Latina/o/e technoscience: Labor, race, and gender in cybernetics and computing

Area of Science:

• History of Science and Technology Studies (STS)
• Cybernetics
• Computing History

Background:

• Traditional cybernetics histories often exclude non-white individuals and women.
• Existing STS literature has silences regarding race and gender in technological development.

Purpose of the Study:

• To rearticulate the history of computing by examining its connections to labor, race, and gender.
• To analyze networked asymmetries, non-essential knowledge, and disposability.
• To propose hemispheric approaches that challenge national boundaries and US imperial influence.

Main Methods:

• Analyzing the role of Arturo Rosenblueth in cybernetics.
• Examining the contributions of Mexican women workers in semiconductor assembly.
• Investigating the intersection of race, gender, and labor in technoscience.

Main Results:

• Identifies networked asymmetries and the concept of disposability in computing.
• Demonstrates how race and gender are integral to the field of STS.
• Reveals the invisible and unaccounted labor of Latina/o/es in cybernetics and computing infrastructure.

Conclusions:

• Recentering marginalized actors redraws the boundaries of STS.
• Hemispheric approaches are crucial for understanding cybernetics beyond US and European centers.
• The study underscores the unacknowledged contributions of Latina/o/es to technoscience.