The socio-technical network of a high-school chemistry laboratory under the Latourian perspective

Abstract

This work aims to describe the socio-technical network of a Chemistry laboratory in the school “Professora Maria do Rosário Castaldi”, a State Center for Professional Education in the city of Londrina, Brazil, taking the translation theories proposed by Bruno Latour as motivation. The observation data were either recorded in audio or written in a diary, following the laboratory studies perspectives, particularly those of the Actor-Network Theory. According to these perspectives, the laboratory can be understood as an imbricate network composed of several elements, instances, interests, partnerships, procedures and knowledge, all of which produced by human and non-human entities that constitute the objects and meanings known to us as sciences or scientific practices. In addition, the concept of translation—a key concept of this theoretical body—helped to understand the heterogeneous set of elements mobilized by its actors with the aim of making the laboratory a recognized and consolidated organization. The observation and description of the material indicate how the network makes the analyzed laboratory something that is both completely dependent on and producer of the network in which it operates. Namely, the manner such process of materialization of the laboratory is dependent on a number of associations, negotiations, strategies, and alignments performed by human and non-human actors, linking the largest number of elements in order to make the construction of this space possible. The discussion allowed one to conclude that its permanence and success are not guaranteed, given that the whole process of collective action is always about to break or fall apart at any point.