Science in motion : what postcolonial science studies

One of the greatest contributions of Science and Technology Studies (STS), in the last 30 years, has been to show that the contours of science/technology and society are inextricably interwoven (Bloor [1976] 1991, Latour & Woolgar [1979] 1986; Knorr Cetina 1981; Shapin & Schaffer 1985; Latour 1987; Haraway 1991). These studies have highlighted that techno-scientific developments are path-dependent; that is embedded within particular historical and socio-economic and technical enfoldings. They have consistently shown that the concrete environment in which techno-scientific research is conducted gets embodied in the design and Abstract In the last 30 years, Science and Technology Studies (STS) have deconstructed the foundation of diffusion models of science, by showing that science and society are inextricably linked. Nevertheless, STS has rarely ventured into cross-cultural trans-national analyses of techno-scientific research. In recent times postcolonial science studies has attempted to shift the STS to trans-national domain, particularly in relation to impact of colonialism. This paper is in line with these efforts at analyzing techno-scientific research. I have analyzed Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) research and development in the United States, India, and the United Kingdom in order to put into broad relief the hierarchical global topography of techno-science. I have shown how colonialism continues to undergird analyses of techno-scientific research. I have argued that in the first instance we need a ‘decolonization of imagination’ if we need to move beyond dualist categories of west/non-west, developed/developing, north/south, and so on, which are parasitic to some conception of ‘lack’ of the non-west.