Towards Transnational STS

ESTS EDITORIAL COLLECTIVE:

Abstract

Transnational dialogues in STS matter and are at the heart of ESTS, exemplified by this issue. Two Original Research Articles, the first by Lucía Céspedes (2023) and the second co-authored by Gonçalo Santos, Naubahar Sharif, and Jack Linzhou Xing (2023) respectively, consider what is lost in translation—in the practice of astronomy in Argentina, and the translation of ‘STS’ in China’s academic institutions. The thematic collection, TRANSnationalizing STS, will take the reader through STS in Kenya (Okune and Mutuku 2023), Turkey (Alkan, Kaşdoğan, and Erol 2023), Japan (Mohácsi, Otsuki, and St. Pierre 2023), and Ecuador (Albornoz 2023), showcasing new modes and models of doing STS. The thematic collection brings these spaces and places together in enlightening ways, from the way in which the collection first emerged in the exhibitions of STS Across Borders, and Innovating STS through to a reflective interview published on STS-Infrastructures (Khandekar, Fortun, Kaşdoğan, and Okune 2023), and delightful engagements from Michael Fischer (2023a, 2023b, 2023c, 2023d, 2023e, 2023f) and Vivette García-Deister (2023). The latter two engagements provide the reader with insights into STS platforming and infrastructuring experiments. Venture into the STS-Infrastructures for another 73 pages of adjacent supplementary materials including archival writing, interviews, reflections and more. This issue also sees ESTS providing authors with multiple licensing options in our open access publishing model.

Keywords

transnational; spaces; places; STS Infrastructures; open access; publishing infrastructure; qualitative data; copyright licenses

Introduction

This issue exemplifies our editorial collective’s (EC) interest in furthering transnational dialogues in STS. Bringing this issue together has impressed upon us, once again, that encouraging greater transnationalism in STS will require dedicated efforts and continued experimentation with underlying infrastructures and genre forms. It shows for example in this issue’s extensive collaboration with the open data platform STS Infrastructures that connects articles to audio, visual, and text data not limited to the English language, and that contribute to the visibility of a variety of non-hegemonic STS genealogies. In that spirit, this issue has 238 pages of content in all, some in the ESTS pages and some in STS Infrastructures. Supplementary content, including images, audio-visual material, and text constitutes a deep archive alongside content published in the journal pages, furthering our EC’s commitments to figuring out the promises and pitfalls of opening up research data in a field like STS (Okune et al. 2022).

But first some updates. Starting with this issue, we’ve introduced a new policy regarding licenses. In alignment with best open access practices, authors are now offered a choice between three different Creative Commons licenses, all of which permit derivative works. This change not only enables authors to comply with funders’ and institutional mandates but also encourages them to contemplate the implications of licensing their intellectual work. As always, authors retain copyright of their work and have the freedom to share their texts as they see fit.

We have also been reviewing and updating other journal protocols and policies. These will be published on our redesigned website in the coming weeks. Also expect resources to support open access publication that our EC has been developing since assuming ESTS editorship.

Finally, the Open Access Community Investment Program (OACIP) pledging campaign for ESTS has been extended through December 15, 2023. We hope readers will take this opportunity to recommend ESTS to their institutional departments and libraries for pledging support.

Issue 9.1

This issue includes two Original Research Articles and a Thematic Collection, “TRANSnationalizing STS.” The article by Lucía Céspedes, Language Practices of Astronomers in Argentina, (2023) examines socio-linguistic conventions among astronomy doctoral students at the University of Córdoba, Argentina. Through her analysis, Céspedes draws out two key insights: students seem to naturalize written stylistic conventions (that of the scientific paper) across communicative practices (e.g. in their presentations); they also normalize English as a default language of scientific communication. Even so, Céspedes demonstrates that local languages and expressions do not fully disappear from the training and conduct of science in such instances, but rather that students develop and deploy creative translinguistic practices.

Another essay by Gonçalo Santos, Naubahar Sharif, and Jack Linzhou Xing, Translating STS in China, (2023) also focuses on translation, or rather its challenges. Analyzing disagreements among Chinese academics about the proper translation of the term “STS” into Chinese, the authors argue that the failure to arrive at a resolution of the translation question reflects conflicting disciplinary and intellectual dispositions. This, they suggest, has shaped how the field has developed in China, and worked against its institutionalization. More generally, the authors hint at questions that the field will have to grapple with in its efforts at greater transnationalization.

The Thematic Collection, “TRANSnationalizing STS,” has been edited by ESTS Associate Editors, Duygu Kaşdoğan and Angela Okune. Developed in extensive interaction with each other over more than two years, the essays in this collection reflect on the field of STS in and from different places. Contributions from Ecuador (Albornoz 2023), Kenya (Okune and Mutuku 2023), Turkey (Alkan, Kaşdoğan, and Erol 2023), and Japan (Mohácsi, Otsuki, and St. Pierre 2023) are included in this collection, each reflecting on the relationship between STS and its locations. These essays reflect further development of exhibits that were first staged as part of the STS Across Borders and Innovating STS exhibitions at the 2018 and 2019 annual meetings of the Society for the Social Studies of Science (4S). More substantial overviews for each essay are included in Kaşdoğan and Okune’s introduction to the thematic collection, Producing Transnational STS Places/Spaces (2023). Readers will also find on STS Infrastructures an interview with Kim Fortun and Aalok Khandekar conducted by Angela Okune and Duygu Kaşdoğan (Khandekar, Fortun, Kaşdoğan, and Okune 2023) that reflects on the design and learnings of the STS Across Borders and Innovating STS exhibitions. Lastly, Vivette García-Deister (2023) and Michael Fischer (2023a, 2023b, 2023c, 2023d, 2023e, 2023f) provide further commentaries on the collection, helping draw out salient themes across the essays, but also importantly, new modes and models of doing STS that the collection calls forth.

