Ontologies and Epistemologies in Science and Technology Studies
24.10.2024 CDC-Workshop, Thursday, 24, October 2024, 9:00 - 16:30. Leuphana Campus, C40.530 (Closed Workshop). Organised by research project: "Doing Digital Identities" (Link: https://www.digitalidentities.eu/).
It has been many years since Actor-Network Theory (ANT) proposed a radical shift in research on science and technologies. The material turn suggests new epistemologies and ontologies that do away with taken-for-granted divisions between subjects and objects, humans and non-humans, and even nature and culture. Yet, the successors to ANT have developed into a diverse set of approaches that go beyond its early assumptions and case studies. Feminist scholarship, studies of (post-)coloniality, migration, and other fields foreground different theoretical sensibilities, concepts, and ideas. Although there are differences between these approaches, we can still identify common themes such as a relational ontology, the refusal of preconceptions, and a subsequent emphasis on the situatedness of knowledge production.
The objective of this workshop is to discuss the various theoretical assumptions and methodological consequences that exist and arise in interdisciplinary Science and Technology Studies. Firstly, we will identify the heterogenous ontological and epistemological approaches to materiality and technology that are prevalent in our respective field. Our guiding questions will be the different ways we can understand materiality and technology as well as ascertaining the shared epistemological sensibilities between them. Second, we will discuss the methodological implications of different conceptualisations of materiality and technology. Our aim is to explore how methods can and should reflect our theoretical assumptions and how we can compare situated descriptions in transnational case studies and beyond. Third, we will create an open space where we can further discuss theoretical sensibilities in the context of concrete empirical research and give room to open questions and unsolved research puzzles.