Studying long-term storage as material visions of the future

Abstract

Long-term storage is a phenomenon that has not been theoretically defined and systematically studied. We argue that long-term storage can be construed as an object of investigation that covers a range of instantiations which can be empirically examined. Study of long-term storage with perspectives based in science and technology studies (STS) can provide new knowledge about visions of the future prevalent in contemporary Western societies. To outline this research object, we deploy four concepts: infrastructure, anticipation, transmissibility and social commitment. Investigation of this topic will reveal explicit and implicit visions of the future; illuminate material manifestation of societies’ hopes and fears about the future and enable critical scrutiny of how long-term storage also shapes the future through material and cultural obduracy. This approach, anchored in STS, makes it possible to move beyond the study of representations of the future and look also at material structures.