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Accepted Paper:
Sociological and biomedical encounters in West Africa: science project and its others
Elina Oinas
(University of Helsinki)
Salla Sariola
(University of Helsinki)
Katriina Huttunen
(University of Helsinki)
Paper short abstract:
The paper examines the way Western biomedical and social science staff conducts a science project in West Africa: who encounters whom, why and how? What remains unaccounted for? Hountondji's concept 'externally generated epistemologies' is used to understand the epistemic practices of this project.
Paper long abstract:
The paper examines the way Western biomedical and social science staff conducts a vaccine trial in a village in West Africa. The biomedical and sociological presence in the site of the research could be assumed to differ from each other, yet the study shows that also the social science ethnographical approach has difficulties in engaging with the context. Both disciplinary conducts 'externalize', guided by their disciplinary epistemic habits, and at best, invest in self-recognition (Fanon 1967, 211) rather than an encounter with the context of the research project. Interestingly, the non-human companions are taken with seriousness, yet the African human engagements are recognized with difficulty. The paper discusses Paulin Hountondji's concept 'externally generated epistemologies' to understand the epistemic practices of this project.