Programme full

Wednesday 15 April 2015 11:00 - 12:30
PAPER SESSION 2
strategies of Russian-speaking scientists by using data collected from 61 semi-structured interviews conducted
throughout 2013-14 in the USA, UK, Germany, France and Switzerland. The study triangulates the expressed
opinions towards diasporic networks by collecting the publication data of participating scientists and analysing it
quantitatively.
The study builds on the ongoing discussion on transnational spaces and cultural capital in science, and investigates
three strategies of diasporic behaviour of scientists: (1) alienation when all links with the home country are severed as
a rational act, (2a) 'transnationalisation' of academic practice and utilisation diaspora contacts towards creation of
clusters of Russian-speaking scientists in the host organisation, and (2b) engagement with loose informal networks of
other scientists abroad. There is half-and-half split between the two strategies, the first more often found in the USA.
Scientists express a great degree of ambivalence and radicalism towards engagement with the home country.
The study stresses an ambiguous result of recent major policy initiatives by the Russian Federal Government to
engage the diaspora abroad: the costly 'mega-grant' programme only managed to attract researchers who had
already had dense collaborations with the home country, failing to achieve the goal of attracting the 'alienated'
scientists whom it initially targeted.
Border Security Technologies and Violence
Conroy, A.
(London School of Economics and Political Science)
This paper argues for increased attention to the relationship scientists and innovators have with the border security
technologies they develop. To date, scholars interested in border security have considered the deployment and
adoption of such technologies and in doing so have mapped the use of military technologies in border surveillance
and control, and identified the human rights abuses and violence that occur with their use. Little attention, however,
has been paid to the conditions of their development. There is an extensive body of ethnographic literature on science
and scientists; this includes ethnographic work that considers the relationship weapons scientists and innovators have
with the weapons they create. Hugh Guterson's ethnography of a nuclear weapons lab illustrates the complex and
myriad ethical relationships nuclear scientists develop with the weapons they work on. Carol Cohn charts the
imbrication of the sexualized language defense intellectuals use to describe nuclear weapons with their gender
identity and the way they narrativize the need for such weapons. These works offer a rich picture of the ethical
maneuvers, organizational dynamics and interplay between identity and styles of reasoning in sites of weapons
research and development. While border control and surveillance technologies have been described as violent or
weapon-like, the relationship between border technologies and violence is more tenuous than that of weaponry
specifically designed to do harm and, thus, begs the following questions: Why do border technology scientists and
innovators do what they do? What do they think about what they produce?
Social Divisions/Social Identities 1
M228, GEORGE MOORE BUILDING
CAST(E)ING ABOUT FOR A NEW SOCIETY: SOCIAL TRANSITIONS IN INDIA
In the advent of Indian independence it was widely assumed that caste would fade away and diminish in significance
as democracy took root. Instead, caste has been harnessed by political entrepreneurs and parties in multiple ways.
On the one hand the electoral mobilisation of lower castes has been hailed as a ‘silent revolution’ that has
democratised Indian politics and social relations; on the other, the rise of caste based political parties has led to
expressions of caste pride and honour that have fuelled inter-caste animosity and violence. This session will bring
together a range of papers that will reflect on the contested processes of caste change, and ask whether things have
improved for those at the foot of the caste hierarchy or not.
Different Dalit Women Speak Differently: Unravelling, through an Intersectional Lens, Narratives of Agency
and Activism from Everyday Life in Rural North India
Govinda, R.
(University of Edinburgh)
The notion of 'difference' has come to occupy centre stage in feminist politics the world over. In the context of
contemporary Indian feminism, the notion of difference has been oft-invoked in relation to ex-untouchable women.
Indeed, efforts have been made to emphasise ex-untouchable women's 'difference' vis-à-vis non-ex-untouchable
103 BSA Annual Conference 2015
Glasgow Caledonian University