Mapping controversies is a course taught in Science studies

Science studies

Science studies is an interdisciplinary research area that seeks to situate scientific expertise in a broad social, historical, and philosophical context. It is concerned with the history of academic disciplines, the interrelationships between science and society, and the alleged covert purposes...

, stemming from the writings of the French sociologist and philosopher Bruno Latour

Bruno Latour

Bruno Latour is a French sociologist of science and anthropologist and an influential theorist in the field of Science and Technology Studies...

. It focuses exclusively on the controversies surrounding scientific knowledge rather than the established scientific facts or outcomes. Thus, it helps sociologists, anthropologists and other social scientists get insights into the process of gaining knowledge (rather than the knowledge in its final form). It sheds light on those intermediate stages corresponding to the actual research process and pinpoints the connections between scientific work and other types of activities.

History

The term "mapping controversies" was first suggested in relation to analysis of scientific and technological controversies, and then lately re-affirmed as a widely applicable methodological approach going beyond the boundaries of Science Studies. It is usually used for the methodology that identifies and tracks down the polemics or debate surrounding a scientific fact, and utilises various visualisation tools to present the problem in its complexity.

Recently Latour initiated the project "Mapping Controversies on Science for Politics (MACOSPOL)". The showcase website is mappingcontroversies.net

In 2008-2009 several universities in Europe and USA started teaching "Mapping Controversies" courses for students in political sciences, engineering, and architecture.

An earlier attempt to stage controversies in museum settings took place at the Gallery of Research in Vienna in 2005.