It is worth emphasizing especially the extensive digital content on STS Infrastructures that accompanies this issue. Each of the essays in the thematic collection feature source material that readers can engage with alongside—or independently of—it, in order to engage with STS more deeply in particular contexts. Michael Fischer (2023b, 2023c, 2023d, 2023e) also comments extensively on each collection on STS Infrastructures, alongside more synthetic insights into the collection that feature in his contribution in the journal pages (2023a).

Data Availability

Data published in this issue can be accessed in STS Infrastructures at: https://n2t.net/ark:/81416/p4fs3z.

References

Albornoz, María Belén. 2023. “Chakana and Thirdspace: Engaging Ecuadorian STS in Places of Knowledge Co-Production.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(1): 63–80.
https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2021.1239.

Alkan, Aybike, Duygu Kaşdoğan, and Maral Erol. 2023. “Placing STS in and through Turkey.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(1): 104–124.
https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.1091.

Céspedes, Lucía. 2023. “Sociolinguistic and Translingual Practices in the Discourse of Astronomers in Argentina.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(1): 6–22.
https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.1391.

Editorial Collective: Okune, Angela, Grant Jun Otsuki, Tim Schütz, Clément Dréano, Noela Invernizzi, Aalok Khandekar, Duygu Kaşdoğan, Ali Kenner, Sujatha Raman, Federico Vasen, Amanda Windle, and Emily York. 2022. “Open Research Data: Experimenting Towards a Publishing Infrastructure.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 8(2): 1–13.
https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2022.1885.

Fischer, Michael M. J. 2023a. “Varieties of STS: Luminosities, Creative Commons, and Open Curation.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(1): 148–155.
https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.2273.

⸻. 2023b. “Kenya: Techpreneur, Transnational Node, Kibera.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society. STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography), July 10, 2023. Accessed August 16, 2023. 9(1): 173–182.
https://n2t.net/ark:/81416/p4mg6j.

⸻. 2023c. “Turkey: Inside and Outside the University.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society. STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography), July 10, 2023. Accessed August 16, 2023. 9(1): 183–197.
https://n2t.net/ark:/81416/p4gp4m.

⸻. 2023d. “‘Japan’/Japan Online: NatureCulture.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society. STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography), July 10, 2023. Accessed August 16, 2023. 9(1): 198–210.
https://n2t.net/ark:/81416/p4r59t.

⸻. 2023e. “Ecuador: Thirdspaces Amidst Social Conflict.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society. STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography), July 10, 2023. Accessed August 16, 2023. 9(1): 211–227.
https://n2t.net/ark:/81416/p4w019.

⸻. 2023f. “Bibliography for Varieties of STS.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society. STS Infrastructures (Platform for Experimental Collaborative Ethnography), July 10, 2023. Accessed August 16, 2023. 9(1): 228–238.
https://n2t.net/ark:/81416/p4c01n

Kaşdoğan, Duygu, and Angela Okune. 2023. “TRANSnationalizing STS: Places, Spaces, and Politics.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(1): 50–62.
https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.1577.

Khandekar, Aalok, Kim Fortun, Duygu Kaşdoğan, and Angela Okune. 2023. Khandekar, Aalok, Kim Fortun, Duygu Kaşdoğan, and Angela Okune. 2023. “Revisiting STS Across Borders: Interview with Aalok Khandekar and Kim Fortun, conducted by Duygu Kaşdoğan and Angela Okune.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(1): 165–172.
https://n2t.net/ark:/81416/p40p48.

Mohácsi, Gergely, Grant Jun Otsuki, and Émile St. Pierre. 2023. “Locating Naturecultures.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(1): 125–147.
https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.1085.

Okune, Angela, and Leonida Mutuku. 2023. “Becoming an African Techpreneur: Geopolitics of Investments in “Local” Kenyan Entrepreneurship.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(1): 81–103.
https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.1095.

Santos, Gonçalo, Naubahar Sharif, and Jack Linzhou Xing. 2023. “Translating STS in China. Disciplinary Struggles and Future Prospects.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(1): 23–49.
https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.805.

García-Deister, Vivette. 2023. “Seabed in the Andes: Exploring “Splace” in Transnational STS.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(1): 156–164.
https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.2181.

Copyright, Citation, Contact

Copyright © 2023. (Editorial Collective: Clément Dréano, Noela Invernizzi, Aalok Khandekar, Duygu Kaşdoğan, Ali Kenner, Angela Okune, Grant Jun Otsuki, Sujatha Raman, Tim Schütz, Federico Vasen, Amanda Windle, and Emily York). This work is licensed under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). Available at estsjournal.org.

To cite this article: Dréano, Clément, Noela Invernizzi, Aalok Khandekar, Duygu Kaşdoğan, Ali Kenner, Okune, Angela, Grant Jun Otsuki, Sujatha Raman, Tim Schütz, Federico Vasen, Amanda Windle, and Emily York. 2023. “Towards Transnational STS.” Engaging Science, Technology, and Society 9(1) 1–5. https://doi.org/10.17351/ests2023.2387.

To email contact Editorial Collective: inquiry@estsjournal.org.