[Air-L] CfP: 4S open panel on stuckness in science and technology

[Michelle Venetucci]

Hi everyone,

Just a few days left to send in abstracts for 4S open panels! I'm writing
to invite you to apply for an open panel on theorizing stuckness in science
and technology. Full description below.

The full list of panels is here
<https://www.4sonline.org/accepted_open_panels_seattle.php>, submission
instructions here
<https://www.4sonline.org/call_for_submissions_seattle.php>. 4S will be in
Seattle, September 3 - 6, 2025, and the deadline for 250 word abstracts is
January 31.


*Session Title:*Theorizing Stuckness in Science and Technology


*Abstract:*What might we learn by studying science and technology through
the lens of stuckness as opposed to progress?

While critical conversations in STS have deconstructed progress narratives
in science and technology, actors on the ground are well aware that their
everyday work is far from smooth. Scientists are constantly frustrated with
unexpected obstacles to their research plans (e.g., Messeri & Vertesi,
2015). Technologists who aspire to change the world often end up
reproducing current structures of power (e.g., Rider, 2021). These
experiences show up in empirical research, and yet are rarely theorized. In
this panel, we propose foregrounding contexts of stuckness, inertia, and
stagnation as a way to examine the production of scientific knowledge and
technological projects and their societal impacts.

Stuckness can be material, affective, discursive, and subjective; it can
describe particular moments or extend into chronic conditions. On the one
hand, moments of stuckness highlight how seemingly powerful experts are
situated within material and structural constraints. On the other hand,
experts often *feel* stuck, revealing the aspirations and expectations that
experts might have about their work precisely as they fail to materialize.
Stuckness enables us to bring together the material and discursive forces
that shape the work of experts, moving towards an expansive understanding
of how scientific and technological practices are produced.

We invite scholars from a variety of fields and topic areas to explore
stuckness, using the concept as a jumping off point for opening up new
conversations about science, technology, and society: When do actors get
stuck, and what responses does that elicit? How do different people
experience stuckness? What might experiences of stuckness reveal about
structural conditions, chronic issues, or routinized crises? We welcome
papers that consider the theoretical and methodological possibilities that
emerge from centering stuckness in the study of science and technology.

Organizers:
Shoko Yamada (shoko.yamada at yale.edu),
Michelle Venetucci (michelle.venetucci at yale.edu)
Yale University