Denielle Elliott

How do contemporary forms of indigenous life, scholarship, and activism unsettle the political stakes and scholarly methods of STS? Recognizing that the 4S meeting of 2018 will be held on the historical and stolen lands of Australian indigenous peoples, this series of panels will explore the possibilities, the productive irritants, and inescapable problematics of thinking through the social study of science, medicine and technology in settler colonial societies. Settler colonialisms and technopolitics share long and complicated histories, histories which have only recently begun to receive critical attention within STS and related disciplines. Technoscience has pervaded indigenous engagements with the state, corporations, academics, and experts, generating paradoxical tests of legitimacy and new sites of wealth extraction, underscoring the entanglements between the nation, citizenship, knowledge claims, and land. Attending to specific sites of engagement and resistance demands new ways of doing (and undoing) STS scholarship. We seek papers that complicate the articulation and circulation of sociotechnical imaginaries; illuminate the ways archival and biomedical technologies shape claims to identity and belonging; and defy prevailing models whereby individual experts enroll allies and cultivate power. We are particularly interested in papers that speak to the legacy of colonial epistemologies in the history and philosophy of science and medicine, new innovative projects that work to decolonize medicine, science and technology (and science and technology studies itself), and speculative visions of an indigenous science studies. We also welcome submissions that subvert the conventional conference paper format, whether through video, audio, or literary productions or live performances. For more information: Denielle Elliott dae@yorku.ca or Tom Özden-Schilling tom.schilling@gmail.com

This paper, positioned at the intersection of anthropology, science and technology studies, and feminist affect theory, considers shifts in memory and neurological disturbances that accompany traumatic brain injuries. Anomia, or anomic aphasia, is the inability to recall certain words, names, or colors caused by damage to the parietal or temporal lobes in the brain. Anomia is a disorder 'on the verge'-there but not quite, a forgotten memory, reluctant to be conjured. How might experimental ethnographic memoir help us uncover such forgotten memories and make sense of neurological disturbances pathologized by science and medicine? My account contributes to a growing body of literature that uses ethnographic memoir as political critique, blending the personal and theoretical, situating the intimate within larger historical and social contexts. It suggests that ethnographic memoir, with attention to the affective interiority of memories, merged with theoretical analyses and political critiques of medicine and/or therapeutic interventions, offer new understandings of being and temporality. Neurological Disturbances We must not allow the fear of forgetting to overwhelm us. And then perhaps it is time to remember the future, rather than only worry about the future of memory.

One of the key moments that drew this national attention to the Downtown Eastside was when the Vancouver/Richmond Health Board (VRHB) declared a public health emergency in 1997 in re- sponse to reports that suggested illicit drug use and HIV infections were both dramatically increasing. Framed as a humanitarian inter- vention for the urban poor, and backed by a rights discourse for illicit drug users, the public health emergency was meant to offer much needed health care and social welfare programming to those living with HIV or to those seen as being at risk of HIV. Declaring a public health emergency was both discursive practice and political action, resulting in a whole series of commitments and interven- tions from all three levels of state that would have both intended and unintended consequences. To date, it remains the one and only emergency declared for Vancouver, British Columbia, and, twenty years later, the state of emergency officially remains in place, never having been cancelled. [excerpt]

This rather unorthodox essay is a dialogue between an anthropologist and an epidemiologist, both of whom were involved with a large-scale collaborative ethnographic project exploring medical field studies, or 'trial communities', in western Kenya. Reflecting on their involvement with this project, the authors consider the pragmatics of what 'collaboration' represents in different disciplines and how it is enacted. The dialogue, which included a follow-up interview after the research was completed, highlights the expectations and tensions in such collaborative projects and offers the epidemiologist an opportunity to highlight the ideas, methods, and possibilities that he perceived as being 'lost in translation' between sociocultural anthropology and experimental medicine. We raise critical issues regarding the disjuncture between epidemiological and anthropological practices in research design, methods, epistemology, and collaboration, with the hopes of provoking more discussions regarding best practices in collaborative research projects.

The brain is a wild and wonderful thing. Even in a damaged, broken, or diseased state, it performs wonders. Oliver Sacks, neurologist and prolific writer, knew this and he wrote a series of books that documented the inner machinations of injured minds. These are detailed clinical studies of patients, documenting the unusual and often unimaginable. Many of these conditions are extraordinarily rare, drawn from only one or two documented cases. Oliver Sacks collected these clinical case studies, presenting them to his readers like some sort of text-based museum of the absurd. Almost ethnographic stories. [Excerpt]

Spring-6 ECTS Schedule & Room Course Description "Although writing is an all-consuming fire, it may also reduce one's life to ashes." Michael Jackson (2013, 72) "It's not enough to stick with empirical studies of apparently real things, for life is much more than that." Robert Desjarlais (2019, ix)

This year long course examines the historical, political, economic and social forces shaping the health and wellness of Indigenous peoples and communities in Settler Colonial states, including Canada, the United States, New Zealand, and Australia. We examine health, healing and wellness in its broadest interpretation, and as such, consider histories of state violence and colonialism, struggles for sovereignty and self-governance, structural violence and environmental racism, truth and reconciliation politics, ecological struggles over energy, water and pollution, and contemporary biopolitics in urban, rural, reserve and off-reserve settings. The course is divided into four modules: 1) Colonialism and the Settler State, 2) Governance and Law, 3) Biopolitics, and 4) Environmental Concerns. The course draws on a range of interdisciplinary materials including films, creative non-fiction, ethnographies, graphic novels, government policy, and historical accounts. In an effort to " unsettle " academic learning, the majority of required course materials and readings in this course are written or produced by Indigenous scholars, writers, filmmakers, and artists. Note: This course focuses on active learning and demands engaged participation in the classroom. Attendance and participation are mandatory.

• Should scientists and engineers develop facial recognition software? What is the role of scientists and engineers in communicating the societal threats posed by global pandemics, artificial intelligence, and climate change? Can scientists and engineers be neutral observers? How should scientists and engineers engage with societal stakeholders like governments, publics, and business? How do you ensure that science and technology are designed for everyone? What sorts of social, cultural, and political values shape science and technology? Is innovation meant to be ethical and socially responsible? And, what are the social, political, ethical, cultural, and economic implications of science and technology? • These sorts of questions are the core focus of Science & Technology Studies (STS), sometimes called Science, Technology & Society. Researchers in STS examine the contemporary and historical context, shaping, and role of science, technology, and innovation in our societies. See here. • Does this interest you? Apply here.