A Crevice in the Hegemony of Western Science: On community collaboration in permafrost research
(2023) HEKM51 20231Department of Human Geography
Human Ecology
- Abstract
- As permafrost thaws, diverse experts converge, creating space for onto-epistemological collaborations. On a local level, permafrost thaw compounds risks for human and non-human communities in the Circumpolar North and at high altitudes. Panning out, permafrost thaw holds the potential for immense greenhouse gas release as once-latent microbes feed on thawed organic matter. Faced with interwoven local and global impacts of thawing permafrost and the need to problem solve to mitigate and adapt, permafrost research is becoming more interdisciplinary and collaborative. This thesis focuses on permafrost research and collaboration with communities living with permafrost in the so-called Canadian Arctic and Subarctic. As more permafrost research... (More)
- As permafrost thaws, diverse experts converge, creating space for onto-epistemological collaborations. On a local level, permafrost thaw compounds risks for human and non-human communities in the Circumpolar North and at high altitudes. Panning out, permafrost thaw holds the potential for immense greenhouse gas release as once-latent microbes feed on thawed organic matter. Faced with interwoven local and global impacts of thawing permafrost and the need to problem solve to mitigate and adapt, permafrost research is becoming more interdisciplinary and collaborative. This thesis focuses on permafrost research and collaboration with communities living with permafrost in the so-called Canadian Arctic and Subarctic. As more permafrost research projects highlight commitments to community collaboration, there is a need to increase the transparency of researchers’ definitions, methods, and visions for collaborative permafrost research. Therefore, the questions guiding this paper are: How do permafrost researchers define community collaboration? How and why do community collaboration practices differ from aims? What mechanisms impact permafrost researchers’ approaches to community collaboration? Through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with social scientists, biologists, and geologists working in permafrost zones and an adapted ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be’ (WPR) analysis of multi-level government strategic plans, it is clear that many non-local permafrost researchers’ approaches to community collaboration differ widely across projects and places and are co-constituted by their geopolitical contexts. Ultimately, this research aspires to contribute practical insights for permafrost researchers, policymakers, and funding bodies by identifying openings and barriers to indeterminate, onto-epistemological collaborations between permafrost researchers and local communities. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/9134261
- author
- Oosterveen, Hanna Marie LU
- supervisor
-
- Eric Clark LU
- organization
- course
- HEKM51 20231
- year
- 2023
- type
- H2 - Master's Degree (Two Years)
- subject
- language
- English
- id
- 9134261
- date added to LUP
- 2023-09-18 16:21:34
- date last changed
- 2023-09-18 16:21:34
@misc{9134261,
abstract = {{As permafrost thaws, diverse experts converge, creating space for onto-epistemological collaborations. On a local level, permafrost thaw compounds risks for human and non-human communities in the Circumpolar North and at high altitudes. Panning out, permafrost thaw holds the potential for immense greenhouse gas release as once-latent microbes feed on thawed organic matter. Faced with interwoven local and global impacts of thawing permafrost and the need to problem solve to mitigate and adapt, permafrost research is becoming more interdisciplinary and collaborative. This thesis focuses on permafrost research and collaboration with communities living with permafrost in the so-called Canadian Arctic and Subarctic. As more permafrost research projects highlight commitments to community collaboration, there is a need to increase the transparency of researchers’ definitions, methods, and visions for collaborative permafrost research. Therefore, the questions guiding this paper are: How do permafrost researchers define community collaboration? How and why do community collaboration practices differ from aims? What mechanisms impact permafrost researchers’ approaches to community collaboration? Through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with social scientists, biologists, and geologists working in permafrost zones and an adapted ‘What’s the Problem Represented to be’ (WPR) analysis of multi-level government strategic plans, it is clear that many non-local permafrost researchers’ approaches to community collaboration differ widely across projects and places and are co-constituted by their geopolitical contexts. Ultimately, this research aspires to contribute practical insights for permafrost researchers, policymakers, and funding bodies by identifying openings and barriers to indeterminate, onto-epistemological collaborations between permafrost researchers and local communities.}},
author = {{Oosterveen, Hanna Marie}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{A Crevice in the Hegemony of Western Science: On community collaboration in permafrost research}},
year = {{2023}},
}