Götz Hoeppe

Research and Teaching

My research and teaching focuses on the social study of knowledge (scientific and otherwise), trust, credibility and expertise, on social interaction and on qualitative research methods, in particular ethnography and video ethnography.

My recent research has focused on data as an epistemic, social and material “stuff.” In my forthcoming book How Data Need People I examine how scientific data do not only represent information but are also implicated in social actions and accountabilities. This work is based on my ethnography of astronomers who work in large teams to study galaxy evolution with massive digital datasets. This project has made me curious about how expert communities – scientific and otherwise – negotiate acceptable uses of machine learning and generative artificial intelligence.

Funded by a SSHRC Insight Grant, the ongoing project “Making Sense of Data Reuse in Environmental Science” examines how the materiality of data shapes their uses and reuses. Drawing on an ethnography of research in paleoceanography I trace how scientists use and understand sediment samples from the sea floor as archives of past climate changes and resources for models of future climate change. I currently analyze a corpus of videos that I recorded onboard a ship-bound expedition to Antarctica to examine how various representations and accounting practices are used in retrieving sediment samples collaboratively. See more here: https://uwaterloo.ca/news/arts-research/antarctic-expedition-collects-more-scientific-data

Combining both projects has led me to ponder the challenges of comparing (social and epistemic) practices.

My work with climate researchers has instigated a new collaborative project on processes of innovation and decision-making in the development of nascent technologies for using the ocean to remove carbon dioxide from the Earth’s atmosphere.

Student Supervision

I would be happy to talk with, and supervise, students who are broadly interested in the topics mentioned above and in science and technology studies, environmental sociology, the climate crisis, social interaction, ethnomethodology and video ethnography more generally.

Publications

Books

(2026) – How Data Need People: The Social and Epistemic Practice of a Data-rich Science. Cambridge/New York: Cambridge University Press. https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/how-data-need-people/776A73CBBE3EAA67243A4830514F1F62

2007 - Conversations on the Beach: Fishermen's Knowledge, Metaphor and Environmental Change in South India.  New York/Oxford: Berghahn Books.

2007 - Why the Sky is Blue: Discovering the Color of Life. Princeton/Oxford: Princeton University Press.

• Louis J. Battan Author’s Award, American Meteorological Society (2010)
• Honorable Mention, Atmospheric Science Librarians International Choice Award (2008)
• German edition published in 1999, Korean edition in 2009

Papers in refereed journals and book chapters

(2026) – Marie Stettler Kleine, Marisa Brandt, Götz Hoeppe, Jordan Mursinna, Nassim Parvin, Isaac Record, Rachel Yang: Chapter 4: Studying STEM in the Wild: Demystifying Knowledge Production. In: Marisa Brandt, Shannon N. Conley, Megan Halpern, Nicole Mogul, Elizabeth Reddy, Marie Stettler Kleine, David Tomblin, and Emily York (eds.). An STS Teachbook. Ann Arbor, MI: Lever Press.

2024 – Oliver Esper, Lester Lembke-Jene, Eleni Anagnostou, Marcello Arevalo Gonzalez, Nazanin Asadi, Tarik Bozkuyu, Johanna Brehmer-Moltmann, Katrin Ederer, Götz Hoeppe, Alina Ivanova, Norbert Lensch, Niklas Kubik, Denise Otto, Manuel Ruben, Valea Schumacher, Vivian Marissa Sinnen, Silla Thomsen, Marcus Gutjahr: Marine Geology and Paleoceanography. In: Marcus Gutjahr and Oliver Esper (eds.) The Expedition PS140 of the Research Vessel Polarstern to the Cooperation Sea and Davis Sea, Reports on Polar and Marine Research, vol. 790, pp. 74 – 110. doi:10.57738/BZPM_0790_2024

2023 – Learning from Harold Garfinkel’s Studies of Work in the Sciences (Review Essay) Soziologische Revue 46 (2): 120 – 129. https://doi.org/10.1515/srsr-2023-2023

2021 – “Encoding Collective Knowledge, Instructing Data Reusers: The Collaborative Fixation of a Digital Scientific Data Set.” Computer Supported Cooperative Work. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10606-021-09407-2

2020 – “Members Doing Ethnography? On Some Uses of Irony and Failed Translation, Witnessed in an Episode of Data Sharing in Open Science.”Ethnographic Studies 17: 1 – 21. https://zenodo.org/record/4050531#.YNoQp-hKjIU

2020 – “Sharing Data, Repairing Practices: On the Reflexivity of Astronomical Data Journeys.” In: Sabina Leonelli and Niccoló Tempini (eds.) Data Journeys in the Sciences. Chur: Springer, pp. 171 – 190. https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-030-37177-7_9

