scholarly journals Who’s Asking? Native Science, Western Science, and Science Education

2014 ◽  
Vol 13 (03) ◽  
pp. R02
Author(s):  
Emily Dawson
Keyword(s):  
Science Education ◽  
Native American ◽  
Educational Opportunities ◽  
Western Science ◽  
Scientific Practices ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Science Philosophy ◽  
Native Science

‘Who’s Asking: Native Science, Western Science, and Science Education’ explores two key questions for science education, communication and engagement; first, what is science and second, what do different ways of understanding science mean for science and for science engagement practices? Medin and Bang have combined perspectives from the social studies of science, philosophy of science and science education to argue that science could be more inclusive if reframed as a diverse endeavour. Medin and Bang provide a useful, extensive and wide-ranging discussion of how science works, the nature of science, the role of culture, gender and ethnicity in science, biases and norms, as well as how people engage with science and the world around them. They draw on their collaborative research developing science education programmes with Native American communities to illustrate the benefits of reconstructing science by drawing on more than ‘Western’ science in education practices. The book argues that reconceptualising science in science education is crucial for developing a more diverse, equitable and inclusive scientific community and scientific practices, as well as improving educational opportunities and outcomes for youth from diverse and non-dominant backgrounds.

scholarly journals Assembling climate knowledge. The role of local expertise

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 18
Author(s):  
Jøran Solli ◽  
Marianne Ryghaug
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Western Science ◽  
Decision Context ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
Shaping Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Climate Knowledge ◽  
The Difference

<div><p>The difference between indigenous knowledge and western science continues to be a central theme in the social studies of science. This paper investigates the use of climate knowledge in climate adaptation activities. The analysis is based on a case study of indigenous experts involved in practical operations dealing with risk of avalanches in an area particularly vulnerable to avalanches in northern Norway. We find that indigenous knowledge held by local area experts and western science overlap. From this we develop two lines of argument. Firstly that assemblages of climate adaptation is produced as collaborative guesswork related to coupling and negotiation of different types of knowledge in a decision context. Secondly, we discuss what such a practice means for the understanding of the relationship between climate knowledge and climate policy. By following different assemblages of climate knowledge we point to an alternative way of understanding a process of policy shaping in relation to climate adaptation: a sideways policy shaping process where what gets included or excluded and what is considered internal or external to a decision making context becomes evident.</p><div> </div></div>

scholarly journals Models at Work—Models in Decision Making

2014 ◽  
Vol 27 (4) ◽  
pp. 561-577 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ekaterina Svetlova ◽  
Vanessa Dirksen
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Social Studies ◽  
Science Research ◽  
Social Scientists ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
Practice Turn ◽  
Productive Role ◽  
Oriented Research

In recent years, research on modeling in both the philosophy of science and the social studies of science and technology has undergone an acute transformation. Philosophers and social scientists have begun to realize that science, in the words of Carrier and Nordmann, has increasingly shifted its focus from “epistemic or truth-oriented” research to “application-dominated” research. “Science is viewed today as an essentially practical endeavor” (Carrier and Nordmann 2011, 1) and should be considered in the context of its application. In accordance with this re-orienting of science, research on modeling has also changed. Still considering models as genuinely scientific tools, philosophers and social scientists promoted the “practice turn” that suggests a sharper focus on pragmatic issues and the performative and productive role of modeling. Application of models for the resolution of practice-related problems is viewed as an extension of science.

scholarly journals Essential and Embattled Expertise: Knowledge/Expert/Policy Nexus around the Sarin Gas attack in Syria

Politik ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Leander
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
Third Wave ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
The Third ◽  
Regulatory Processes ◽  
The Social ◽  
Critical Approaches ◽  
Understanding Of Science ◽  
Matters Of Concern

This article argues that expertise has continued to hold an absolutely essential and profoundly embattled position in the knowledge/expertise/policy nexus. More than this, it suggests that this duality of the and – (rather than the clarity of the either or) is to be welcomed. is argument is made with reference to the controversies surrounding the sarin gas attack on Ghouta Damascus 21 August 2013. e article rst argues that expertise continues to be essential in the sense that it is integral to contemporary policy-controversies. As the discussion around the sarin gas attack shows expertise is both constituted through controversies and at the same time constituting them. e article proceeds to suggest that precisely because this is the case, it is important that expertise also remains embattled. As shown with reference to the sarin gas attack controversies, it is only through contestation that the role of expertise in the controversy can possibly be checked. As this shows, the argument put forward in this article has much in common with Bruno Latour’s recent insistence on the importance of not allowing experts to turn matters of concern into matters of fact. e argu- ment hence distances itself from those who strive to reestablish the authority of expertise by in various ways re ning our understanding of science and its relation to practice; that is from what Collins and Evans term the „third wave“ in the social studies of science. However, this article diverges from Latour in suggesting that for expertise to remain contested requires more than attention to hybrid agency and actants. It suggests that it also requires enrolling arguments from the „critical“ approaches that Latour rejects. e article insists on the integration of three such „critical“ arguments: the critique of markets for ideas, of technological politics, and of regulatory processes. 

scholarly journals Democratizando a ciência no cenário internacional: um debate sobre conceito de comunidades epistêmicas e sua perspectiva da ciência na política internacional | Democratizing science on the international scene: a debate on the concept of epistemic communities and its perspective of science in international politics

