Anthropology of Science

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Definition

The Anthropology of Science is a field of study that applies the concepts and tools developed by traditional anthropologists and applies them to communities of science.

"Today, the anthropology of science is dominated by laboratory studies that produce ethnographies of how scientific "facts" are produced, how scientists are "made", what scientists actually do, what scientists say, and how scientific practices influence and are influenced by the socioeconomic and political conditions under which they work.[1].

Notable applications of the Anthropology of Science were applied by anthropologist Deborah Heath to the human genome project. Her and her colleagues wrote a paper about their experience.[2]and [3]

Mundane Science Fiction generally contains quite a number of future science scenarios such as gene therapy, advanced cognitive studies and more dystopian themes such as neural advertising. Because of this, mundane science fiction could be considered to be a fictional anthropology of science.

References

  1. The BARA Anthropology of Science Initiative http://bara.arizona.edu/research/pro-science.htm
  2. Genetic nature/culture: anthropology and science beyond the two-culture divide By Alan H. Goodman, Deborah Heath, M. Susan Lindee.
  3. CULTURE, MEDICINE AND PSYCHIATRY Volume 17, Number 1, 1-2, DOI: 10.1007/BF01380595 An introduction to bio-politics: The anthropology of the new genetics and immunology Deborah Heath and Paul Rabinow