2020 – “A Sky to Work With: Astronomers, Media, Infrastructures.” Roadsides 3: 15-22 (Issue ‘Infrastructure on/off Earth’) https://roadsides.net/hoeppe-003/ 

2019 – “Medium, Calculation, Play: On Digital Images in Scientific Practice.” Social Studies of Science 49 (5): 758 - 784. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/0306312719871356

2019 – “Mediating Environments and Objects as Knowledge Infrastructure.” Computer Supported Cooperative Work 28 (1-2): 25-59. https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10606-018-9342-0

2018 – “Practical Cosmologies.” Ethnologies 40 (2): 75-92. https://www.erudit.org/en/journals/ethno/2018-v40-n2-ethno04329/1056384ar/

2018 – “Tensions of Accountability: Scientists, Technicians and the Ethical Life of Data Production in Astronomy.” Science as Culture 27 (4): 488-512.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09505431.2018.1510909

2016 – “An Instructive Return to Laboratory Ethnography.” Symbolic Interaction 39 (1): 158 - 161. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1002/symb.199

2015 – “Representing Representation (Review Essay).” Science, Technology & Human Values 40 (6): 1077 – 1092. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0162243915594025

2014 – “Working Data Together: The Accountability and Reflexivity of Digital Astronomical Practice.” Social Studies of Science 44 (2): 243 - 270. https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0306312713509705

• 2017 Melvin Pollner Prize in Ethnomethodology, Ethnomethodology and Conversation Analysis Section, American Sociological Association

2012 – “Astronomers at the Observatory: Place, Visual Practice, Traces.” Anthropological Quarterly 85 (4): 1141-1160. https://muse.jhu.edu/article/488895

2012 – “Geschichte der Astronomie.” In: Hans-Heinrich Voigt/Hermann-Josef Röser/Werner Tscharnuter (Eds.) Abriss der Astronomie. Weinheim: Wiley/VCH, p. 1063 – 1093.

2011 – “Extended Vision: Finding Fish Like South Indian Fishermen.” In: Marie-Claude Mahias (Ed.), Construire les savoirs dans l'action: Apprentissages et enjeux sociaux en Asie du sud, Purusharta, vol. 29, Paris: Editions de la Maison des Sciences de l’Homme, p. 205 – 235. http://editions.ehess.fr/ouvrages/ouvrage/savoirs-et-savoir-faire-en-asie-du-sud/

2011 – “Atmospheric Ozone and Colors of the Antarctic Twilight Sky.” Applied Optics 50 (28): F161 – 171. (with Raymond L. Lee and Wolfgang Meyer) https://opg.optica.org/ao/abstract.cfm?uri=ao-50-28-F162

2009 – “Appropriating "Science" and "Relatedness": Environmental Conflict and Environmental Knowledge in the Fishery of Kerala (South India).” In: Kato, Tsuyoshi / Uyar, Aysun (Eds.), The Question of Poverty in Conflict and Conflict Resolution, Kyoto: Ryukoku University, p. 39 – 52.

2008 – “Knowing the Sea in the "Time of Progress": Environmental Change, Parallel Knowledges and the Uses of Metaphor in Kerala (South India).” In: Casimir, M. (Ed.), Culture and the Changing Environment: Uncertainty, Cognition and Risk Management in Cross-Cultural Perspective, Oxford/New York: Berghahn Books, p. 301 – 324.

2006 – "Knowledge Against the State: Local Perceptions of Government Interventions in the Fishery (Kerala, India)." In: Cederlöf, Gunnel/Sivaramakrishnan, K. (Eds.), Ecological Nationalisms: Nature, Livelihoods, and Identities in South Asia, New Delhi: Permanent Black/Seattle: University of Washington Press, p. 233 – 254.

2005 – “Sky.” In: Bron Taylor and Jeff Kaplan (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Religion and Nature, London/New York: Thoemmes Continuum Press, p. 1554 – 1556.

2004 – “What happened to the chaakara? The Formation of Coastal Mud Banks and the Reformation of Local Environmental Knowledge in Kerala (South India).” In: Dilger, Hansjörg/Volker-Saad, Kerstin/Wolf, Angelika (Eds.), Moderne und postkoloniale Transformation: Ethnologische Schrift zum 60. Geburtstag von Ute Luig, Berlin: Weißensee-Verlag, p. 242 – 257.

2004 – “Die Wanderung der Sardinen: Lokales Umweltwissen und Kolonialismus in Indien.” Historische Anthropologie, 12 (3): 397 – 414.

2003 – “The work of fishing and the moral constitution of space in Kerala (South India).” Proceedings of the conference “People and the Sea II”, publication on CD-ROM, Amsterdam.

