Abstract
In this paper, I combine feminist, decolonial scholar María Lugones’ theory on playfulness and world-traveling with feminist science studies scholar Deboleena Roy’s work along with some other core feminist science studies concepts to define feminist tinkering as an explicitly politically motivated “playing” with the epistemic power of science. I lay out three concepts integral to feminist tinkering—playfulness, hands-on engagement, and iterative experimentation. I contrast these definitions with those driving a mainstream embrace of tinkering, to caution against assuming that tinkering itself automatically creates a better, more just science practice. By tinkering with ideas from feminist science studies, decolonial studies, and popular activism together, I suggest tinkering as a feminist methodology towards rethinking concepts of the knower, objects of study, and their relationship. This approach to tinkering can be employed in formal and informal STEM education settings as a way of doing research differently.
Résumé
Dans cet article, j’associe la théorie de la spécialiste du féminisme décolonial María Lugones, qui porte sur le comportement ludique et les pèlerinages, au travail de la chercheure en sciences sociales féministes Deboleena Roy, ainsi qu’à d’autres concepts clés issus du même domaine, afin de définir le bricolage féministe comme un moyen, explicitement motivé à des fins politiques, de « jouer » avec le pouvoir épistémique de la science. Je présente trois concepts essentiels au bricolage féministe: l’attitude ludique, la participation active et pratique, et l’expérimentation itérative. Je compare ces définitions à celles qui sous-tendent un bricolage conventionnel, en guise de mise en garde contre l’idée reçue voulant que ce bricolage constitue automatiquement à lui seul une pratique scientifique à la fois meilleure et plus juste. Je propose également d’utiliser le bricolage de concepts issus des études scientifiques féministes, des études décoloniales et du militantisme populaire pour arriver à une méthodologie féministe visant à revoir les concepts de connaisseur du domaine et d’objets d’étude, ainsi que leur corrélation.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Barad, Karen. 2001. “Scientific Literacy -> Agential Literacy = (Learning + Doing) Science Responsibly.” In Feminist Science Studies: A New Generation, edited by Maralee Mayberry, Banu Subramaniam, and Lisa H. Weasel, 226–47. Psychology Press.
Barad, Karen. 2007. Meeting the Universe Halfway: Quantum Physics and the Entanglement of Matter and Meaning. Duke university Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=H41WUfTU2CMC&oi=fnd&pg=PT7&dq=barad+meeting+the+universe&ots=MHV89xrRFU&sig=nTFNWB6peEjPomsgveXTCW8ZswQ.
Barad, Karen. 2010. “Quantum Entanglements and Hauntological Relations of Inheritance: Dis/Continuities, Spacetime Enfoldings, and Justice-to-Come.” Derrida Today 3 (2): 240–268.
Dubner, Stephen J. 2009. How Much Do Protests Matter? A Freakonomics Quorum.” Freakonomics (blog). August 20, 2009. http://freakonomics.com/2009/08/20/do-protests-matter-a-freakonomics-quorum/.
Dunbar-Hester, C. 2014. Low power to the people: Pirates, protest, and politics in FM radio activism. MIT Press.
Haraway, Donna. 1988. “Situated Knowledges: The Science Question in Feminism and the Privilege of Partial Perspective.” Feminist Studies, 575–599.
Haraway, Donna Jeanne. 2008. When Species Meet. Vol. 224. U of Minnesota Press.
Harding, Sandra. 2006. Science and Social Inequality: Feminist and Postcolonial Issues. University of Illinois Press.
Keller, Evelyn Fox. 1983. “A Feeling for the Organism.” The Life and Work of Barbara McClintock.
Lather, Patti. 2012. Getting Lost: Feminist Efforts toward a Double (d) Science. Suny Press. https://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=2OuYvbD9bQsC&oi=fnd&pg=PR3&dq=lather+getting+lost&ots=zguOTRinmI&sig=aYzyz9kP3-it-wtsUpVKiqV6qJo.
Lugones, Maria. 1987. “Playfulness,‘World’-Travelling, and Loving Perception.” Hypatia 2 (2): 3–19.
Povinelli, Elizabeth A. 2016. Geontologies: A Requiem to Late Liberalism. Duke University Press.
Puig de la Bellacasa, María. 2009. “Touching Technologies, Touching Visions. The Reclaiming of Sensorial Experience and the Politics of Speculative Thinking.” Subjectivity 28 (1): 297–315. https://doi.org/10.1057/sub.2009.17.
Roy, Deboleena. 2004. “Feminist Theory in Science: Working Toward a Practical Transformation.” Hypatia 19 (1): 255–79. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1527-2001.2004.tb01277.x.
Roy, Deboleena. 2012. “Feminist Approaches to Inquiry in the Natural Sciences: Practices for the Lab.” In Handbook of Feminist Research: Theory and Praxis, edited by Sharlene Nagy Hesse-Biber, 313–30. Los Angeles: SAGE.
Spivak, Gayatri Chakravorty. 1976. “Translator’s Preface.” Of Grammatology 24.
Willey, Angela. 2016a. “Biopossibility: A Queer Feminist Materialist Science Studies Manifesto, with Special Reference to the Question of Monogamous Behavior.” Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society 41 (3): 553–577.
Willey, Angela. 2016b. Undoing Monogamy: The Politics of Science and the Possibilities of Biology. Duke University Press.
Acknowledgements
Thank you to my UC Davis WMS 201: Feminist Science and Democracy class for reading an early draft of this article and spending time tinkering with ideas of science and democracy. Thank you to the organizers and participants of the May 2018 Toward Decolonial Feminisms conference at Penn State for giving me a venue to work on my arguments on Lugones’ playfulness and world-traveling and tinkering. Specific thanks to María Lugones for engaging with my presentation. And of course thank you to anonymous reviewers and the editors of this special issue who provided valuable feedback throughout the revision process.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of Interest
The author states that there is no conflict of interest.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Giordano, S. Theorizing Feminist Tinkering with Science Methodologies. Can. J. Sci. Math. Techn. Educ. 18, 222–231 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-018-0027-y
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42330-018-0027-y