Discourses and discourse sites of nanotechnology

Padraig Murphy, School of Communications, Dublin City University

Environmental Protection Agency STRIVE Research Fellowship, 2007-2009

Negotiating New Sciences in Society, Dublin City University, 22nd

-23rd January 2009

Science//Society Symposium

The silver nano particle washing machine…

The Nokia Morph

• nanotechnology as a set of discourses

• various ‘sites’ where these discourses are ‘grounded’,

• that is, where there may be potential for public discourse

Under discussion

Defining discourses

We can base our definition of discourse on that of Michel Foucault:

“Rules that govern bodies of text and utterances”

(Norman Fairclough, Analysing Discourse,2003)

Defining discourse sites

Schatzki, T. R. 2002. The site of the social

• Locations for grounding a discourse

• The discourse and practices appear to be centralised

• There is a sense of place, of ‘where’ something happens

• Depending on objects and ‘things’

A theory of practices

• “A 'practice' … is a routinised type of behaviour which consists of several elements, interconnected to one another: forms of bodily activities, forms of mental activities, 'things' and their use

• “A practice - a way of cooking, of consuming, of working, of investigating, of taking care of oneself or of others, etc. - forms … a 'block' whose existence necessarily depends on the existence and specific interconnectedness of these elements, and which cannot be reduced to any one of these single elements.” (p249-250)

Reckwitz, A. 2002. Toward a theory of social practices: a development in culturalist theorising. European Journal of Social Theory , 5, (2), pp.245- 265.

But how would nanotechnology be considered in terms of ‘everyday practices’, when the term appears to be so abstract, largely unknown among publics?

Practice theory and media

• “…contextualising a new research paradigm that theorises media as practice, rather than as text or production process: what range of practices are oriented to media and what is the role of media-oriented practices in ordering other practices?”

• [Practice theory] addresses questions that are no longer questions about media as such, or even about the direct consumption of media, but rather questions about the contributions media practices make to social practice more generally” (Couldry, 2006, p129-130).

Couldry, N. 2004. Theorising media as practice. Social Semiotics, 14 (2), pp115-132.

Practice theory and media

Examples of discourse sites

Public affairs media

Policy

Local community

Education

Fictive/ Web 2.0 forums

Technoscience/ commerce

Civil Society Organisations

Humanities & social sciences

What about nanoscale science itself?

Is it a discourse site?

What about nanotechnology products?

Mark Erickson (2005). Science, culture and society: understanding science in the 21st century

A distinction in ‘formal science’ practices (lab-produced knowledge) between use of ‘esoteric’ language (practices of everyday lab science and applied technology) and ‘exoteric’ (discourses on science that occur outside these practices). Erickson suggests that current nanotechnology is mainly exoteric.

Examples of discursive framing and distinct practices at discourse sites

Technoscience/ commerce

Highly strategic, economy focus

Policy

Public affairs media

Highly strategic, economy focus; internationally a turn towards science and society references

Science Education

Critical, investigative, setting up protagonists and issues, deadlines and angles

Applied formal science, practices detached from ‘exoteric discourses’

Where is the risk talk?

Humanities & social sciences

Examples of discursive framing and distinct practices at discourse sites (ctd): including risk discourses

Theoretical, abstract, main constructions of nanotechnology with formal science

Civil Society Organisations

Local community

Combative, harmony with nature, safety rather than risk, big statements

Local issues, many grounded discourses, H&SS-driven nano talk

Examples of discursive framing and distinct practices at discourse sites (ctd): Where is the risk talk?

Fictive/ Web 2.0 Forums

Mixing esoteric with exoteric; largely utopian but nano risks discussed openly

Commercial and university technoscience

Local community

Schools and education

Policy

Public affairs media

Fictive and Web 2.0 forums

Communities

of CONCERN

Communities

of INTEREST

Irish nanotechnology discourse sites?

Commercial and university technoscience

Local community

Schools and education

Policy

Public affairs media

Fictive and Web 2.0 forums

Communities

of CONCERN

Communities

of INTEREST

Civil Society Organisations (risk talk)

Social sciences and humanities (risk talk)

?

?

Irish nanotechnology discourse sites?

“responsible innovation”

- business case- social case- cultural case- participative case- educational case

Can Ireland compete/ connect?

Concluding questions

• Is nanotechnology such an interdisciplinary entity that there are a range of sites of specific practices, many with common framings?

• Can we share resources and ideas (and frames) across these discourse sites successfully for public engagement?

• Irish policy, technoscience and public affairs media out of step with emerging risk and cultural discourses of nanotechnology globally?