As part of the Centre for Technology, Innovation and Culture's (TIK) 25th anniversary, we explore the origins of a flourishing Science and Technology Studies (STS) tradition at TIK and its influence and specificities within a wider Nordic STS context. What institutional developments needed to fall in place for STS to become its own standing discipline in the Nordics and subsequently form a long-lasting impact on how science and technology is thought of in academia and outside of its institutional boundaries. To discuss such matters, we have invited John Law and Lucy Suchman, two of the most distinguished and accomplished STS scholars, to help us contextualise a specific Nordic STS history from an (outside) international viewpoint. Both scholars have been affiliated with TIK throughout their careers and have had much impact on the centre's development and beyond. In their presentations, which will be followed by an open discussion with the audience, our guests will not only share their insights but also provide some food for thought.
John Law is Professor Emeritus at the Open University, UK. He is regarded as one of the founders of Actor-Network Theory (ANT) together with scholars like Bruno Latour, Michel Callon, and Madeleine Akrich. ANT has since become one of the most versatile conceptual and interdisciplinary tools of STS, and other fields, for understanding complex networks of relations in the social world. Law's bibliography spans across decades with numerous books and publications that in many ways shaped and contributed to defining priorities of research in colonial and post-colonial knowledge, framing nature and culture, performativity and others. Read more about him here.
Lucy Suchman is Professor Emerita at Lancaster University, UK, and one of the pioneers within the study of human-machine interaction in anthropology and feminist STS. In her inspiring authorship which extends over almost 40 years, Suchman has taught us how social scientist can engage in the study of technology design, and how human-machine interaction are situated practices. This talk will therefore also be an opportunity to discuss Nordic scholarship concerned with the digital and perspectives related to current issues on data, datafication and information infrastructures. Read more about her here.
The seminar will be moderated by Tanja Knaus, Doctoral Research Fellow at TIK. Read more about her here.