Verhandlungen der mechanischen Maschine

Geschlecht in den Grenzziehungen zwischen Natur und Technik

Abstract

The paper focuses on professional knowledge in modern engineering from a science studies and a gender studies perspective. Negotiations of the mechanical machine in engineering discourse are analyzed as constantly interwoven with professional politics of the field and with gendered knowledge about the engineer. Based on a detailed analysis of debates about the mechanical machine, where the boundary between technology and nature was discussed controversially and a hybrid version of the machine was suggested, it is argued that there are two concepts of masculinity negotiated too: firstly, the ‘rational man’ who is considered gender neutral and, secondly, the ‘man of action’ legitimized by a naturally productive masculinity. Both are co-produced with the machine as being hybrid or as being an object well-separated from nature. Thus it is suggested to do more research on the cyborgs of modernity in relation to engineering knowledge.