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Since alchemy first challenged the authority of the Church, the relative status of specialized, scientific knowledge and high culture has been hotly contested. For centuries writers, as champions of culture, have retaliated against the claims of science by satirising its practitioners as being either evil, obsessive and possibly mad, or foolish and inept inventors whose experiments continually misfire. Examples of both these groups are discussed in their historical context. Around the end of the twentieth century a new genre designated lab-lit appeared. In this scientists are portrayed not as stereotypes but as ordinary people, pursuing science as they might any other profession within a life context and engaged with the ethical and sociological problems it involves. Reasons for the emergence of lab-lit are considered.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Keywords:	scientist stereotypes, lab-lit, alchemy, knowledge, power
Research Division:	Language, Communication and Culture
Research Group:	Communication and media studies
Research Field:	Communication and media studies not elsewhere classified
Objective Division:	Expanding Knowledge
Objective Group:	Expanding knowledge
Objective Field:	Expanding knowledge in language, communication and culture
UTAS Author:	Haynes, R (Dr Roslynn Haynes)
ID Code:	110194
Year Published:	2015
Deposited By:	School of Humanities
Deposited On:	2016-07-19
Last Modified:	2016-08-23
Downloads:	167 View Download Statistics