Contested Knowledge Science, Media, and Democracy in Kerala

Science communication, once the exclusive preserve of a scientific elite, has not been immune to the growing influence of mass media over society. As mass media becomes the most prominent site of public deliberation over science, multiple voices-both expert and non-expert-have begun to emerge, rewriting the social contract of science. In the new millennium, the Indian state of Kerala saw a number of scientific controversies being discussed in the regional newspapers. Set against the backdrop of case studies of three major public controversies, Contested Knowledge explores how these mediated disputes brought the otherwise hidden dynamics of scientific knowledge production into full public view. It examines critical questions about 'medialized science', such as: What is a scientific-citizenry? How did a 'scientific public sphere' develop in Kerala? How does public contestation of knowledge contribute to deliberative democracy by re-instilling politics into science? Are there limits to such a democratization of science? A fascinating commentary on the relation between science and society, this volume is a pioneering work that analyses the science-media-public interaction in a non-Western context.

Shiju Sam Varughese is Assistant Professor, Centre for Studies in Science, Technology and Innovation Policy, School of Social Sciences, Central University of Gujarat, Gandhinagar, India. His research is in the field of Science, Technology, and Society (STS) Studies. He is particularly interested in media and science communication, public engagement with science and technology, social history of knowledge, cultural studies of science and technology, and regional modernities in South Asia. He has edited (with Satheese Chandra Bose) Kerala Modernity: Ideas, Spaces and Practices in Transition (2015).