The Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies Reader

by Sandra G. Harding (editor)

For twenty years, the renowned philosopher of science Sandra Harding has argued that science and technology studies, postcolonial studies, and feminist critique must inform one another. In The Postcolonial Science and Technology Studies Reader, Harding puts those fields in critical conversation, assembling the anthology that she has long wanted for classroom use. In classic and recent essays, international scholars from a range of disciplines think through a broad array of science and technology philosophies and practices. The contributors reevaluate conventional accounts of the West’s scientific and technological projects in the past and present, rethink the strengths and limitations of non-Western societies’ knowledge traditions, and assess the legacies of colonialism and imperialism. The collection concludes with forward-looking essays, which explore strategies for cultivating new visions of a multicultural, democratic world of sciences and for turning those visions into realities. Feminist science and technology concerns run throughout the reader and are the focus of several essays. Harding provides helpful background for each essay in her introductions to the reader’s four sections.

Contributors. Helen Appleton, Karen Bäckstrand, Lucille H. Brockway, Stephen B. Brush, Judith Carney, Committee on Women, Population, and the Environment, Arturo Escobar, Maria E. Fernandez , Ward H. Goodenough, Susantha Goonatilake, Sandra Harding, Steven J. Harris, Betsy Hartmann, Cori Hayden, Catherine L. M. Hill, John M. Hobson, Peter Mühlhäusler, Catherine A. Odora Hoppers, Consuelo Quiroz, Jenny Reardon, Ella Reitsma, Ziauddin Sardar, Daniel Sarewitz, Londa Schiebinger, Catherine V. Scott, Colin Scott, Mary Terrall, D. Michael Warren

Genres: Nonfiction, Science

504 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 1, 2011

About the author

Sandra G. Harding was an American philosopher of feminist and postcolonial theory, epistemology, research methodology, and philosophy of science. She directed the UCLA Center for the Study of Women from 1996 to 2000, and co-edited Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society from 2000 to 2005. Until her deceassed, she was a Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Education and Gender Studies at UCLA and a Distinguished Affiliate Professor of Philosophy at Michigan State University. In 2013 she was awarded the John Desmond Bernal Prize by the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S).

Reviews

[Esra · Rating 5 out of 5]

It is a fantastic book for those who would like to see the deeper connections between feminist philosophy and science and technology studies through postcolonial lens.