Revista Estudos Feministas
Print version ISSN 0104-026XOn-line version ISSN 1806-9584
Abstract
FONSECA, Claudia Lee Williams. Children, their Brains… and Beyond: Reflections on a Feminist Ethic of Research. Rev. Estud. Fem. [online]. 2019, vol.27, n.2, e56169. Epub June 01, 2019. ISSN 1806-9584. https://doi.org/10.1590/1806-9584-2019v27n256169.
In interlocution with authors from the field of science studies as well as feminist theories of care, I reflect on the ethical dilemma associated with the participation of social scientists in the multidisciplinary arena of public policy. I build my analysis around an image frequently found in debates on child-protection policy that juxtaposes two infantile brains, one labeled “normal”, and the other, “extreme neglect”. Upon tracing the unorthodox trajectory of this neuroscientific artefact through concrete actors and situations, I propose to reinforce a critical perspective of popularized forms of science that tend to ignore the value judgments implicit in any “scientific fact”. On the other hand, in a self-reflexive exercise, I seek to understand how the researcher’s “caring”, in its diverse manifestations, carries implications for the ethical and political becoming of the worlds under consideration.
Keywords : Feminist research ethics; Care; Child development; Neuroscientific turn.