The Making of Scientific Knowledge - (Science Studies) by Jana Thierfelder (Paperback)

About the Book

A behind-the-scenes look at field biology, revealing how notes, tools, and bodies shape science - beyond data, into lived human practice.

Book Synopsis

What does really happen between the moment when a scientist is observing a bird in the wild and publishing a scientific chart? Jana Thierfelder reveals the hidden life of field science through the 30-year archive of biologist Michael Griesser's work with Siberian jays in Sweden. Blending design, anthropology, and science studies, it uncovers the sketches, notes, tools, and sensory practices behind scientific knowledge. By tracing how scientific observation becomes publication, it shows that science is not just objective output - but lived, embodied, and relational work. It is about the people, places, and processes that shape knowledge. A call for more open, transdisciplinary approaches to how we understand and share science.

Review Quotes

»The author experimentally and critically combines analyses from the social and the natural scienes with those from art and design, and almost casually develops new, innovative concepts. What might sound like a rather messy setup turns out to be a highly productive, >situatedearthboundThe Making of Scientific Knowledge is written so clearly and beautifully that it reads like a >science non-fiction novel-- "Prof. Michaela Schäuble, Ethnographic Mediaspace Bern, Switzerland"

»Studying animals in their natural habitats, as I do, requires in-depth knowledge of both the species and the environment they live in. While scientists often focus on the outcomes of their research, less attention is given to the process of fieldwork itself, what it involves, what it does to the researcher, and what it reveals. Being observed during fieldwork by a social anthropologist was, and continues to be, an insightful experience. It shifted my attention to the often overlooked aspects of field science, those subtle and often invisible factors that shape our practices and strengthen our bond with the natural world.«-- "Michael Griesser, Universität Konstanz, Germany / Luondu Boreal Research Station, Sweden"

»This book is an eye-opening exploration of the hidden realities behind scientific work in the wild. As a field biologist, I found it deeply resonant - finally, someone has captured the emotional, messy, and often invisible labour that underlies the data we so neatly publish. This powerful work gives voice to the unseen ways of being and the mental shift that often occurs while conducting research in the wild. It reminds us that behind every data point lies a story - and that honouring those stories can transform not just how we do science, but why we do it.«-- "Miya Warrington, Oxford Brookes University, Great Britain / Luondu Boreal Research Station, Sweden"

About the Author

Jana Thierfelder, born in 1987, is a designer and anthropologist whose work bridges the arts and sciences. She has taught in the fields of ethnography, Science and Technology Studies (STS) and New Materialisms at Zürcher Hochschule der Künste and Universität Bern. She has also coordinated several interdisciplinary projects that foster dialogue and collaboration between artistic and scientific communities. Her research draws on feminist and anthropological approaches to STS, with a focus on the sensory, bodily, material and institutional conditions under which knowledge is produced in the (natural) sciences.