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A Gathering on the Multiple Ontologies of Steel: A Workshop on Circulation, Knowledge, and Socio-Technical Imaginaries

The workshop titled “Multiple Ontologies of Steel: Circulation, Knowledge and Socio-Technical Imaginaries,” held on 27 November 2025 at the Orient-Institut Istanbul as part of the MediCluster project, created a productive space for rethinking both the production processes of steel and its multi-layered circulations within medical and surgical instrument manufacturing through an STS perspective. The invited expert was researcher Dursun Baş (IPC), whose work focuses on climate policy, carbon transitions, and transformations in the steel sector. His ongoing research is closely aligned with the “Türkiye Çelik Sektörünün Karbonsuzlaştırılması (Decarbonization of Türkiye’s Steel Sector)” project conducted at the Istanbul Policy Center: https://ipc.sabanciuniv.edu/tr/iklimprojeleri.

The workshop aimed to revisit questions that the MediCluster team — Melike Şahinol, Gülşah Başkavak, Ayşe Berna Uçarol and Uğur Kocager — encountered during fieldwork, through the material, political and epistemic dimensions of steel.

A visual poster promoting a workshop on Steel held at the Orient Institute in Istanbul on November 27, 2025.
Workshop flyer “Çeliğin Çoklu Ontolojileri” (MediCluster)

An Introduction to Steel: Material, Process and Geographies

The session opened with a brief presentation by Melike Şahinol, who revisited the project’s central focus. Drawing on conversations that stretch from the embodied know-how of master craftsmen in Samsun to the assessments of materials engineers in Germany, Şahinol outlined several points that stand out across these different perspectives.

Following this, Dursun Baş provided an overview of steel production not only in technical terms but also through its economic and political dimensions. He noted that steel is an alloy of iron and carbon, a “material multiplicity” that functions less as a single substance and more as a structure that can take on numerous combinations. As he put it,

“It is like following a recipe.”

Building on this foundational description, Baş offered a broader assessment of global and Turkish markets, as well as the distinctions between primary and secondary steel production and their implications.

When these insights are considered alongside MediCluster’s field observations, an evident tension emerges: countries with strong secondary production, such as Türkiye and Pakistan, still need to import high-quality stainless steel for the medical and surgical instrument sector.

Samsun, Sialkot, and Tuttlingen: A Transnational Flow of Material and Knowledge

One of the most engaging discussions of the workshop centered on how surgical instrument manufacturers in Samsun access high-quality steel.

Baş responded unequivocally:

“No one in Türkiye produces steel of that grade. Each product group requires different types of stainless steel. Manufacturers must import the material they need.”

This challenge connects directly to one of MediCluster’s key analytical frames: the asymmetric circulations of knowledge, materials, and labor.

Such circulations generate a double invisibility, both material and epistemic. Although Sialkot and Samsun form critical nodes in the global surgical instrument chain, they often remain obscured. Surgeons’ preference for “German-made” instruments reflects networks of trust, prestige, branding and epistemic authority rather than intrinsic material differences.

For this reason, Şahinol introduced the importance of an “oceanic perspective.” In this view, steel is not merely a material. It is a circulating, transforming and trace-bearing entity that gathers different meanings as it moves across geographies.

Socio-Technical Layers of Steel: Knowledge, Power and Effect

Three conceptual themes emerged prominently during the workshop:

    1. Epistemic Asymmetry

The informational history of a surgical instrument is frequently attributed to Germany. In reality, however, the tacit skills of craftsmen in Samsun, the technical labor in Sialkot and numerous local micro-innovations play a decisive role. Yet these contributions are seldom patented, named or formally recognized.

    1. The Invisibility of Micro-Innovations

Field research consistently reveals that companies, skilled artisans and engineers produce many small-scale technical improvements. These do not enter formal documentation systems such as patents or design registries. As a result, the knowledge they generate cannot be traced, which creates an epistemological problem beyond an economic one.

    1. The Multiple Ontologies of Material

Steel assumes different forms of being throughout its production and use:

  • For engineers, it is a technical alloy.
  • For manufacturers, it is a cost element.
  • For craftsmen, it is a material sensed through resistance and texture.
  • For exporters, it is a marker of quality.
  • For surgeons, it is a matter of precision and trust.
  • For patients, it becomes an invisible carrier of healing.

A Research Possibility: Tracing the Journey of Stainless Steel in Türkiye

One of Baş’s suggestions offers a strong starting point for a future collaboration: tracing the stainless-steel chain from its supplier to its arrival in Samsun.

Such a study would align closely with MediCluster’s interest in the socio-technical entanglements of material flows. Following this chain would illuminate not only the movements of material, but also:

  • the structure of trust relations,
  • the actors who define knowledge transfer,
  • the stages at which production becomes visible or hegemonic,
  • and the parts of the chain that are rendered invisible.
The image shows four people sitting around a table. It's an academic study environment. The table is lined with a computer, paper, pens, and various snacks. From left to right, Gülşah Başkavak, Melike Şahinol, Dursun Baş, and Ayşe Berna Uçarol are pictured.
Workshop snapshot “Çeliğin Çoklu Ontolojileri“, Orient-Institut Istanbul. From left to right to left: Gülşah Başkavak, Melike Şahinol, Dursun Baş and Ayşe Berna Uçarol

Rethinking Through Steel

The workshop demonstrated that steel is not simply a technical material. It is a socio-technical entity entangled with imaginaries, which fits squarely within the analytical scope of MediCluster.

This entity exists within circulations that transcend borders, reshape relations of knowledge and power, make epistemic asymmetries legible and link production practices across diverse geographies.

With this session, the analytical arc that MediCluster draws between Samsun, Sialkot, and Tuttlingen gained a deeper layer. Steel emerges not only as a material but also as an interface through which knowledge, labor, power and meaning are redistributed in the global production landscape.

Uğur Kocager
Uğur Kocager

The text only may be used under licence Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial No Derivatives 4.0 International. All other elements (illustrations, imported files) are “All rights reserved”, unless otherwise stated.


OpenEdition suggests that you cite this post as follows:
Uğur Kocager (November 27, 2025). A Gathering on the Multiple Ontologies of Steel: A Workshop on Circulation, Knowledge, and Socio-Technical Imaginaries. Manufacturing Practices of Medical Instruments (MediCluster). Retrieved June 15, 2026 from https://doi.org/10.58079/158ds


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