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CASTAC
@castac.bsky.social
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Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing, part of the GAD of the American Anthropological Association | castac.org | Managed by @nataliaorrego.bsky.social
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CASTAC @castac.bsky.social · 10d
Are you ready for the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting? We sure are! Join us for the CASTAC Business Meeting to review our achievements during 2025 and our plans for 2026. Details below ⬇️
castac.bsky.social
Many in China are buying residential apartments not to live in, but to store relatives’ ashes. In this thought-provoking piece, Xinyi Wu explores how “bone ash apartments” intersect with housing policy, real estate, shifting beliefs, and urban life.

blog.castac.org/2025/11/spac...
Space for the Departed: Bone Ash Apartments as an Alternative to Cemeteries in Urban China | Platypus
The Bone Ash Apartments are at a grey zone of policy because turning residential units into burial sites is not allowed. As per the civil affairs official,
blog.castac.org
November 13, 2025 at 4:36 PM
castac.bsky.social
Join us for the CASTAC Book Talk at the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting to discuss the work of the Diana Forsythe Prize-winning authors!

Interested in knowing more about Emily Yates-Doerr and Amy Zhang's books? 👉 castac.org/castac-award...
November 12, 2025 at 9:21 PM
castac.bsky.social
Still hesitant about sending your application to work on our blog? Here are 3 reasons to join Platypus as a contributing editor💡

by Kim Fernandes, Platypus Managing Editor
kimfernandes.com
alt text: image of Kim, a brown-skinned non-binary person starting to smile at the camera. They have long black hair that falls past their left shoulder, and are wearing a black blazer over a white shirt. alt text: image of Kim, a brown-skinned non-binary person starting to smile at the camera. They have long black hair that falls past their left shoulder, and are wearing a black blazer over a white shirt.
November 12, 2025 at 7:05 PM
Reposted by CASTAC
tapuya.org
2️⃣ [Volume 2]

This volume deepens our collective exploration of how science and technology are made, unmade, and remade from Latin America. Across its clusters, Volume 2 expands conversations between ethnography, postcolonial STS, feminist epistemologies, and the politics of knowledge.
November 7, 2025 at 5:14 PM
Reposted by CASTAC
castac.bsky.social
This week on Platypus, what can space selfies tell us about orbit and home?🛰️

Read the essay by Denis Sivkov right here: blog.castac.org/2025/11/spac...

Also available in Russian:
blog.castac.org/multilingual...
Space Selfie: Rethinking Scalarity Between Orbit and Home | Platypus
By attempting a space selfie, ham radio enthusiasts are not expanding their home to the size of the universe, nor are they simply connecting home and places in the outer space. As Dmitry notes in his ...
blog.castac.org
November 6, 2025 at 3:00 PM
castac.bsky.social
We want to meet you!🙌

CASTAC is hosting an informal networking event for current and prospective members. Join us and meet scholars who work at the intersection of STS with anthropology. See you at the @americananthro.bsky.social Annual Meeting🙂
November 10, 2025 at 7:12 PM
Reposted by CASTAC
castac.bsky.social
Are you ready for the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting? We sure are! Join us for the CASTAC Business Meeting to review our achievements during 2025 and our plans for 2026. Details below ⬇️
November 3, 2025 at 2:15 PM
castac.bsky.social
En la cultura andina, las constelaciones se forman observando los espacios entre las estrellas. Martina di Tullio utiliza este ejemplo para contarnos sobre su experiencia haciendo etnografía en Cusi Cusi, un poblado en la Puna de Jujuy, al noroeste de Argentina:

blog.castac.org/multilingual...
Los Que se Alejan de Internet | Platypus
En la cosmovisión andina, las constelaciones no se forman uniendo los puntos de luz de las estrellas, sino a partir de las manchas de oscuridad en el cielo. La más importante es la Yakana, que tiene f...
blog.castac.org
November 7, 2025 at 5:14 PM
castac.bsky.social
Join us for the CASTAC Book Talk at the @americananthro.bsky.social Annual Meeting to discuss the work of the Diana Forsythe Prize-winning authors!

Interested in knowing more about Emily Yates-Doerr and Amy Zhang's books?
👉https://castac.org/castac-awards/diana-forsythe-prize/
November 7, 2025 at 12:03 PM
castac.bsky.social
This week on Platypus, what can space selfies tell us about orbit and home?🛰️

Read the essay by Denis Sivkov right here: blog.castac.org/2025/11/spac...

