Feminist technoscience perspectives on New Big Science

Feminist technoscience studies (FTS) comprise a major strand of STS. Constituted by a diverse and heterogeneous set of projects and publications, these studies make politicised, impassioned contributions to contemporary critical thought about science, technology and medicine. They are also driven by a powerful desire for justice (see Reardon et al in Catalyst Vol 1 No 1). Building on century-old traditions of embodied activism and collective politics, feminist scholars have led the way in developing engaged, interventionist approaches to multi, inter, and transdisciplinary encounters with technoscientific and biomedical practices and knowledges.

This track will highlight the myriad ways in which FTS methods, theories, and concerns articulate the places and practices through which science and technology are performed, enact in/justice and can be transformative. More specifically, the track welcomes submissions that reflect on, discuss, interrogate and 'do' feminist technoscience in unexpected places, understood as locations, encounters, and/or research subjects/objects.

It is hoped that the track will provide an opportunity to explore collectively the connections between, and underlying themes of, feminist work, and a space in which to debate how we might further develop these commonalities and explore differences and tensions. Convening feminist work as an open track - a political project in itself - will underscore both the extent of existing work and the possibilities for opening up other topics of interest to feminist analysis.

The track would welcome alternative presentations, including actions, excursions, manifestos, creative workshops and artistic engagements as well as more traditional papers and presentations.