Crafting science : a sociohistory of the quest for the genetics of cancer / Joan H. Fujimura.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Fujimura, Joan H.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Proto-oncogenes--Research--History.

Proto-oncogenes.

Cancer--Genetic aspects--Research--History.

Cancer.

Science--Social aspects.

Science.

Culture--Study and teaching.

Culture.

Medical anthropology.

Cancer--Genetic aspects--Research.

History.

Cancer--Genetic aspects.

Research.

Physical Description:

x, 322 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 1996.

Summary:

A dramatic study of a new species of scientific revolution, this book combines a detailed ethnography of scientific thought, and in-depth account of science practiced and produced, a history of one branch of science as it entered the limelight, and a view of the impact of new genetic technologies on science and society. The scientific enterprise that Fujimura unfolds for us is proto-oncogene cancer research - the study of those segments of DNA now thought to make normal cells cancerous. Within this framework, she describes the processes of knowledge construction as a social enterprise, an endless series of negotiations in which theories, material technologies, and practices are co-constructed, incorporated, and refashioned. Portraying the development of knowledge as a multidimensional process conducted through multiple cultures, institutions, actors, objects, and practices, this book disrupts divisions among sociology, history, anthropology, and the philosophy of science, technology, and medicine.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 281-312) and index.

ISBN:

0674175530

OCLC:

35110277