Tomás Sánchez Criado (ed.),Technogenesis: the technical construction of human ecologies (2 Vols.), Editorial AIBR - Antropólogos Iberoamericanos en Red, 2008
10.6092/issn.2038-3460/16865
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Tecnoscienza – Italian Journal of Science & Technology Studies
Tomás Sánchez Criado (ed.), Tecnogénesis: la construcción técnica de las ecologías humanas (2 Vols.), Editorial AIBR - Antropólogos Iberoamericanos en Red, 2008
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Book Reviews
2011-12-29
2023-04-28
2011-12-29
2023-07-06
123-126
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Celia Dìaz Catalan
2011/12/29
10.6092/issn.2038-3460/16865
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126
Tomás Sánchez Criado (ed.), Tecnogénesis: la construcción técnica de las ecologías humanas (2 Vols.), Editorial AIBR - Antropólogos Iberoamericanos en Red, 2008
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                                                                   TECNOSCIENZA – 2 (2)         123




society, but also the study of the                     Tomás Sánchez Criado (ed)
technoscientific practices tout court.               Tecnogénesis: la construcción
Nevertheless, since the theoretical                técnica de las ecologías humanas
contribution     in   the    volume’s                           (2 Vols.)
opening, an excessive emphasis is
                                                   (Technogenesis: the technical construction
given to the American national
                                                            of human ecologies)
context, to such a point that, in the
work, the specific features of the                  2008, Editorial AIBR - Antropólogos
American health care system are                    Iberoamericanos en Red, 300 pp. vol. 1,
taken for granted. However, this
territorial connotation is slightly                             244 pp. vol. 2
mitigated by the conclusive chapter
(Adele E. Clarke), which constitutes
the volume’s epilogue and offers an                           Celia Dìaz Catalan
interesting as innovative transnation-                            (IESA-CSIC)
al study of the biomedicallization
processes.                                                Postmodernism is an interesting
                                                     symptom of transition, let’s accept it
References                                           as such, use it to bring about the end
                                                     of modernism more quickly, and, for
Bruni, A. (2008) La medicina come ingegneria              goodness sake… let's talk about
    dell’eterogeneo e pratica socio-materiale,
                                                                            something else.
    “Rassegna Italiana di Sociologia”, 3, pp.
    451-476.                                                            (Latour 2008, 177).
Clarke, A. E., Mamo, L., Fishman, J. R.,
    Shim, J. K., Fosket, J. R., (2003)                This book edited by Tomás
    Biomedicalization:          Technoscientific   Sánchez Criado compiles a series of
    Transformation of Health, Illness, and
    U.S.     Biomedicine,     in    “American
                                                   works by authors from different
    Sociological Review”, 68 (3), pp. 161-194.     disciplines (psychologists, historians
Foucault, M. (1963) Naissance de la clinique.      of science, anthropologists, socio-
    Une archéologie du regard medical, Paris,      logists, philosophers and prima-
    Presses Universitaires de France.
                                                   tologists) sharing a constructivist
Hogle, F. L. (2008) Emerging Medical
    Technologies, in E. J. Hackett, O.             approach. The introductory chapter
    Amsterdamska, M. Lynch, J. Wajcman,            was written at the time of the
    (eds), “The Handbook of Science and            enactment      of     the    so-called
    Technology Studies”, Massachusetts, The        “Dependency Law” (Act 39/2006 of
    MIT Press, pp. 841-873.
Kaufman, S. e Morgan L. (2005) The
                                                   14th December for the Promotion of
    Anthropology of the Beginnings and Ends        Personal Autonomy and Care for
    of Life, in “Annual Review of Anthropo-        Dependent Persons), which is the
    ly”, 34, pp. 317-341.                          result of the pressures exerted by
                                                   many social movements strongly
                                                   supported by the author, and
                                                   represents one of the most ambitious
                                                   public policies of the Spanish welfare
124   BOOK REVIEWS