Also available in Russian:
blog.castac.org/multilingual...
Space Selfie: Rethinking Scalarity Between Orbit and Home | Platypus
By attempting a space selfie, ham radio enthusiasts are not expanding their home to the size of the universe, nor are they simply connecting home and places in the outer space. As Dmitry notes in his ...
blog.castac.org
November 6, 2025 at 3:00 PM
castac.bsky.social
Platypus is hiring! 📣📣📣

The official blog of the Committee for the Anthropology of Science, Technology, and Computing and one of the leading anthropology blogs, invites applications for the positions of Contributing Editor and Multimodal Contributing Editor!

blog.castac.org/call-for-mce...
Image contains orange and black text against a thick black border on a white background, with a platypus (the animal) lying down at the bottom of the border. The text on the flyer reads "Platypus: The CASTAC Blog. Call for Contributing Editors & Multimodal Contributing Editors. Deadline: December 5, 2025. Interested in writing and curating blog posts and other forms of experimental content at the intersections of anthropology & STS? Come join a growing community of scholars as a contributing editor at Platypus, the CASTAC blog. Multilingual scholarship is also welcome! Learn more: blog.castac.org/call-for-mce-ce." Below the text is a QR code that links to the call for contributing editors on the blog. Next to the QR code is the logo, consisting of an orange platypus and the word CASTAC in black.
November 5, 2025 at 6:22 PM
Reposted by CASTAC
castac.bsky.social
We are thrilled to announce that the winner of the 2025 Diana Forsythe Prize is Dr. Emily Yates-Doerr with her book Mal-Nutrition: Maternal Health Science and the Reproduction of Harm (2025, University of California Press)!🏆

Read what our Forsythe committee had to say: castac.org/castac-award...
October 31, 2025 at 6:08 PM
castac.bsky.social
How to balance the researcher’s agenda and needs vs a union’s agenda and needs? Today on Platypus, Isha Bhallamudi and Anushree Gupta introduce a new series: The Politics of Writing About Platform Workers’ Organizing.

Read more here:
blog.castac.org/2025/11/seri...
Series Introduction: The Politics of Writing About Platform Workers’ Organizing | Platypus
We are a group of scholars and researchers who work with gig and platform worker unions in India in various capacities. We form the India chapter of the Labor Tech Research Network collective, and hav...
blog.castac.org
November 4, 2025 at 7:08 PM
castac.bsky.social
Quando a psicanálise encontra a genômica: Rogelio Scott-Insua explora como psicanalistas e geneticistas brasileiros colaboram na Clínica Psicanalítica do Genoma, redefinindo as fronteiras da ciência.

blog.castac.org/multilingual...
Freud Entre os Geneticistas | Platypus
Em vez de se esforçarem para reinscrever sua disciplina no lado “correto” da demarcação científica, os psicanalistas estão criando um terceiro terreno no meio da separação radical entre ciência e não ...
blog.castac.org
November 3, 2025 at 7:09 PM
castac.bsky.social
Are you ready for the American Anthropological Association Annual Meeting? We sure are! Join us for the CASTAC Business Meeting to review our achievements during 2025 and our plans for 2026. Details below ⬇️
November 3, 2025 at 2:15 PM
castac.bsky.social
We are thrilled to announce that the winner of the 2025 Diana Forsythe Prize is Dr. Emily Yates-Doerr with her book Mal-Nutrition: Maternal Health Science and the Reproduction of Harm (2025, University of California Press)!🏆

Read what our Forsythe committee had to say: castac.org/castac-award...
October 31, 2025 at 6:08 PM
castac.bsky.social
In Andean culture, constellations are formed by observing the spaces between the stars. Martina di Tullio uses this example to tell us more about her experience doing ethnographic work in Cusi Cusi, a village in northwestern Argentina.

blog.castac.org/2025/10/the-...
The Ones Who Walk Away from the Internet | Platypus
In the Andean cosmovision, constellations are not formed by connecting the dots of stars, but rather from the spaces of darkness in the night sky. The most important one is the Yakana, shaped like a l...
blog.castac.org
October 31, 2025 at 1:08 PM
castac.bsky.social
En la publicación de hoy, la segunda de la serie RAFeCT, Juliana Vieira examina el histórico caso brasileño de 2016 de trasplante de útero y los debates que suscitó en torno a la ciencia, los cuerpos y la política de la reproducción.

blog.castac.org/multilingual...

