Knowledges in Publics

Book excerpt: This book presents a series of cutting edge research studies in the field of public understanding of science, with particular focus on aspects of informal science education. In addition to providing up-to-date overviews of current thinking about how best to conceptualise the field, it offers a range of primary research studies examining informal public venues of science and mediations of scientific knowledge and representation. With contributions from some leading international researchers, the book provides discussions and case studies addressing the USA, UK and Europe, Africa and India, offering insight and assessment of key issues on a global footing. Challenging extant notions of science-public relations in terms of deficiency, engagement and knowledge transfer, the book taken as a whole argues for approaches that take seriously the multiplicity of publics and that recognise the centrality of social relations and social contexts to forms of knowledge and ways of knowing.