Support H-Net | Buy Books Here | Help Support the NBN and NBN en Español on Patreon | Visit New Books Network en Español!
- African Studies
- African American Studies
- American Politics
- American Studies
- American South
- American West
- Asian American Studies
- Australian and New Zealand Studies
- British Studies
- Canadian Studies
- Caribbean Studies
- Central Asian Studies
- Chinese Studies
- East Asian Studies
- Eastern European Studies
- European Politics
- French Studies
- German Studies
- Iberian Studies
- India Studies
- Indian Ocean World
- Iranian Studies
- Irish Studies
- Israel Studies
- Italian Studies
- Japanese Studies
- Korean Studies
- Latino Studies
- Latin American Studies
- Mexican Studies
- Middle Eastern Studies
- Native American Studies
- Pacific Studies
- Polish Studies
- Russian and Eurasian Studies
- Southeast Asian Studies
- South Asian Studies
- Turkish Studies
- Ukrainian Studies
- Western European Studies
- World Affairs
- Animal Studies
- Anthropology
- Archaeology
- Business, Management, and Marketing
- Media
- Critical Theory
- Disability Studies
- Drugs, Addiction and Recovery
- Education
- Economics
- Finance
- Geography
- Gender Studies
- Genocide Studies
- Higher Education
- Human Rights
- Journalism
- Language
- Law
- LGBTQ+ Studies
- National Security
- Philosophy
- Policing, Incarceration, and Reform
- Political Science
- Politics & Polemics
- Public Policy
- Sex, Sexuality, and Sex Work
- Sociology
- Sound Studies
- Sports
- Urban Studies
- Big Ideas
- Celebration Studies
- Co-Authored
- Cover Story
- Historical Materialism
- History Ex Silo
- Invested Investor
- Landscape Architecture
- Mormonism
- NBN Book of the Day
- NBN Seminar
- Postscript
- Practical History
- Preparing for Life After Grad School
- Psychology and Climate Change
- Interpretive Political and Social Science
Apr 2, 2012
The Lab
Creativity and Culture
Summary
To say that David Edwards's The Lab: Creativity and Culture (Harvard University Press, 2010) is inspiring would be a profound understatement. In a series of concise, focused chapters that range from "Dreams" to "Translational Change," Edwards maps out a program for the artscience laboratory as a space that opens up creativity by fostering dialog across disciplines, materials, cultures, and groups of people. These ambitious ideas are illustrated by clear examples from Edwards's own teaching and research, exploring the potential of the laboratory (broadly defined) as a creative space that maps onto the classroom, the kitchen, the gallery, the storefront, the street. The Lab is a kind of manifesto that builds on Edwards's previous work on the innovative potential of transcending the art-science divide, and urges readers to challenge their ideas of what a laboratory is, has been, and can be. It's a wonderful and thought-provoking book that has wide ramifications for readers interested in Science, Technology, and Society (STS), both in terms of how we conceptualize and communicate our research and how we think of the space of the classroom. I came away from our conversation wanting immediately to set up an artscience lab in Vancouver, and to head to Paris to try some whiffable chocolate.