      state. It is worrying that at the time of   different proposals from an anthro-
      the reprint, three years after the          po-technical perspective.
      launch of the programme, the                    In the first volume, we find a
      implementation of the Act is still          framework that challenges the
      largely incomplete in some regions.         traditional understanding of human
          The chapters of Tecnogénesis. La        nature from the perspective of a
      construcción tecnológica de las             technological construction of human
      ecologías humanas are different             ecologies. According to this “radical
      proposals with a common thrust: to          constructivism”, each of the elements
      overcome the weaknesses of Western          involved in the construction has an
      traditional theoretical frameworks,         impact on the others (Sánchez
      starting from the acknowledgment of         Criado: XXX). The chapter by
      the problems of contemporary                Francisco Tirado and Miquel
      societies, as pointed out in Criado         Doménech is a brilliant description
      Sanchez’s introduction. The authors         of one of these radical trends: the
      challenge traditional dichotomous           Actor-Network       Theory    (ANT).
      and simplistic views, questioning the       These authors have extensive
      boundaries that have served to              experience both in the ANT field
      separate us from other beings. Thus,        and in providing tools for better
      providing a better understanding of         understanding ANT-based studies.
      the many forms of life from a post-         Their work is made particularly
      humanist perspective, the authors           accessible through examples that
      call for a more appropriate co-             illustrate “the important role of
      existence.                                  objects in the establishment of
          In the preamble, Florentino             partnerships and of a collective
      Blanco warns us that what we are            generation” (Tirado and Domènech,
      going to read might be as disturbing        56).
      as a concert of vocal music he once             Fernando        Domínguez-Rubio
      attended. The concepts we find in           emphasises the importance of objects
      the book are perhaps difficult to           in social sciences, and regards them
      understand for those who are not            as constituent sociological elements.
      familiar with such approaches.              He claims that objects become a
      However, in his splendid intro-             sociological issue as long as they
      duction, the editor makes the reading       introduce a difference, overcoming
      of the book much easier. Sanchez            the traditional division between the
      Criado provides a thorough review of        social and the material. This material
      the concepts that allow us to               turn is also shared by Daniel López’s
      understand       how      contemporary      study, which focuses on a set of
      worlds are populated by human and           spaces and objects able to provide a
      non-human         assemblages.      Jorge   remote care service. Iván Sánchez
      Castro Tejerina’s epilogue is a             Moreno questions the artistic object
      brilliant closure to the two volumes,       in his analysis of the relationship
      combining the key concepts of the           between technology and music
                                                           TECNOSCIENZA – 2 (2)         125




production, emphasising significant         assigned to the natural and social
changes in the role of the subjects         sciences in psychology. To make it
involved.                                   possible, they start from a new
    Apart from these proposals,             alternative, the "operational realism".
which point out the importance of           Jesús Vega reflects on the limits and
social objects, another issue addres-       hybridization of human mind. In his
sed by the volume is the need to re-        analysis of cognitive authority, he
consider the modern interpretations         rejects the symmetry between human
of human nature. In the first work          and non-human.
focusing on this topic (Rubén                   A core concept in this volume is
Gómez-Soriano and Beto Vianna), it          subjectivity in relation to human
is argued that the definitions of           nature. Álvaro Pazos Garciandía
human nature are historically related       focuses on the issue of individual
to the criteria for the classification of   subjectivity, rejecting the dichotomy
primates. Such definition of human          between individualist and collectivist
nature represents a boundary work           societies. What he proposes is a new
(Gieryn, 1983), claiming the exis-          view of subjectivity in other cultures,
tence of an essential social entity, in     starting from the analysis of their
opposition to the others. The authors       technologies. José Carlos Loredo
here, disagreeing with this view,           Narciandi instead analyses the forms
propose a systemic perspective,             of production of subjectivities from a
stating that “human beings are what         political perspective.
they are because of their relational            Latour's contribution is appre-
practices” (220).                           ciated for his role in the social studies
    The perspectives expressed in the       of science, and specifically in the
second volume, contrary to the first        ANT. In his characterization of
one, start from the analysis of human       modernity, Latour’s approach is in
nature and put it in relation to their      tune with the one adopted in the first
technoscientific     ecologies.     Tom     volume. He rejects the naturalistic
Ingold focuses on the variety of            (modernist) perspective as a means to
human skills in connection with             understand both the others and
different ways of life and env-             oneself. He proposes a new
ronments. In opposition to the              constructivist paradigm, which is
complementarity thesis, according to        consistent with some of the concepts
which the human being is a sum of           used by Europeans to describe the
body, mind and culture, he takes on         universal.
a relational perspective, regarding             As pointed out, Tecnogénesis
“the organism as a place of growth          includes some interesting construc-
and development within a system of          tivist proposals, covering different
constant relationships” (31). What          themes. While great attention is
David      Travieso     and      Marcos     given to the different ways in which
Fernández propose is the conver-            Western collectives and technologies
gence of methodologies traditionally        have been enhanced by modern
126   BOOK REVIEWS




