Abstract

PEREZ-BUSTOS, Tania. Embodying a Caring Science: An Ethnographic Analysis of the Communicative Practices of a Colombian Trans-Woman Scientist in the Media. univ.humanist. [online]. 2016, n.82, pp.429-459. ISSN 0120-4807.  https://doi.org/10.11144/Javeriana.uh82.ecse.

This paper analyzes the communicative practices of a Colombian trans-woman scientist, biologist Brigitte Baptiste, when she speaks publicly about environmental issues on different media platforms. In the analysis, I explore the implications of Baptiste's public presence for the imaginaries of readers and journalists regarding science, scientists, and trans-people in Colombia. Leaning on certain feminist critiques of science, I analyze communicative practices as matters of care. Throughout the analysis, I find that care in Baptiste's public presence is performed through the ways in which she connects biodiversity and sexual diversity, thinking with trans-women's experiences to transgress the borders of science and connect it to activism and public service. I conclude that Baptiste's public presence in Colombia is an exceptional example of gender diversity acceptance in the present, though it does represent a speculative commitment towards embracing diversity in general in the future.

Keywords : matters of care; public communication of science; diversity; trans-women scientists; Colombia.

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