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How can we help each other to make knowledge and social change within "unruly" (heterogeneous, distributed) ecological complexities?
Peter TaylorUniv. Massachusetts Boston
Critical & Creative ThinkingScience, Technology & Values
Education for Sustainability
I
terracing
cajete sowing
diversity management
population
& labour
agro-ecology
demographic
collapse
population increase
no regulation of goat
grazing, terrace
maintenance, etc.
land less intensively
cultivated or abandoned;
subsistence maize & goats;
serious erosion
outmigration &
population decline
local social
& economic
institutions
rise of caciques:
land concentration
labor discipline
collapse of tradit-
ional socioeconomic
institutions
"private"
moral
economy
"external"
situation &
interventions Revolution
& land
reforms
Spanish
invasion
some markets limited maize
commercialization
outmigration
-> cash back
cheap urban
food policies
industrial
development
1500 180017001600 1900 2000
liberal-
ization
semiproletarian
economy
sustainable
maize production
church
labour
scarcity
labour
scarcity
labour-saving practices:
goats, plowing, wheat
repartimiento
moral
economy
Independence
What places could someone intervene in these “intersecting processes” so as to modify the future development of this situation?
II
WIDER
INTELLECTUAL &
SOCIO-POLITICAL
DISCOURSE
SIMULATION
RELATIONSHIP
OF MODELER
TO MODELED
SITUATION
RANGE OF SOCIAL
POSSIBILITIES
ENTERTAINED
Explicit Options
Agency of Implementation of
Model-based Conclusions
Rationality for Decisions about Social Action
Hardware/ software
Technical assumptions
Questions addressed
Types of data
Model relationships
Discrimination among
states of nature
Disputes arising
Sponsors
Social Action
modeler
modeling
Institutional location
Intervening personnel Modeler's relationships within
wider discourse
What places could someone intervene in this knowledge-making so as to modify the future development of this situation?
III
SYSTEM
MECHANIST/
BEHAVIORIST
TERMINOLOGY
MANAGEMENT/
OUTSIDE
INTERVENTION
DYNAMO
SOFTWARE
SMALL SET OF
BEHAVIOR MODES
Sahel-
Sudan
project
LOOSELY CO-ORDINATED
RESEARCH TEAM
LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT
OUTSIDE AID/ INTERVENTION
MEDIATOR TO AFRICAN/ISTS
SHORT STUDY TIME
System
Dynamics
Group
M.I.T.
U.S. Congress
U.N. &
international
aid
africanists
pastoralists
systems analysis
community
U.S.A.I.D.
LITTLE
PARTICIPATION
SHORT FIELD TRIP
Alternatives to eight consistent aspects of system dynamicsmodeling.
S YS TEM DYNAMICSvs.
ALTERNATIVES
1. Rules and systemstructure
fixed changing
2. History as a source of long-term values conditions for futurechanges
3. Particularity one generic system locally particularsystems
4. Individuals uniform andaggregated
stratified anddifferentiating
5. Parameters constant constructed
6. Temporal and spatia lvariability
leave systemstructure unchanged
essential to systemstructure
7a. S ystems decomposable intosubsystems
not neccesarilydecomposable
7b. External forces simply mediated contribute to"internal"
restructuring
8. Responses to crisesrequire
overall policychanges
local participation inresponses
What places could someone intervene in this knowledge-making & intersecting processes so as to modify the future development of this situation?
IV
PARTICIPANTS & their ISSUES
requests
MAPS of issuesREVISION
PRESENTATION of maps
QUESTIONING
TOOLS
WORKSHOP LEADERS
ISSUE: understanding ecology of carabids in urban environments
Issue: recommendations for management of urban ecology are needed Issue: urban ecology
should be a proper subject for ecologists to study
Nature is everywhere, includingthe cities!
Challenge of combininglocal contingencieswith general principles
Funding
isolationof patches
habitat structure, disturbance climatedispersal& relativecolonization, abundance,phenology, diversitypopulation size
survey autecology carabid assemblages
Issue: how tosample meaningfully
sampling method
exploratorydata analysis
theoreticalrural-urban gradientsdevts
.
Issue: minimum requirements (why are some spp. able to survive in urban areas?)
How can we help each other to make knowledge and social change within "unruly" (heterogeneous, distributed) ecological complexities?
In what situations could you envisage using mapping to help yourself and others make knowledge and social change within "unruly" ecological complexities? What might hinder this or limit its usefulness?