      science, there is no reference to the              “Tecnogénesis. La construcción de las
      social construction of gender or race.             ecologías humanas” Madrid, AIBR pp.
                                                         XIX-XXV.
      The reflections presented here are in          Tirado F., Domènech M. (2008), Asociaciones
      fact mainly theoretical. One of the                heterogéneas y actantes: El giro postsocial
      most surprising things about the                   de la teoría del actor-red, in T., Sánchez
      volume is that, despite the criticism              Criado     (ed),    “Tecnogénesis.      La
                                                         construcción de las ecologías humanas”
      of modernity and its self-referential              Madrid, AIBR pp. 41-79.
      analysis, the book does not take
      account of the precarious employees’
      perspectives, even if the authors
      point out the risk of continuing to                                 ***
      misunderstand the other. By trying to
      get a better understanding through
      the contribution of the now universal
      sciences, it is probably possible to                          Gabriele Balbi
      achieve a merely topological turn,
      instead of a radical one, as it would            Le origini del telefono in Italia.
      be necessary. Nonetheless, the                   Politica, economia, tecnologia,
      authors, with their proposals, are                            società
      certainly providing a good starting              (The Origins of the Telephone in Italy.
      point to approach realities and                  Politics, economics, technology, society)
      problems of our contemporary
                                                         Milano, Bruno Mondadori, 2011,
      societies.                                                     226 pp.


      References                                                   Simona Isabella

      Gieryn, T. F. (1983) Boundary-work and the                (Università di Cagliari)
         demarcation of science from non-science -
         strains and interests in professional
         ideologies of scientists, in “American         Telecommunications are conside-
         Sociological Review”, 48 (6) pp. 781-795.   red as the most representative infras-
      Gómez-Soriano, R., Vianna, B. (2008)           tructure of contemporary society:
         Demasiado mono: Versiones occidentales      they play in fact a crucial role not
         de los grandes simios, in T., Sánchez
         Criado     (ed),    “Tecnogénesis.     La
                                                     only in our economic system, which
         construcción de las ecologías humanas”      is characterized by an intense and
         Madrid, AIBR, pp.173-229.                   continuous exchange of material and
      Latour, B. (2008) Llamada a revisión de la     immaterial goods, but also in cultural
         modernidad. Aproximaciones antropológi-
                                                     activities and interpersonal relation-
         cas, in T., Sánchez Criado (ed),
         “Tecnogénesis. La construcción de las       ships. Even if the word tele-
         ecologías humanas” Madrid, AIBR, pp.        communication can refer to a wide
         167-192.                                    range of different activities that can
      Sánchez Criado T., (2008) Presentación de la   be dated back to the first attempts to
         obra in T., Sánchez Criado (ed),
                                                     transmit information over significant
