233043 SE Science communication and/as activism (2022W)

Science communication is never a process of neutral knowledge transfer, but involves normative judgements about relevance, values, and politics. It might therefore be understood as an activist practice, whether that activism is implicit or explicit. Similarly, activists and social movements themselves frequently engage with, appropriate, contest, or disseminate technoscientific knowledge (both that produced by elite institutions, and citizen science or research ‘in the wild’). In both cases digital spaces and formats are increasingly important to these practices.

In this seminar we will consider how science communication engages in activism, and how different activist and social movements engage with and communicate technoscientific knowledges. More specifically, we ask how knowledges are evaluated and negotiated in science communication, how (digital) infrastructures, tools, and media are built and used, and how technoscientific knowledge is translated and mobilised for activist aims.

The seminar takes a hands-on approach. Students will engage with literature on science communication, social movements, and technoscience-related activism, but will also go on field trips and spend time elaborating and analysing case studies. The aim is to enable students to critically reflect on and analyse entanglements of science with activism, but also to develop skills useful for nuanced, situated, and politically engaged communication.