The summer term 2023 was a contemplating one for the Kitchen. Among the many tasks and projects that we find ourselves occupied with, we hardly found time for (digital) Kitchen meetings. And yet, the sessions that took place (27th April and 8th June) were necessary to gain a new perspective on the organisation of the Kitchen.
Our first meeting in April made clear that the Kitchen STS needs a non-digital place and face-to-face encounters. However, since not all of us are located in Frankfurt and some appreciate the possibility to join the sessions from where they are, the Kitchen needs a hybrid format. Also, discussing selected literature felt like an additional task and we lost focus on the many exciting projects from STSers in Frankfurt. So let’s discuss more of what is going on here!
In our second session in June we invited everyone to present bits and pieces of their current project. Juliana (Lancaster) talked about her PhD on cybersecurity, Johannes (Frankfurt) about open educational resources, Tessa (Frankfurt) about her thesis on food savers, Carly (Frankfurt) about wetland creation and restoration, Vera (Frankfurt) about biocyborgs and painkillers, and Markus (Frankfurt) about national parks. The open format made it easier for everyone to join the lively exchange of ideas, associations, and literature for further reading.
As the “third session” (13th July) we invited to join the LaSST lecture given by one of the brightest minds in STS: Lucy Suchman. Her talk on “Demilitarisation, open worlds, and reparative futures” was timely, inspiring, and left us with enough intellectual stuff to chew on for the the upcoming Kitchen STS sessions.