V
Vision 20/20 WEST NIPISSING VISION February 1993
STRONG DIVERSIFIEDECONOMIC BASE
EXCITING ATTRACTIVECOMMUNITY TO LIVE IN
ACTIVELY INVOLVEDPOPULATION
WIDELYPROMOTEDTOURISM BASE
EXPANDEDBUSINESSDEVELOPMENT
APPROPRIATENATURALRESOURCESDEVELOPMENT
WELLMAINTAINEDEXPANDINGINFRA-STRUCTURE
COMMUNITYBASEDSERVICES
RESPONSIVEACCOUNTABLE UNIFIEDGOVERNMENT
ACTIVEINVOLVEDCOMMUNITY
IMPROVEDRECREATIONOPPORTUNITY
LIFELONGEDUCATIONFACILITIES
Broad BasedTourismPromotion
ImprovedFour SeasonAccommodation
AccessibleWaterways andWaterfronts
PackagedTouristAttractions &Tours
ExpandedCoordinatedCommunityFestivals
ModernRecyclingFacilities
NorthernOntarioService IndustryCentre
AppropriateNatural &Resource BasedIndustry
IncentivePrograms toAttractBusinesses
FrancophoneBilinguialCollege
LocalBusinesses meetall needs
AttractGovernmentOffices
ForestryDevelopment
Expanded LocalAgriculturalMarket
FishHatcheries
Clean LakeNipissing
ImprovedTransportationNetworkLocally/A rea
Well ServicedCommunity
EnvironmentallyResponsiveCommunity
First ResponseTeams
CommunityBasedServices forMental Health &PhysicallyChallenged
Expanded LocalAccess toSpecializedClinics
CoordinatedIntegratedServices underOne Roof
ExpandedVibrantSenior CitizenCommunity
RestructuredSocial AssistanceSystem
EffectiveCooperationBetweenMunicipalities
OngoingCitizenInvolvement inLocalGovernment
Local ServiceBoards inUnincorporatedMunicipalities
Re-evaluateLand UseBy-laws
ActiveInvolvement ofCitizens in AllCommunityDevelopments
West NipissingTeamCooperation
West NipissingFriendlyWelcomingCommunity
RuralResidentialDevelopment
OpenCommunicationacross WestNipissing
Youth Involvedin Planning AllActivities
YouthActivitiesPromoted andSupported
ImprovedAccess toLake Nipissing
BroadenedLeisureActivities andFacilities
ImprovedOrganizedSports
AccessibleExpandedAdult Education
FocusedJob TrainingPrograms
EnhancedPost SecondaryEducation
What would it mean to take seriously the creativity and capacity-building that seems to follow from well-facilitated participation but not to conclude that researchers should "go local" and focus all their efforts on one place?
"flexible engagement"
challenge for researchersin any knowledge-making situation =
connect quickly with otherswho are almost ready to foster participatory processes&
through the experience such processes provide their participants
enhance the capacity of others to do likewise
A B C
1 A1 B1 C1
2 A2 B2 C2
3 A3 B3 C3
Formulations1. simple,well-bounded systems2. simple scenarios -> greater complexity & further work needed in particular cases 3. work based on dynamics among particular entities/agents whose actions implicate or span a range of realms, which develop over time
Angles on practice of researchersA. “dialogue” with situation studiedB. interactions with other social agents to establish what counts as knowledgeC. affecting social change through attention to the complexities of both the situations studied and the researchers’ own social situatedness
Intersecting Processes
cut across scales
involve heterogeneous components
develop over time
causality & agency:distributed, not localized
multiple points of engagement
to modify the course of development
joint & partial responsibility
System Intersecting processes
Clearly defined boundaries Boundaries & categories problematicIPs involve heterogeneous componentsincl. unequal agents
Coherent internal dynamicsgoverning development,structure & stability, & adaptation to external environment
Levels & scale not clearly separable IPs cut across scalesStructures subject to restructuring IPs develop over time ,
e.g. differentiation among unequal agents+ historical contingency
External observer position No privileged standpoint
Natural reduction of complexity Control & generalization difficultstructuredness in IPs not reducible to micro- or macro-determinations
1. Intersecting processes involve inseparable dynamics
2. The account represents agency as distributed across different kinds of agents and scale.
3. The account has an intermediate complexity.
4. Intermediate complexity accounts favor the idea of multiple, smaller engagements linked together within the intersecting processes.
5. Intersecting processes accounts highlight the need for trans-disciplinary work grounded in particular locations.
6. Intermediate complexity preserves a role for some kind of social scientific generalization.
scientists establish knowledge and develop their practices through diverse practical choices
the outcomes of scientific work—theories, readings from instruments, collaborations, etc. —are accepted because they are aspects of heterogeneous webs that are difficult to modify in practice
interpretation of scientific work as “heterogeneous construction” exposes specific points at which concrete alternative resources could be mobilized
vibrating agency
open questions