Abstract
Considering the scientific practices related to Research & Development in biotechnology and, based on the assumptions of Actor Network Theory (ANT), this study aimed to describe the main translations that influenced the composition of an actor-networks, reflecting on the organizing practices in a scientific laboratory Research & Development of Northeast Biotechnology Network (Brazil). The methodological procedures were based on the historical approach of biotechnology under study from an ethnographic posture. The composition of the corpus was organized in the form of reports, observing the historical passages. The history of biotechnology has been reported between the plots of design, patenting and commercialization practices, highlighting the creation of heterogeneous actors’ networks. Finally, he emphasized the influence of laboratory scientist's leadership in the way of organizing of scientific practices.
Highlights
During the last decades, Rabinow’s work (1999) has been based on the assumption that the term “life” has been undergoing a modernization process which is parallel to that occurred to the word “society” in the last century
The author converses with the social studies of science, developed by, among others, Thomas Kuhn, Bruno Latour and Donna Haraway, a dialogue which predominantly reflects the everyday practices in scientific laboratories and focuses on how the major abstractions of “science” are products of these local practices (Biehl, 1999, p. 14)
Rabinow (1999, p. 9) proposes that contemporary anthropology create new ways of engaging in research procedures of scientific culture and “analyze the logoi, science and understandings that are emerging around the constitutive material of life.”
Summary
Rabinow’s work (1999) has been based on the assumption that the term “life” has been undergoing a modernization process which is parallel to that occurred to the word “society” in the last century. Along the same lines is the question posed by Rabinow (1996) related to biotechnology, which should be built in terms of increasingly dense interconnections between the various scientific – technological, cultural, social and economic actors In this sense, when we shift the focus of discussion towards the academia, we are faced with the question of how to trace in the Science and Technology field – in which R&D efforts proliferate, the boundaries between the groups are uncertain, with a wide variety of elements and entities to consider – new combinations of associations between the actors?. In this regard, analysing the “organizing” by ANT through a historical perspective can help to increase the understanding of the arrangement and temporary rearrangement of human and non-human actors (Bloomfield & Vurdubakis, 1999), seeking to understand how this heterogeneous network is in a process of on-going construction (Alcadipani & Hassard, 2010)
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Sign-in/Register to access full text options 
Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
