Media Studies Online

Science & Culture

Overview

As a human endeavor, science is included in our broader concepts of culture. Social studies of science is a broad, inter- and multidisciplinary field of research and practice, including taking a humanities perspective in the study of science as a cultural phenomenon. There are many, many approaches to this field of study, including using intersectional critical approaches to analysis (such as feminist and postcolonial theory), the study of literature and science, examining the celebrity of science communicators and representation of science in popular culture, as well as the development of "art-science" as an interdisciplinary field of inquiry and practice.

I am interested in cultural studies of science, or inquiries into the ways in which scientific knowledge is formed and shaped within cultural frames and specific cultural and historical contexts. I am especially fascinated in the discourses that emerge in and between scientific knowledge and media, art, and popular culture which both influence and reflect ways of knowing and public understanding of science.

Journals

Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience, Catalyst is an affiliated journal of Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S)
Configurations, Official journal of the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts (SLSA) and published by Johns Hopkins University Press.
Cultural Studies of Science Education, Published by Springer.
Engaging Science, Technology, and Society, Published by Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S)
Journal of Science Communication (JCOM), Published by SISSA Medialab
Journal of Science & Popular Culture, Published by Intellect Books
Perspectives on Science, MIT Press
Public Understanding of Science, Published by Sage
Science Communication, Published by Sage
Science as Culture, Published by Taylor & Francis
Science in Context, Edited at The Cohn Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Ideas, Tel Aviv University, published by Cambridge University Press
Science, Technology & Human Values, Flagship journal of Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S) and published by Sage
Science & Technology Studies, Published by European Association for the Study of Science and Technology (EASST)
Social Studies of Science, Published by Sage

Books, Edited Volumes

Routledge Handbook of Public Communication of Science and Technology, Edited by Edited By Massimiano Bucchi, & Brian Trench (Routledge, 2021)
Routledge Companion to Literature and Science, Edited By Bruce Clarke, Manuela Rossini (Routledge, 2011)
Routledge Handbook of Art, Science, and Technology Studies, Edited by Hannah Star Rogers, Megan K. Halpern, Dehlia Hannah, and Kathryn de Ridder-Vignone (Routledge, 2021)
Practicing Art/Science Experiments in an Emerging Field, Edited By Philippe Sormani, Guelfo Carbone, Priska Gisler (Routledge, 2019)

Book Series

AnthropoScene, Penn State University Press, in affiliation with the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts
Cultural Studies of Science Education, Springer
Science and Cultural Theory, Duke University Press
Studies in Literature and Science, University of Michigan Press, in affiliation with the Society for Literature, Science, and the Arts

Organizations

Networks

Consortium for History of Science, Technology and Medicine, About 30 online working groups, online events, fellowships, and cross-institutional search hub
H-Sci-Med-Tech, H-Net, Humanities and Social Sciences Online
science and culture, Call for Papers, a service provided by the Department of English at UPenn
STSGRAD Google Group, Listserv of an international network of junior scholars interested in Science and Technology Studies

Playlist

Science Montage

References

Davies, Sarah Rachael, Megan Halpern, Maja Horst, David Kirby, and Bruce Lewenstein. “Science Stories as Culture: Experience, Identity, Narrative and Emotion in Public Communication of Science.” Journal of Science Communication 18, no. 5 (2019): A01. https://doi.org/10.22323/2.18050201.
McNeil, Maureen. "Cultural Studies of Science." In Routledge Companion to Literature and Science, edited by Bruce Clarke with Manuela Rossini, 276-286. New York: Routledge, 2011.
Rogers, Hannah Star, and Megan K. Halpern. “Introduction: The Past, Present, and Future of Art, Science, and Technology Studies.” In Routledge Handbook of Art, Science, and Technology Studies, edited by Hannah Star Rogers et al., 1–46. New York: Routledge, 2021.
Schell, Heather. “Outburst! A Chilling True Story about Emerging-Virus Narratives and Pandemic Social Change.” Configurations 5 no. 1 (1997): 93–133. https://doi.org/10.1353/con.1997.0006.

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