Positioning in the Laboratory

This paper explores possibilities for using recent formulations of social positioning theory to interpret relationship dynamics in a biomedical engineering laboratory. As a linguistic phenomenon, positioning is most commonly analyzed in person to person or group to group interactions (or person to group). We here extend analysis of positioning to include person to object or person to artifact relations in the laboratory, examining effects of this positioning on the learning trajectory and identity formation of a novice researcher. We construe a dynamic ‘dialogic’ tension between researcher and artifact and view this as necessary for understanding the complex web of cognitive and social practices by which research proceeds. This tension is tied to the recalcitrance of material objects as this serves to constrain and structure research practice. The case material supporting our extended conception of positioning is drawn from a wide-scale, multi-year investigation of cognitive and learning practices in two interdisciplinary learning cultures (biomedical engineering laboratories), for which Nersessian and Newstetter are principal investigators. In the case discussed here, a dynamic shift occurs by which the unexpected death of cells begins to position the researcher, with important implications for his learning and career path. We analyze the rights and duties transformed for the researcher with this shift in position. In addition to the case analysis we describe our understanding of a laboratory as an evolving distributed cognitive system and discuss our broader project of using ethnographic and cognitive-historical analysis to articulate numerous dimensions of laboratory practice. Thus a more general aim of our paper is to illustrate how ethnographic observations and interpretive analysis of interviews with practicing scientists might contribute to the developing field of psychology of science.