Forwarded from the Global Knowledge for Development list ...

-----Original Message-----
From: Marianne de Laet [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
Sent: 13 June 2000 17:01
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [GKD] Call for Papers: Technology and Knowledge Transfer


Dear Colleagues,

I have been reading this list for a long time, and have been looking for
ways in which to make a connection between the kinds of issues discussed
on it with my academic area of expertise, the field of Science and
Technology Studies (STS). In STS we look at science and technology as
human, social endeavors, trying to understand the linkages between
science and technology on the one hand, culture and society on the
other. Interestingly and unfortunately, issues to do with development,
technology transfer, the passing of  objects, technology, and knowledge
from South to North are underrepresented in the field.

Here's an opportunity for cross-over. I am guest-editing a volume of the
journal Knowledge and Society, on (by lack of a better term) knowledge
and technology transfers. Knowledge and Society is one of the leading
journals in Science and Technology Studies. Its focus is on the ways in
which knowledge, science and technology are interwoven with culture,
society, environment. Articles have an empirical content and usually
feature case studies, often but not necessarily with an anthropological
or sociological perspective. The journal not only reports about research
done in the field of Science and Technology Studies; it also reflects
upon research strategies and methods. Thus, we try to feature papers
that are theoretically eclectic, varied in subject matter and, if
appropriate, methodologically innovative.

My interest as guest editor of this special issue on technology and
knowledge transfer is to flesh out how technology and knowledge transfer
are done in practice, with attention to not only the work that is
involved to accomplish it, but also on the way in which in the process,
technology and knowledge get transformed and appropriated; in how the
process of transfer is a process of production; in how the user,
designer, environment are all inscribed in the "product" -- which is
usually an entire new configuration rather than just a piece of
knowledge or technology that "successfully" makes the journey from a to
b. I want to hear about ruptures, transformations, imaginative and
out-of the-ordinary solutions, counter-intuitive directions of
transfers. Venues are open: conventionally, one thinks of technology
transfer in the arenas of development, education, university-industry,
design, agricultural extensions and the like, but creativity in this
respect is most welcome. The volume aims to feature stories about how
the transfer of knowledge and technology results in new socio-technical
arrangements. Methodologically, I am interested in the ways in which
theorizing and intervention go together in these processes. As
anthropologists or science studies researchers we do not stand outside
of the process of knowledge and technology transfer: we are implicated
in it, our work plays a role in it, we are part and parcel of the
constellations in which it takes place and of the new configurations in
which it results. Put slightly differently, the volume has an interest
in the work and in the effects of travel: in the process of transfer
objects, knowledge, and (researchers') bodies travel from place to
place; travel impacts not only the environments through with those
objects travel but also the bodies, objects, and knowledges themselves.
This is what I want to bring out, as a broad, general "mission" for the
volume; but within this global framework of course contributors have a
great deal of freedom to make their own points.

I would be delighted to receive thoughtful, detailed contributions that
discuss "on the ground" experiences with technology and knowledge
transfers, and especially welcome those who are working in places that
are not normally considered the academic center to submit their work for
consideration for this volume.  If you are interested in submitting a
paper for the volume, please send me an abstract or paper proposal as
soon as possible, preferably per email. Also, please feel free to pass
on this message to whomever it may concern.

Yours sincerely,
 
Marianne de Laet  
guest editor, Knowledge and Society


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Please note address change: 

Dr. Marianne de Laet 
Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences   
California Institute of Technology 288-77 
Pasadena CA 91125 (626) 395-4487; [log in to unmask] 



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