[Reader-list] New book on Science, Media, and democracy

[Shiju Sam Varughese]

*CONTESTED KNOWLEDGE: Science, Media, and Democracy in Kerala*

Shiju Sam Varughese

Oxford University Press, New Delhi (2017)

Dear Friends,

I am glad to announce the publication of my new book on science and media.
This work challenges the general perception that mass media fails to
communicate scientific studies and research to the general public. 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.

Through detailed case studies of journalistic presentation of science news
in regional newspapers in Kerala (that includes public debates on
earthquakes, Mullaperiyar dam, well-collapses, coloured rain, and the
controversial clinical trials at the Regional Cancer Centre (RCC),
Thiruvananthapuram), the book demonstrates that mass media has a rather
complex relationship with science in contemporary democracies. The social
dynamics of their mutual resonance and its impact on public engagement with
science is the key emphasis of the book.


Since the 1990s, the Indian state of Kerala has been witnessing a large
number of scientific controversies being discussed in the regional
newspapers. Set against the backdrop of these public controversies, *Contested
Knowledge* explores how these mediated disputes brought the otherwise
hidden dynamics of scientific knowledge production into full public view.
The book contends that this new mode of public engagement with science
radically differs from its earlier form nurtured by the Kerala Sasthra
Sahithya Parishad (KSSP), the largest people’s science movement in India.
It explores 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 deliberative
democracy by re-instilling politics into science? What is the role of
‘experts’ in this new phase of public engagement with science? Are there
limits to such a democratization of science? Who are excluded from this
process? What are its implications for democratization itself?


I hope this book that examines the dynamics of science–media–public
interaction and its centrality in shaping the political culture and
democratization process in Kerala might be of your interest. I am sure that
social scientists, journalists, scientists, activists, and all those who
are generally interested in the relationship between science and society
will find this book useful.

The book is available at major book shops and online book stores.


For more details:

https://india.oup.com/product/contested-knowledge-9780199469123?


link to infibeam.com which gives 24% discount on the book;

https://www.infibeam.com/Books/contested-knowledge-shiju-sam-varughese/9780199469123.html#variantId=P-M-B-9780199469123



Thanks!
With warm regards,
shiju
-- 
Dr Shiju Sam Varughese
Assistant Professor,
Centre for Studies and Research in Science, Technology and Innovation
Policy,
School of Social Sciences,
Central University of Gujarat,
Sector 29, Gandhinagar,
India-382030
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*Click here for more information
<http://ucentralgujaratgandhinagar.academia.edu/shijusamvarughese>*