ABOUT THE TRANSNATIONAL STS NETWORK

ABOUT

The Transnational STS Network brings STS scholars together to theorize and practice “Transnational STS.” The T-STS Network basically aims to: 

1. Reflect on the transnational character of STS: What makes STS transnational? How would transnational STS contribute to the future of the field? What are the limitations of doing transnational STS?

2. Contribute to knowledge production processes in STS: How would doing transnational STS innovate the field? What are the best methods and methodologies to foster transnational knowledge production in a collaborative manner? How would transnational STS add to the interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary character of the field?

3. Experiment with different ways to put STS into practice at multiple scales from a comparative perspective: How would doing transnational STS contribute to STS teaching and publishing? What would transnational STS add to local efforts in engaging with the public, decision-makers, scientists, activists, and other related actors? How would doing transnational STS create a change in the world?

4. Support STS community and program building efforts, building transnational links between communities: How does STS unfold in different parts of the world? How can we support STS scholars in their efforts to build STS communities and programs in different social, cultural, and political contexts?

SUBSTANTIVE LOGICS

STS scholars engage with Transnational STS with multiple motivations. This project aims to render these motivations visible not only within the terms of self-reflexivity but also to open a space for discussion over the politics of doing Transnational STS.

This project was launched with an urgent necessity: STS scholars should be self-reflexive about nationalist thinking and methodological nationalism in their praxis, especially at this very moment when we witness the haunt of far-right movements and authoritarian states across the world. In this epoch marked by post-truth politics and intentional denial of socio-ecological crises, STS has theoretical and methodological capacities to reclaim for science(s) otherwise against various oppressive and violent acts of governmental bodies. Transnational STS is, therefore, a point of departure to imagine and construct a technoscientific world that does not prioritize national developmentalist desires but emphasizes instead multiple alternatives such as civic technoscience, others....  

We invite participants to share their own motivations!