Paper short abstract:

I invite the audience to this research facility - were transgenic pigs were held. Through witnessing animal [and human] moments (Philo and Wilbert, 2000) without judgment I hope to engage in a conversation that (b)leads to better hard and soft sciences, human and non-human lives and attitudes.

Paper long abstract:

Michael Lynch (1988) and Lynda Birke et al. (2007) are prominent scholars in STS who have turned attention to the making of a laboratory animal. Their focus was particular in the way that they shifted the focus to relations between caretakers, technicians and animals, during and after the making of scientific facts. They have observed that animals emerge in flesh and disappear as inscriptions, "facts" and dead bodies. This leaves the public, ethicists and critical scholars perplexed. Questions such as, How can one care and not at the same time? or What can we learn from laboratory practices arise. In this talk I will tackle these questions based on a short ethnographic visit to a swine research facility in Guelph, Canada. Here the Enviropigs - transgenic animals destined for human consumption and environmental protection - were based. I invite the audience to this research facility with open eyes, ears and minds. Through witnessing animal [and human] moments (Philo and Wilbert, 2000) without judgment I hope to engage in a conversation that (b)leads to better hard and soft sciences, human and non-human lives and attitudes.