Reclaiming Technology

Reclaiming Technology: A poetic-scientific vocabulary aims to evoke ways of thinking about, and intervening in, technology worlds through a series of blended writing styles. Consisting of thirty-five short essays, contributors were asked to problematize some aspect of their research with technology – broadly conceived as artifact, process, craft, infrastructure, or concept – without being constrained by the more traditional repertoires of academic publishing. The result is a set of critical and experimental texts whose vocabulary speaks to the poetic, affective, and mundane modes through which technology can inspire and make anew. The ambition to reclaim stems from a collective desire to shift the grounds upon which exuberant technological claims making occurs. The book’s poetic-scientific approach is an effort at rendering technology otherwise so as to enable the emergence of alternate claims-making pathways towards more just and dignified socio-technical futures. The book should appeal to those who are curious about the technology-society nexus in more general terms. More particular audiences include anthropology and STS scholars, students (at all levels) interested in methods and writing, and practitioners looking for conceptual resources to think about technology differently.

Reclaiming Technology: A poetic-scientific vocabulary aims to evoke ways of thinking about, and intervening in, technology worlds through a series of blended writing styles. Consisting of thirty-five short essays, contributors were asked to problematize some aspect of their research with technology – broadly conceived as artifact, process, craft, infrastructure, or concept – without being constrained by the more traditional repertoires of academic publishing. The result is a set of critical and experimental texts whose vocabulary speaks to the poetic, affective, and mundane modes through which technology can inspire and make anew. The ambition to reclaim stems from a collective desire to shift the grounds upon which exuberant technological claims making occurs. The book’s poetic-scientific approach is an effort at rendering technology otherwise so as to enable the emergence of alternate claims-making pathways towards more just and dignified socio-technical futures. The book should appeal to those who are curious about the technology-society nexus in more general terms. More particular audiences include anthropology and STS scholars, students (at all levels) interested in methods and writing, and practitioners looking for conceptual resources to think about technology differently.