The Whole World is Becoming Science Studies: Fadhila Mazanderani Talks with Bruno Latour

Abstract

How to survive in this forest? How to keep it alive? Latour poses these questions in relation to the current global ecological crisis; but they are equally apt when applied to the “forest”––or to use Latour’s own metaphor, “biodiversity”––of STS. In his interview, Latour puts forward a particular vision for STS’s survival; a vision of STS as neither critical of nor ancillary to science, but where a tacit STS sensibility becomes integrated into science through education and collaboration. While Latour acknowledges the many differences of attitude and approach within STS, he also glosses over them, foregrounding as the defining feature of all those “infected” with STS the shared commitment to transforming science with the big “S” into something that can be studied empirically. The picture he paints is, unsurprisingly, a constructivist one, in which social and natural scientists, engineers, artists and politicians, “build worlds” together.  A reflection by Fadhila Mazanderani follows the interview.