Dissertation Grant: Feminist Theory and Structures of Knowledge in Biomechanics

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This dissertation research project will enable the student researcher to complete a dissertation which examines the intersections of feminist theory and social studies of science as applied to research in biomechanics and related fields. The proposed research is a study of the scientific and technical practice of researchers in biomechanics and related fields. The study will focus on practices in setting research priorities, modelling, and representation, and how patterns of authority and the relations between gender and power affect these practices. The project will bridge two gaps in contemporary science and technology studies: (1) between formally sociological studies of laboratories and institutions and culturally oriented studies of representations in science; and (2) between feminist criticisms of science and theories of science, technology and society. Particularly, the study will focus on (1) the intersection of representations in scientific practice and larger cultural metaphors of body as machine; (2) the practices, such as filtering, selection, and ordering, that go into the measurement and mathematization of natural objects; (3) the general organization of knowledge work in science and engineering. This modest grant will allow the student to travel to several initial and three new research sites in order to conduct the necessary interviews and observations. The dissertation should be completed by December, 1993.