.
HUM 596 Reading List (Spring Quarter)
Instructors
Spring Seminar Faculty Fellows: Malia Fullerton (Bioethics & Humanities), Mott Greene (Earth & Space Sciences), Phillip Thurtle (History/CHID), Alison Wylie (Philosophy/Anthropology)
Instructors of record:
Phillip Thurtle (History/CHID); Simon Werrett (History); Alison Wylie (Philosophy)
Seminar meetings
Simpson Center seminar room (Communication 202)
Mondays, 2:00-1:30 (see SSNet calendar for dates)
Credit: 2 hours; C/NC