Volume 5
Special Issue-Inquiring into Technoscience in India

Peopling Technoscience: Locating the Sciences and Publics of Air Pollution in Delhi

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  • Rohit Negi
    ,
  • Prerna Srigyan
Rohit Negi
School of Global Affairs, Ambedkar University Delhi, Shivaji Marg, Karampura, Delhi 110015
Prerna Srigyan
School of Global Affairs, Ambedkar University Delhi, Shivaji Marg, Karampura, Delhi 110015

Published 2023-09-03

Keywords

  • Air Pollution,
  • Technoscience,
  • Delhi,
  • Urban Political Ecology,
  • Science and Technology Studies

How to Cite

Negi, R., & Srigyan, P. (2023). Peopling Technoscience: Locating the Sciences and Publics of Air Pollution in Delhi. DIALOGUE: Science, Scientists and Society, 5, 1–22. Retrieved from https://dialogue.ias.ac.in/index.php/dialogue/article/view/57

Abstract

Delhi’s toxic air, especially in the last decade, has invited a technoscientific scramble to understand, interpret, and provide fixes. The process takes place at a particular historical conjuncture marked by heightened scientism, the dominance of the market, and the splintering of scientific knowledge and practices. Technoscientific interest in air is then varied, and produces competing perspectives and policy interventions, further complicated by the state’s persistent denialism on the one hand, and a push towards a national scientific project on the other. Yet, the issue is framed in a manner that papers over tensions and sutures within the technosciences, and privileges analysis and action that are abstracted from the lived experiences of the urban majority. In this article, we trace the emergence of the technosciences of air in Delhi and locate ‘the people’ in it, before moving to a more localised and situated understanding of air to argue that residents know air pollution in ways that differ from the technosciences, but are critical to appreciate and engage with, if alliances and effective actions are to be forged. We point towards greater emphasis on health to bring together technoscientific and popular praxis around air pollution.

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