Chemists without borders
Résumé
While chemists today work in a variety of professional domains-ranging from medicine and pharmaceutical companies to nuclear technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology-students are taught chemistry as if it were a unified discipline with a specific territory and a common language shared by all chemists. The chemists' imaginary is shaped around the image of a diaspora: a scattered population of former inhabitants of a homeland immersed in foreign countries and yet retaining their cultural identity. This essay suggests an alternative perspective on the basis of four different case studies of engagement of chemists beyond the traditional turf of chemistry: nuclear technology, materials science and engineering, synthetic biology, and nanotechnology. Instead of assuming that there is a predetermined territory of chemistry, it argues that the epistemic profile of chemistry is shaped by the various "terrains" (or fields) where chemists are working. The image of a family tree deeply rooted in soil should be replaced by that of a large and loose rhizome network. Students are taught chemistry as if it were a unified discipline with a specific territory and language shared by all chemists. While chemists today work in a variety of professional domains, ranging from medical and pharmaceutical companies to nuclear technology, biotechnology, and nanotechnology, it is tacitly assumed that they still belong to a chemical community. The chemists' imaginary is shaped around the image of a diaspora: a scattered a Do you prefer not to hyphenate your name? I followed the usage in your biographical footnote and added the hyphen (that's also the way it appeared in your 2016 "Viewpoint" piece), but I will of course conform to your preference here and in the other Focus essays. It's OK with hyphen
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