Geographies of science: histories, localities, practices, futures

Abstract

This paper examines the recent attempts to develop geographies of science both within, and beyond, the discipline of geography. Such efforts have been most successful in work by historical geographers and historians of geography. Investigating the `geographical turn' evident across science studies more widely, this paper considers a broad range of engagements with spatiality by historians, sociologists, anthropologists and posthumanist practice theorists. In doing so, the paper thus argues that different geographies of science are emerging. Indeed, bringing together variegated conceptions of the spatiality of scientific activity will allow for wider audiences for geographies of science, inspire further investigation of the geographical sciences, and provide resources for debates regarding disciplinary histories and futures.

Transnational mobility and the spaces of knowledge production: a comparison of global patterns, motivations and collaborations in different academic fields

“…There are different possibilities for exploring the question of how geography matters in the production of academic knowledge -and possibly different answers as well (Powell, 2007). In this paper, I examined this question by looking at academic mobility to Germany in the period 1981 to 2000.…”

Geographies of outer space: Progress and new opportunities

“…Using Livingstone's (2003) concepts of 'site', 'region' and 'circulation', historical geographers have focused productively not only on individual sites of scientific work, but also on the broader regional geographies of scientific institutions and networks, as well as the spatial pathways and networks along which scientific claims travel (Powell, 2007;Finnegan, 2008). This line of inquiry clearly has much to contribute to outer space geographies, especially in historical terms.…”

Proving instruments credible in the early nineteenth century: The British Magnetic Survey and site-specific experimentation

“…112 It was such 'situated practical activity' that allowed authorized knowledge claims to be made in a form that made them credible elsewhere. 113 However, they were also mutable spaces. They were not 'rigorously guarded'; they existed somewhere between the public and private domains, field and observatory science.…”