Science, Technology, and Society Approaches to Fieldwork in Geography

Abstract

Geographers who take a science, technology, and society (STS) approach to research recognize that the doing of science happens within particular social and historical contexts. Additionally, the production and representation of scientific knowledge occurs via networks of human and nonhuman actors. This article considers how coconstructivist STS emphasizes the processes and practices whereby knowledge and context produce each other simultaneously. A particular focus of this article is to show how taking an STS approach alters both the construction of research questions and the doing of fieldwork, especially for those geographers less familiar with STS. Although not intended to be an in-depth introduction to STS, this article explores the central tenets of coconstructivist STS, including its ontological foundations, processes of critical knowledge production, and methods, to demonstrate the applicability of this approach to geographic inquiry. Specific fieldwork examples from case studies on nonlethal weaponry in Bangkok, Thailand, and on long-term political effects of the Chernobyl disaster in Ukraine illustrate how a coconstructivist STS approach can be meaningful to geographic research and fieldwork. Key Words: Chernobyl disaster, fieldwork methods, knowledge production, nonlethal weapons, STS.