Workshop 18.02.2025, University of Bremen
During the kick-off meeting in February 2025, members had the opportunity to engage with situated writing, guided by Dr. Annika Haas.
Writing is not just writing. In particular, scientific writing is neither neutral nor detached from linguistic norms, text formats, and the quality standards of various publication contexts. These external factors of text production in academic settings already situate one’s writing and research. In 1988, Donna J. Haraway introduced the concept of situated knowledges, emphasizing that situatedness goes beyond these visible markers within the academic field. It also encompasses implicit aspects, such as the unspoken inclusion and exclusion of research topics, perspectives, and knowledge forms. Additionally, one’s own academic trajectory and position within the power structures of academia—shaped by both privileges and barriers—play a crucial role.
The workshop began with an input on situated knowledges and writing practices informed by queer-feminist critiques of science. Through discussions and group work, the participants then developed concrete approaches for forms of situated writing in medical and bioethics. They discussed the role of critical awareness of situatedness in their own research and writing, what room there is for situated writing within highly formalized academic writing conventions and what place it can occupy in medical and bioethics.
About the Speaker:
Dr. Annika Haas is a media scholar. In 2022, she earned her PhD at the Berlin University of the Arts with a dissertation on Hélène Cixous’ philosophy and writing through the body. She is currently a research associate at the DFG Research Training Group Aesthetic Practice at the University of Hildesheim, where she is working on her postdoctoral project Beyond Repair: Artistic Practices in Times of Permacrisis. https://annikahaa-s.com/
Suggested Reading:
Gramlich, Noam, Annika Haas: “Mit und ohne Namen: Warum jedes Schreiben situiert ist.” In: Doing Research. Wissenschaftspraktiken zwischen Positionierung und Suchanfrage, ed. by Sandra Hofhues, Konstanze Schütze, pp. 304–11. Bielefeld: transcript Verlag, 2022. https://doi.org/10.14361/9783839456323-037.