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| Anthropology of Science | |
|---|---|
| Name | Anthropology of Science |
| Field | Anthropology |
Anthropology of Science
Anthropology of Science studies how Thomas Kuhn-era paradigms, Bruno Latour-style actor-network approaches, and ethnographic methods illuminate the practices, institutions, and material cultures of Isaac Newton-inspired laboratories, Marie Curie-era institutes, and contemporary research centers such as Max Planck Society, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and CERN. It situates laboratory activity alongside archival projects at British Library, field stations at Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, and policy forums like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change while linking to intellectual lineages from Franz Boas through Clifford Geertz and Mary Douglas.
The field maps ethnographic attention to sites associated with figures such as Gregor Mendel, Dorothy Hodgkin, and James Watson, and institutions including Royal Society, Pasteur Institute, and Rockefeller University. Researchers deploy concepts from Pierre Bourdieu and Michel Foucault to define scientific practices as situated performances within networks that include actors like Rosalind Franklin, Alan Turing, and organizations such as National Institutes of Health and Wellcome Trust. This approach reframes work by comparing laboratory cultures at Harvard University, University of Cambridge, and University of Tokyo with fieldwork traditions at Smithsonian Institution and expeditions like those of Charles Darwin.
Early precursors invoke ethnographic sensitivity in studies of collectors like Captain James Cook and correspondents to Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Foundational thinkers include Ludwik Fleck, whose ideas intersect with later contributions from Bertrand Russell commentators and Thomas Kuhn; subsequent formation of the subfield drew on scholarship by Bruno Latour, Donna Haraway, and Steve Woolgar. Influential casework emerged from researchers connected to centers such as University of California, Berkeley, London School of Economics, and MIT, with field studies referencing laboratory episodes involving Alexander Fleming and institutional reforms at National Science Foundation.
Analytic repertoires integrate actor-network theory from Bruno Latour, practice theory informed by Pierre Bourdieu, and feminist epistemologies advanced by Donna Haraway and Harriet Zuckerman. Methodologies combine participant observation in settings like Los Alamos National Laboratory, oral histories referencing J. Robert Oppenheimer, and archival excavation at Library of Congress. Ethnographers apply comparative techniques across sites such as Salk Institute, Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology, and European Space Agency, using triangulation with policy traces from World Health Organization and data generated by projects like Human Genome Project.
Classic ethnographies examine benchwork in contexts connected to Louis Pasteur, field sciences in traditions stemming from Alexander von Humboldt, and computational laboratories influenced by John von Neumann. Notable studies document practice at Bell Labs, clinical trials tied to Food and Drug Administration, and environmental monitoring linked to United Nations Environment Programme. Ethnographers have traversed sites from polar stations like McMurdo Station to observatories such as Mount Wilson Observatory and synchrotrons like Diamond Light Source, often engaging with archival legacies of individuals such as Rachel Carson and Edward O. Wilson.
Analyses probe how scientific identities evolve within professional networks like Institute of Physics, disciplinary associations such as American Association for the Advancement of Science, and honorific systems exemplified by the Nobel Prize. Work explores career structures at universities including Stanford University, patterns of mentorship referencing Erwin Schrödinger, and labor politics observable at research facilities tied to Oak Ridge National Laboratory. Cultural dimensions link scientific styles to national traditions represented by Académie des Sciences, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and collaborations like International Council for Science.
The field interrogates the role of regulatory entities such as European Medicines Agency, advisory bodies like Presidential Science Advisory Committee, and funding agencies exemplified by Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Studies trace controversies from Tuskegee Syphilis Study-era ethics reforms to governance debates around projects like CRISPR initiatives and policy responses to crises coordinated at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and World Trade Organization. Scholarship addresses science diplomacy through episodes involving United Nations negotiations and bilateral collaborations like those between NASA and Roscosmos.
Current debates connect to open science movements influenced by platforms such as arXiv and organizations like Creative Commons, to reproducibility crises exemplified in biomedical work linked to Reproducibility Project: Psychology, and to data-intensive research trajectories epitomized by European Research Council-funded projects. Interdisciplinary engagement spans collaborations with scholars from Philosophy of Science programs at University of Pittsburgh, legal scholars at Harvard Law School addressing intellectual property regimes like Bayh–Dole Act, and science policy analysts at Brookings Institution and RAND Corporation. Emerging directions examine relationships among global networks including Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, transnational corporations such as Pfizer, and civic movements inspired by figures like Greta Thunberg.