Anthropology and Science Epistemologies in Practice [Paperback]

What does it mean to know something - scientifically, anthropologically, socially? What is the relationship between different forms of knowledge and ways of knowing? How is knowledge mobilised in society and to what ends? Drawing on ethnographic examples from across the world, and from the virtual and global 'places' created by new information technologies, Anthropology and Science presents examples of living and dynamic epistemologies and practices, and of how scientific ways of knowing operate in the world. Authors address the nature of both scientific and experiential knowledge, and look at competing and alternative ideas about what it means to be human. The essays analyze the politics and ethics of positioning 'science', 'culture' or 'society' as authoritative. They explore how certain modes of knowing are made authoritative and command allegiance (or not), and look at scientific and other rationalities - whether these challenge or are compatible with science.

Jeanette Edwardsis Senior Lecturer in Social Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, UK.

Penny Harveyis Professor of Social Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, UK.

Peter Wadeis Professor of Social Anthropology, School of Social Sciences, University of Manchester, UK.

Introduction: Epistemologies in Practice. Jeanette Edwards, Penny Harvey and Peter Wade (all University of Manchester) * Astrophysics, Anthropology and Other Imperial Pursuits. Simon Schaffer (University of Cambridge) * Industry Going Public: Rethinking Knowledge and Administration. Alberto Cors?n-Jim?nez (University of Manchester) * Rationality and Contingency: Rhetoric, Practice and Legitimation in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Catherine Alexander (Goldsmiths College, University of London) * Information Society Finnish-Style, or an Anthropological View of the Modern. Eeva Berglund (Independent researcher) * Nga rakau a te pakeha: Reconsidering Mal#'