now being a social scientist

i got a lift in to uni with N. he asked about my research topic, then said it was nice to hear of a topic with a practical element. i don't often consider my work as practical. i guess i've been floating in the realm of philosophy/cultural studies for much of this journey. but now, as i swim in a sea of health research papers, i'm starting to be won over by the potential practical effects of this 'kind' of research. i'm starting to realise that to be cross-disciplinary it doesn't really pay to be anti a particular discipline. especially if that's the discipline that pays me my way. and the one i'm likely to get work in, further down the track.

thanks to bruno latour and his actor-network theory friends i'm now okay about calling myself a social scientist. it only took 2 years, maybe longer, to realise that social science research can combine the creative, the criticial, and the philosophical. it now seems really basic that to challenge something (ie. a discourse of social health practice and research), you have to speak its language. so yes, now i'm traipsing about calling myself a social scientist. whatever that means. and i even feel a bit seduced by the things that i once riled against. which i think is a good thing. no use dismissing something outright. no use ignoring the good things in order to set up an easy argument via some sort of binary.

reading over government strategy documents today i started to realise how dodgy i've been. of course health is important. i don't wish to shout down this kind of thing. i wish to read it, think about it, and see how things might be different. with the same goal, perhaps, of promoting health. though maybe that's a different version of health. health might also mean a self determination or self production or something that might look and sound like autonomy. though i hate that word, and don't really see the merit in bandying it about. who in the world is autonomous or wants to be?

so maybe this is the next hump i need to get over. what is it i'm arguing for. seems easier to know what i'm arguing against.