What Gets Lost in Translation? Epistemic Tensions between Translation and Diffusion in Practice-Oriented Scholarship.

This paper proposes a feminist-informed metascience theory to explain the interconnected processes of idea creation, translation, and diffusion. Drawing on feminist critiques of science centered on perspective, power, and praxis, we develop a creation–diffusion model that jointly examines how ideas...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Publicado en:Gender & Society Vol. 40; no. 4; pp. 535 - 568
Autores principales: Lauterwasser, Steven, Nelson, Laura K., Gold, Jessica R., Gates, Alexander J., Zippel, Kathrin
Formato: Artículo
Publicado: Sage Publications Inc. Aug2026
Materias:
Acceso en línea:Ver este registro en EBSCOhost
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      dt: Aug2026
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      pub: Sage Publications Inc.
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        atl: What Gets Lost in Translation? Epistemic Tensions between Translation and Diffusion in Practice-Oriented Scholarship.
      aug:
        au:
          Lauterwasser, Steven
          Nelson, Laura K.
          Gold, Jessica R.
          Gates, Alexander J.
          Zippel, Kathrin
        affil:
          Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
          The University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
          University of Virginia, Charlottesville, USA
          Freie Universität Berlin, Germany
      su:
        Feminist theory
        Theory of knowledge
        Power (Social sciences)
        Translating & interpreting
        Gender inequality
        Epistemics
        Diffusion measurements
        Interdisciplinary research
      sug:
        subj:
          Feminist theory
          Theory of knowledge
          Power (Social sciences)
          Translating & interpreting
          Gender inequality
          Translation and Interpretation Services
          Epistemics
          Diffusion measurements
          Interdisciplinary research
      keyword:
        Concept Mover's Distance
        feminist theory
        idea diffusion
        metascience
        power
        praxis
        science of science
        translational research
        word embeddings
        Concept Mover's Distance
        feminist theory
        idea diffusion
        metascience
        power
        praxis
        science of science
        translational research
        word embeddings
      ab: This paper proposes a feminist-informed metascience theory to explain the interconnected processes of idea creation, translation, and diffusion. Drawing on feminist critiques of science centered on perspective, power, and praxis, we develop a creation–diffusion model that jointly examines how ideas are created and then how the content of ideas influences their spread across academic fields. Using a nationally funded gender equity program as a case of a practice-oriented knowledge-production community, we analyze how gender equity research concepts were translated and diffused through the program-funded publications. We operationalize substantive engagement with gender equity research using word embeddings and Concept Mover's Distance. Then, with additional contextual variables, we measure (1) the predictors of this engagement (ideas) and (2) the impact of engagement on citation counts and citation interdisciplinarity (the diffusion process) across social science and STEM fields. Our findings show that, in addition to context, the content of the idea matters for diffusion: Engagement with critical dimensions of gender equity research, such as feminism and structural concepts, diffused less often, whereas other dimensions, such as gender and methods, achieved broader uptake. Our empirical findings highlight the role of perspectives and epistemic power in shaping both knowledge production and diffusion. Our theoretical framework and methods demonstrate how metascience can incorporate feminist theory directly into diffusion studies, and why it should.
      pubtype: Academic Journal
      doctype: Article
      src: R
    language: English
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