ABSTRACT

Naked Science is about contested domains and includes different science cultures: physics, molecular biology, primatology, immunology, ecology, medical environmental, mathematical and navigational domains. While the volume rests on the assumption that science is not autonomous, the book is distinguished by its global perspective. Examining knowledge systems within a planetary frame forces thinking about boundaries that silence or affect knowledge-building. Consideration of ethnoscience and technoscience research within a common framework is overdue for raising questions about deeply held beliefs and assumptions we all carry about scientific knowledge. We need a perspective on how to regard different science traditions because public controversies should not be about a glorified science or a despicable science.

part 1|90 pages

Discovering Science

chapter 1|14 pages

Navigation in the Western Carolines

A Traditional Science

chapter 3|18 pages

Science for the West, Myth for the Rest?

The Case of James Bay Cree Knowledge Construction

chapter 4|14 pages

The Savagery of the Domestic Mind

part 2|81 pages

Culture, Power, and Context

chapter 7|17 pages

Nuclear Weapons Testing

Scientific Experiment as Political Ritual

chapter 9|14 pages

Constructing Knowledge across Social Worlds

The Case of DNA Sequence Databases in Molecular Biology

chapter 10|24 pages

Kokusaika, Gaiatsu, and Bachigai

Japanese Physicists' Strategies for Moving into the International Political Economy of Science

part 3|58 pages

Conflicting Knowledge Systems

chapter 13|11 pages

Popular Delusions and Scientific Models

Conflicting Beliefs of Scientists and Nonscientist Administrators in the Creation of a Secret Nuclear Surveillance System

chapter 14|18 pages

Japanese Science and Western Hegemonies

Primatology and the Limits Set to Questions

part |19 pages

Epilogue

chapter 15|17 pages

The Three-Cornered Constellation

Magic, Science, and Religion Revisited