Helen Verran is an Australian

historian A historian is a person who studies and writes about the past and is regarded as an authority on it. Historians are concerned with the continuous, methodical narrative and research of past events as relating to the human species; as well as the ...

and empirical

philosopher of science Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

, primarily working in the Social Studies of Science and Technology (STS), and currently adjunct professor at

Charles Darwin University Charles Darwin University (CDU) is an Australian public university with two campuses in Darwin and six satellite campuses in metropolitan and regional areas of the Northern Territory. It was established in 2003 after the merger of Northern Ter ...

Background

Verran is from

New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states of Australia, east coast of :Australia. It borders Queensland to the north, Victoria (state), Victoria to the south, and South ...

, Australia. She trained as a scientist and teacher in the 1960s (BSc, DipEd,

University of New England University of New England may refer to: * University of New England (Australia), in New South Wales, with about 26,000 students * University of New England (United States), in Biddeford, Maine, with about 6,000 students See also * New England Coll ...

) and has a PhD in metabolic biochemistry (UNE, 1972). She then spent eight years lecturing in science education at

Obafemi Awolowo University Obafemi Awolowo University (OAU) is a federal university in Ile-Ife, Osun State, Nigeria. The university was founded in 1961 and classes commenced in October 1962 as the University of Ife by the regional government of Western Nigeria, which w ...

Ifẹ Ifẹ̀ (, ''Ilé-Ifẹ̀'') is an ancient Yoruba people, Yoruba city in south-western Nigeria founded sometime between the years 1000 BC and 500 BC. By 900, 900 AD, the city had become an important West African emporium producing sophisticate ...

, southwestern Nigeria. In the 1980s she became a lecturer and later associate professor at the

University of Melbourne The University of Melbourne (colloquially known as Melbourne University) is a public university, public research university located in Melbourne, Australia. Founded in 1853, it is Australia's second oldest university and the oldest in the state ...

, working in a unit dedicated to the study of

history and philosophy of science The history and philosophy of science (HPS) is an academic discipline that encompasses the philosophy of science and the history of science. Although many scholars in the field are trained primarily as either historians or as philosophers, there ...

. She retired in 2012. On retiring she became adjunct professor at the Northern Institute,

in Darwin, where she still teaches.

Scholarship

Numbers and Enumerated Entities

Verran's book, '' Science and an African Logic'' (University of Chicago Press, 2001), received the

Ludwik Fleck Prize The Ludwik Fleck Prize is an annual award given for a book in the field of science and technology studies. It was created by the 4S Council (Society for the Social Studies of Science) in 1992 and is named after microbiologist Ludwik Fleck. The pr ...

in 2003. It analyses

counting Counting is the process of determining the number of elements of a finite set of objects; that is, determining the size of a set. The traditional way of counting consists of continually increasing a (mental or spoken) counter by a unit for ever ...

, and its relation to the

ontology Ontology is the philosophical study of existence, being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of realit ...

number A number is a mathematical object used to count, measure, and label. The most basic examples are the natural numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and so forth. Numbers can be represented in language with number words. More universally, individual numbers can ...

s based on her lengthy field observations as a

mathematics Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, Mathematical theory, theories and theorems that are developed and Mathematical proof, proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many ar ...

lecturer and teacher in Nigeria. The book draws on her sudden realisation of the radically different nature of Yoruba counting, and discusses how this realisation grounded her post-relativist theorising. Verran continues to nuance analytics of numbers and numbering as social and material practice (e.g. in the 2018 special issue ''After Numbers? Innovations in Science and Technology Studies’ Analytics of Numbers and Numbering'').

Actor-network theory (ANT)

She contributed to actor-network theory, working with British sociologist

John Law John Law may refer to: Arts and entertainment * John Law (artist) (born 1958), American artist * John Law (comics), comic-book character created by Will Eisner * John Law (film director), Hong Kong film director * John Law (musician) (born 1961) ...

. Specifically, she is credited for contributing with

postcolonial Postcolonialism (also post-colonial theory) is the critical academic study of the cultural, political and economic consequences of colonialism and imperialism, focusing on the impact of human control and extractivism, exploitation of colonized pe ...

studies to nuancing STS. Her work is also seen as part of ANT's

ontological turn Ontology is the philosophical study of being. It is traditionally understood as the subdiscipline of metaphysics focused on the most general features of reality. As one of the most fundamental concepts, being encompasses all of reality and every ...

Post-colonial STS

Her work on

Yolngu The Yolngu or Yolŋu ( or ) are an aggregation of Aboriginal Australian people inhabiting north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia. ''Yolngu'' means "person" in the Yolŋu languages. The terms Murngin, Wulamba, Yalnuma ...

Aboriginal Australians understandings of the world, their use of technology, and their knowledge systems ranges from the 1990s to current engagement. Together with Michael Christie she has theorised digital knowledge technologies. Starting with work on alternative modes of knowing nature management through

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

, Verran's recent work contributed to social studies of

ecosystem services Ecosystem services are the various benefits that humans derive from Ecosystem, ecosystems. The interconnected Biotic_material, living and Abiotic, non-living components of the natural environment offer benefits such as pollination of crops, clean ...

.e.g.

Publications

List of publicationsDownloads at academia.eduprofile and Download at researchgate

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verran, Helen Australian sociologists Australian women sociologists Academic staff of Charles Darwin University Living people Historians of science Actor-network theory Australian philosophers of science University of New England (Australia) alumni Academic staff of Obafemi Awolowo University Academic staff of the University of Melbourne Australian expatriates in Nigeria Year of birth missing (living people) Science and technology studies scholars