#CTS #STS
Trasplante de Útero: ¿Avance Científico o Reflejo de Estereotipos de Género? | Platypus
Al fin y al cabo, ¿hasta qué punto las tecnologías médicas consideradas altamente innovadoras, como el trasplante de útero, no expresan una visión progresista del futuro y, en cambio, refuerzan valore...
blog.castac.org
October 30, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by CASTAC
castac.bsky.social
We are pleased to announce the 2025 Hakken Prize Winner and Honorable Mention!🏆

Congratulations to the winner, Paige Edmiston from the University of Colorado, Boulder and to this year's Honorable Mention, Julien Porquet from the University of Cambridge.

Read more here: castac.org/castac-award...
David Hakken Graduate Student Paper Prize | CASTAC
castac.org
October 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
castac.bsky.social
When psychoanalysis meets genomics: Rogelio Scott-Insua explores how Brazilian psychoanalysts and geneticists collaborate in the Psychoanalytic Clinic of the Genome, redefining science’s borders.

Check it out in this link: blog.castac.org/2025/10/freu...
Freud Among the Geneticists | Platypus
Rather than striving to reinscribe their discipline in the right side of the scientific demarcation, psychoanalysts are creating a tertiary terrain between the radical science/non-science separation. ...
blog.castac.org
October 29, 2025 at 2:53 PM
castac.bsky.social
In today's post, the second in the RAFeCT series, Juliana Vieira examines A historic Brazilian case of uterus transplantation in 2016 and the debates it sparked regarding science, bodies and the politics of reproduction:

blog.castac.org/2025/10/uter...
Uterus Transplantation: A Scientific Advance or the Reflection of Gender Stereotypes? | Platypus
After all, to what extent do highly innovative medical technologies, such as uterus transplantation, cease to express a progressive vision of the future and instead reinforce morally conservative valu...
blog.castac.org
October 28, 2025 at 6:43 PM
Reposted by CASTAC
castac.bsky.social
Are you a patient or a researcher? This week on Platypus, Lyndsey Beutin & Cal Biruk unpack the assumptions behind this binary opposition, drawing on their relationship as research collaborators who are also lovers.

Read ''When Queer Lovers Collaborate'' here: blog.castac.org/2025/10/when...
When Queer Lovers Collaborate: The Rough Edges of Smooth Knowledge in a Diabetes Research Project | Platypus
Our research on a medical condition that only one of us has but both of us live with is an apt site for considering questions of expertise, allocation of credit, and the complexities of embodied knowl...
blog.castac.org
October 23, 2025 at 8:46 PM
castac.bsky.social
We are pleased to announce the 2025 Hakken Prize Winner and Honorable Mention!🏆

Congratulations to the winner, Paige Edmiston from the University of Colorado, Boulder and to this year's Honorable Mention, Julien Porquet from the University of Cambridge.

Read more here: castac.org/castac-award...
David Hakken Graduate Student Paper Prize | CASTAC
castac.org
October 24, 2025 at 2:33 PM
castac.bsky.social
Are you a patient or a researcher? This week on Platypus, Lyndsey Beutin & Cal Biruk unpack the assumptions behind this binary opposition, drawing on their relationship as research collaborators who are also lovers.

Read ''When Queer Lovers Collaborate'' here: blog.castac.org/2025/10/when...
When Queer Lovers Collaborate: The Rough Edges of Smooth Knowledge in a Diabetes Research Project | Platypus
Our research on a medical condition that only one of us has but both of us live with is an apt site for considering questions of expertise, allocation of credit, and the complexities of embodied knowl...
blog.castac.org
October 23, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Reposted by CASTAC
castac.bsky.social
Today, Addison Kerwin shows us how to read Frankenstein as a warning against ecological and social isolation in the rise of agricultural technologies. She examines the paradox of the scientist and the invention, and pushes us to reconsider this classic piece.

blog.castac.org/2025/10/behi...
Behind the Monster: Reading Frankenstein as a Warning Against Isolation, Greed, and Hubris in 21st Century Agritech | Platypus
An analysis of Mary Shelley's allocation of blame in the novel Frankenstein reframes what “franken” signals in the term “franken-food.” Rather than marking genetically modified crops as inherently mon...
blog.castac.org
October 21, 2025 at 1:08 PM