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicole Aguilar Gayard
Keyword(s):  
Social Studies ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Science And Technology ◽  
Epistemic Communities ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
Technology Governance ◽  
The Social ◽  
Public Engagement In Science ◽  
National Perspective

Resumo O artigo retoma os debates e premissas sobre a democratização da governança em ciência e tecnologia, e os compara com a perspectiva da ciência predominante no conceito de comunidades epistêmicas no campo das relações internacionais. Ressalta os diferentes entendimentos sobre o binômio “ciência e tecnologia” nas abordagens debatidas. A revisão e comparação entre perspectivas da ciência aportadas pelos estudos sociais da ciência e tecnologia e pelas relações internacionais busca contribuir com o debate da democratização e engajamento público em ciência e tecnologia para além de uma perspectiva nacional. Conclui-se pela necessidade de integrar perspectivas e debates contemporâneos sobre uma produção de conhecimento heterogênea e múltipla na análise do conhecimento nas relações internacionais.Palavras-chave: Governança em C&T; Democratização; Comunidades Epistêmicas (Relações Internacionais).Abstract This article explores the debates around calls and experiments of democratization in science and technology governance, and compares them with the perspective of science embedded in the concept of epistemic communities, as employed by International Relations theories. It emphasizes the different understandings about "Science and Technology" in each of these approaches. The review and comparison between perspectives of science provided by the Social Studies of Science and Technology and International Relations seeks to contribute to the debate of democratization and public engagement in science and technology beyond a national perspective. The article concludes by pointing to the necessity of recognizing contemporary perspectives of knowledge, as a heterogeneous field of action composed by multiple actors and networks, for an improved analysis of the role of knowledge in international politics.Keywords: Governance in S&T; Democratization; Epistemic Communities (International Relations).

Actor–Network Theory

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Annelies Kamp
Keyword(s):  
Network Theory ◽  
Actor Network Theory ◽  
New Materialism ◽  
Data Generation ◽  
Actor Network ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World ◽  
The Moment

Actor–network theory (ANT) is an approach to research that sits with a broader body of new materialism; a body of work that displaces humanism to consider dynamic assemblages of humans and nonhumans. Originally developed in the social studies of science and technology undertaken in the second half of the 20th century, ANT has increasingly been taken up in other arenas of social inquiry. Researchers working with ANT do not accept the unquestioned use of “social” explanations for educational phenomena. Rather, the social, like all other effects, is taken to be an enactment of heterogenous assemblages of human and nonhuman entities. The role of the educational researcher is to trace these processes of assemblage and reassemblage, foregrounding the ways in which certain entities establish sufficient allies to assume some degree of “realness” in the world. Aligning most closely with ethnographic orientations, ANT does not outline a method. However, it could be argued that a number of propositions are shared in ANT-inspired approaches: first, that the world is made up of actors/actants, all of which are ontologically symmetrical. Humans are not privileged in ANT. Second, the principle of irreduction—there is no essence within or beyond any process of assemblage. Actors are concrete; there is no “potential” other than their actions in the moment. Entities are nothing more than an effect of assemblage. Third, the concept of translation and its processes of mediation that transform objects when they encounter one another. Finally, the principle of alliance. Actants gain strength only through their alliances. These propositions have specific implications for data generation, analysis, and reporting.

scholarly journals Assembling climate knowledge. The role of local expertise

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jøran Solli ◽  
Marianne Ryghaug
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Knowledge ◽  
Climate Adaptation ◽  
Local Area ◽  
Western Science ◽  
Decision Context ◽  
Social Studies Of Science ◽  
Shaping Process ◽  
The Social ◽  
Climate Knowledge ◽  
The Difference

<div><p>The difference between indigenous knowledge and western science continues to be a central theme in the social studies of science. This paper investigates the use of climate knowledge in climate adaptation activities. The analysis is based on a case study of indigenous experts involved in practical operations dealing with risk of avalanches in an area particularly vulnerable to avalanches in northern Norway. We find that indigenous knowledge held by local area experts and western science overlap. From this we develop two lines of argument. Firstly that assemblages of climate adaptation is produced as collaborative guesswork related to coupling and negotiation of different types of knowledge in a decision context. Secondly, we discuss what such a practice means for the understanding of the relationship between climate knowledge and climate policy. By following different assemblages of climate knowledge we point to an alternative way of understanding a process of policy shaping in relation to climate adaptation: a sideways policy shaping process where what gets included or excluded and what is considered internal or external to a decision making context becomes evident.</p><div> </div></div>

scholarly journals The Role of the UN Agencies in Women’s Development in Lebanon

1970 ◽  
pp. 52-55
Author(s):  
Rania Al-Abiad
Keyword(s):  
Educational Opportunities ◽  
First Century ◽  
Women's Development ◽  
Access To Health Services ◽  
Patriarchal System ◽  
Access To Health ◽  
The Social ◽  
Full Participation ◽  
Unequal Access

Women in Lebanon often suffer from widespread discrimination that seems to inhibit their full participation in society. Discrimination manifests itself, for example, in the lack of full human rights and in scant provisions for educational opportunities. Other instances include under-representation in the political spheres and in decision-making positions, unequal access to health services, as well as subjugation to a patriarchal system of living. Many women feel that they are prohibited from freely expressing their ideas and their wishes, and fear being alienated from the social milieu in which they live. Moreover, even into the twenty first century, incidents of honor crimes still echo in the far outskirts of the country. While Lebanon is witnessing breakthroughs in many social, technological, economic, and other civic spheres, much remains to be done, when it comes to women.

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