ph.d.-forsvar
Anders Blok,
Sociologisk Institut, KU (abl [at] soc.ku.dk):
Divided socio-natures
– essays on the co-construction of
science, society, and the global environment
Controversies between scientific experts as to the exact nature of global environmental crises have become ubiquitous aspects of contemporary Euro-American public life. What might sociology tell us about the social significance of scientific knowledges in contemporary disputes on the fate of threatened nature in ‘world risk society’? This thesis draws on developments in the field of science and technology studies (STS), and particularly on the actor-network theory (ANT) of Bruno Latour and others, in outlining a novel analytical agenda for a globalized environmental sociology. Empirically, the thesis is organized around two multi-sited ethnographic case studies into world-spanning scientific and political conflicts surrounding Japanese whaling (biodiversity) and carbon markets (climate change). Each of these natureculture domains is analysed as important manifestations of the dynamic co-construction of science, society, and the global environment. Scientific knowledges turn out to be densely interwoven with cultural understandings of nature, collective social identities, and contentious projects of political ecology. Symmetrically, sociological theory and methodology stand in need of ‘ecological’ reconstruction, in taking seriously the role of non-human material agencies in global social life.
Københavns Universitet, SAMF.
Forsvaret finder sted 14.april kl.13.00 på Københavns Universitet, Alexandersalen, Bispetorvet. Bedømmelsesudvalget består af Ulrich Beck, Alan Irwin og Inge Kryger Pedersen.
Opslag
