Opening The White Box: The Politics of Racialised Science and Technology

Abstract

The special edition of Science as Culture on ‘Opening the White Box: The Politics of Racialised Science and Technology’ commissioned, collected and contextualised a set of research-based articles from Britain and the USA which highlighted and analysed some of the many ways in which science and technology are implicated in the politics of ‘race’, ethnicity and racism. The primary contribution of the special edition was to set an agenda for future research and analysis of ‘race’, science and technology. The papers are major case studies of topics including agricultural technology and migrant labour, the policing of car use, the roots of information technology, child development and media coverage of the Human Genome Diversity Project. The introductory essay refocused and advanced discussions in science and technology studies in three directions. Firstly, it used ‘race’ to engage with a wider debate as to whether the emphasis within science technology studies on relativism and extreme forms of constructivism led to an abdication of political and ethical responsibility. Secondly, it showed the worth of bringing science and technology studies together with other sub-disciplines (notably cultural studies and the sociology of ‘race’ and racism). Last but by no means least, it set out a new programme for science and technology studies that considered the co-construction of science and technology on the one hand and of racial and ethnic categories on the other. Many of the issues raised in the introduction – notably the consequences of the new biology for understandings of human difference - have since become significant areas for debate within social studies of science and technology. The special edition of Science as Culture was a joint effort between Paul Rosen and David Sknner with Paul Rosen taking the lead on the editing of articles and David Sknner taking the lead on the development of the introductory essay.