2003 – “Blaue Luft? Die Geschichte einer „falschen“ Idee.” In: Busch, Bernd (Ed.), “Luft,” Cologne: Wienand, p. 97 – 110.

2002 – “An den Rand gedrängt? Die wechselhafte Rolle des Menschen im astronomischen Weltbild der Moderne.” In: Natur in der Moderne: Interdisziplinäre Ansichten, Eds. Ute Luig/Hans-Dietrich Schultz, Berliner Geographische Schriften, Vol. 93, Berlin: Humboldt-Universität, p. 23 – 38.

2002 – “Von den realen Problemen einer imaginären Person: Über die Beziehung zwischen Feldforschern und lokalen Mitarbeitern.” In: Dilger, Hansjörg/Guzy, Lidia/Sieveking, Nadine (Eds.), Vielstimmigkeit als Konzept: Beiträge zur Theorie und Praxis der ethnologischen Forschung, Sozialanthropologische Arbeitspapiere, Nr. 93, Berlin: Verlag Hans Schiler, p. 39 - 45.

2000 – “When the Shark bites the Stingray: The Night Sky in the Construction of the Manus World.” Anthropos, 95 (1): 23 – 36.

1994 – "Radio-Continuum and Far-Infrared Observations of Low Surface Brightness Galaxies." Astronomical Journal, 108: 446 – 455. (with E. Brinks, U. Klein, C. Giovanardi, D. Altschuler, R.M. Price, H. Deeg)

Popular writings (selection)

2007 - (editor) "Kosmische Ursprünge: Wie Astronomen die Geschichte des Universums enträtseln" ("Cosmic Origins: How Astronomers Unravel the History of the Universe"), Dossier 5/2007, Spektrum der Wissenschaft. (84 pp)

2007 - "'Die Dunkle Energie bedroht die Kultur der astronomischen Forschung': Gespräch mit dem Astrophysiker Simon White." Spektrum der Wissenschaft, 8/2007, p. 56 – 60.

2006 - (editor) "Astronomie vor Galilei" ("Astronomy Before Galilei"), Dossier 4/2006, Spektrum der Wissenschaft. (84 pp) 

2006 - "Kolams: Technologie der Verzauberung." Spezial "Ethnomathematik." Spektrum der Wissenschaft, p. 52 – 59.

2006 - “Biertischtheologie ist nicht die Lösung – Ein Dialog zwischen Hans Küng und Gerhard Börner”, Spektrum der Wissenschaft 4/2006, p. 100-104 (with Reinhard Breuer).

 (Reprinted in Spanish in Investigacion y Ciencia, 6/2006, p. 6-10)

2005 - "Hubble in der Unterwelt: Die Ausstellung „Das halbe Universum“ in München." Sterne und Weltraum, 7/2005, p. 50 – 55.

2004 - "Projekt Epica: Zeitreisen in die Tiefe des Eises." Sterne und Weltraum, 12/2004, p. 34 – 38.

2004 - “'In diesen sechs Zahlen steckt eine neue Physik': Ein Gespräch mit dem Kosmologen David Spergel." Sterne und Weltraum, 11/2004, p. 24 – 31.

2003 - "Himmelslicht: Spiegelbild des Erdklimas." In: Themenheft „Licht + Finsternis“, FUndiert - Das Wissenschaftsmagazin der Freien Universität Berlin, 1/2003, p. 52 – 61.

2001 - "Der schönste aller möglichen Himmel." Natur & Kosmos, 5/2001, p. 32 – 36.

1999 - "Leben mit den Sternen – Die Astronomie der Manus in Papua Neuguinea." Sterne und Weltraum, 12/99, p. 1046 – 1051.

Book reviews (selection)

2019 – “Sareeta Amrute: Encoding Race, Encoding Class: Indian IT Workers in Berlin,” American Ethnologist 46 (1): 124-125.

2013 – “Hélène Mialet: Hawking Incorporated – Stephen Hawking and the Anthropology of the Knowing Subject,” American Ethnologist 40 (3): 600 - 601.

2010 - “Natasha Stacey: Boats to Burn – Bajo Fishing in the Australian Fishing Zone”, Journal of the Royal Anthropological Institute (N.S.), 16 (1): 184 – 185.

2005 - “Francesco Bertola: Via Lattea – Un Percurso Nel Cielo e Nella Storia dell’Uomo”, in: Sterne und Weltraum, 10/2005, p. 98.

2004 - “Albert Einstein: Verehrte An- und Abwesende”, Audio-CD, Sterne und Weltraum, 4/2004, p. 98.

1999 - “Bernard Juillerat: Children of the Blood – Society, Reproduction and Cosmology in New Guinea”, Sociologus, 49, p. 136 – 137.

Contact information: 

Götz Hoeppe