In recent years, the social studies of microbes have contributed to the recognition of practices in which humans work with rather than on or against microbes. Building on this scholarship and debates, this session aims to explore one possible way to engage publics in problematizing and experimenting with the relationship between humans and bacteria in urban environments: the bacteriotour. The bacteriotour is a public itinerary of macroscopic field-marks of bacterial presence in urban locations drawing on field microbiology to propose a methodology that combines sensory methods in public engagement and the walkshop as a mobile methodology. It asks a simple question: can publics engage meaningfully with microbial presence in urban environment through the bacteriotour activities?In this session I will present approach and methodology and participants will work together to outline a possible bacteriotour itinerary in Oslo.
Reading: Moreira, T. (2023). Furthering ontological pluralism, maybe: The strange case of the microbial recordings. Science, Technology, & Human Values, 48(5), 1042-1053. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/01622439231190897
Tiago Moreira is a professor of sociology at Durham University. Since 2010, he has developed a research programme at the intersection of the fields of science and technology studies and social and cultural gerontology, which was outlined in his book Science, Technology and the Ageing Society. He is a co-lead on the Strategic Research Fund initiative SMART Soils Laboratory – Soil Microbiome Augmentation and Restoration Technologies - developing social science research capacity at the intersection of Responsible Innovation and soil care practices. Tiago is also a member of the editorial board for Science, Technology and Human Values, the journal of the Society for Social Studies of Science, and the Journal of Aging Studies.