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Paper short abstract

We introduce a relational account of substances as a complementary perspective to the study of materiality in late industrialism. Drawing on arsenic compounds and substances in sustainable construction as examples, we reflect on the analytical implications and methodological choices this entails.

Paper long abstract

In STS, materiality is very often treated either in the form of shaped objects or as vital elements capable of agency. In addition, perspectives from multi-species ethnographies or feminist approaches in STS emphasise hybridity between living and non-living matter. It seems as if materiality has been sufficiently conceptualised and researched. In this presentation, we suggest an ‘add-on’ to these conceptualisations by focusing on the material residues of chemical research and design in late industrialism.

The industrial-scale production and global circulation of (consumer) goods, raw materials, and waste has produced an almost unmanageable number of chemical substances existing in the world. No data is available on the effects of many of these substances, and their sheer amount creates complex system dynamics that cannot (any longer) be fully grasped by knowledge practices.

Scientific and regulatory practices that take substances as stable, isolated entities, are an inherent part of creating these complex dynamics that shape human biology and ecosystems deeply and irreversibly. Therefore, developing processual, relational accounts of substances seems both consequential, and a way to generate much needed change towards more sustainable and responsible futures.

Based on our own research projects on chemical villains (arsenic compounds) and potential heroes (substances in sustainable construction practices), we propose to take substantial transformations as vantage point for ethnographic research for such an endeavour, and spell out the methodological and analytical implications such a turn to the molecular level and these transformations entails.