This project seeks to bring together scholars from a range of disciplines, from anthropology to engineering, economics and earth sciences, to ask what we really mean when we talk about optimisation and to explore the possible unwelcome effects of optimising.
Principal Investigator:
Dr Michael Crawley, Anthropologymichael.p.crawley@durham.ac.uk
Term:
tbc
Optimisation is widely viewed as beneficial, from personal self-tracking to economic and climate policy. However, its meaning, assumptions, and trade-offs are rarely examined across disciplines. This project explores what is overlooked when optimising specific outcomes and investigates how optimisation at different scales—from individuals to societies—interacts and shapes decisions.
Optimisation is an assumed good across multiple scales and disciplines. We use self-tracking devices to optimise everything from our exercise routines to our calorie intakes and sleep cycles, whilst economists and climate scientists work with models to optimise the effectiveness of policies and interventions. Yet what we really mean when we talk about optimisation, and what is left out when we seek to optimise specific aspects of our lives, economies, environments and politics is rarely interrogated across disciplines. Similarly, the interactions between scales of optimisation (the individual versus the group, the regional versus the national etc) are rarely mapped in detail. This project therefore seeks to bring together scholars from a range of disciplines, from anthropology to engineering, economics and earth sciences, to ask what we really mean when we talk about optimisation and to explore the possible unwelcome effects of optimising.
The aim of this IAS RDP is to facilitate interdisciplinary conversations on the meanings of optimisation, and to build towards a funding bid.
The first element of the project involves bringing together academics in Durham working on optimisation across different disciplines, along with Marianne Lien from the University of Oslo. The aim is to determine whether the same assumptions about optimisation are made across different disciplines, and to determine what can be learnt by considering optimisation across various scales and from multiple angles. Amongst the questions asked will be what is left out when we seek to optimise specific aspects of our lives, economies, environments and politics. This question is rarely interrogated across disciplines, and doing so will open up new perspectives and create new inter-disciplinary synergies. Similarly, the interactions between scales of optimisation (the individual versus the group, the regional versus the national etc) are rarely mapped in detail. The workshop aim is to work towards a final session where people agree on several key points. These will be written up in the form of an article for The Conversation on the meanings of Optimisation. The second element of the project consists of scoping work for a work package on optimisation in health and fitness. This will be led by Dr Crawley, with the aim of developing a larger project on optimisation for a funding body. This will involve network development with a range of start-ups aiming to combine embodied technology with new research on interoception. This project sits at the intersection of two research groups within the Department of Anthropology (social anthropology and anthropology of health). The Anthropology Department is also building momentum as a hub for the anthropology of sport and physical activity, to which this project will contribute.
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