Abstract

SPIVAK L' HOSTE, Ana. "Gato encerrado" or "confidencialidad comercial": a secret problem regards the sale of a nuclear reactor. Intersecciones antropol. [online]. 2006, n.7, pp.349-360. ISSN 1850-373X.

This paper deals with one of the many aspects of a science and technology dispute regarding the sale of a nuclear reactor designed by an Argentinean company, INVAP, to Australia in 2000. The analysis is mainly centered on one of the most relevant axis of the conflict: the problem of the secret that passes through a commercial operation. The objective of the article is, on the one hand, to explore some of the social, historical and symbolic dimensions related to the narratives that shaped the dispute through an analysis of the local categories that articulate the secret's problem ("gato encerrado" and "secreto comercial") and to show through this analysis how the process of constructing meanings is also a process of constructing social collectives (Hecht 1996). On the other hand, the aim of this paper is to reveal some of the possibilities that the ethnographic method offers for the study of this kind of dispute related to research, development, and production in the field of science and technology, isolating perspectives which could be of great help in deepening understanding of such topics.

Keywords : Dispute; Secret; Science; Technology; Ethnography.

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