Dissertation Grant: Feminist Theory and Structures of Knowledge in Biomechanics

该论文研究项目将使学生完成一篇论文，该论文将研究女性主义理论和科学社会研究的交叉点，并应用于生物力学和相关领域的研究。本研究是对生物力学及相关领域研究人员的科学技术实践的研究。该研究将侧重于确定研究重点、建模和代表性方面的实践，以及权威模式和性别与权力之间的关系如何影响这些实践。该项目将填补当代科学技术研究中的两个空白：(1)实验室和机构的正式社会学研究与科学表征的文化导向研究之间的空白；(2)女性主义科学批判与科学、技术和社会理论之间的关系。特别是，研究将集中在(1)科学实践中的表征与身体作为机器的更大文化隐喻的交集；（二）对自然物进行测量和数学化的过滤、选择、排序等做法；(3)科学与工程知识工作的总体组织。这笔适度的资助将允许学生前往几个最初的和三个新的研究地点进行必要的采访和观察。论文应于1993年12月前完成。

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.