ArticlePDF Available

Power/knowledge relations and the roles of scientists in science shop projects

Authors:

Abstract and Figures

Landscape research is increasingly taking the form of action research. This article explores which consequences this has for the roles of scientists and knowledge. It presents a theoretical perspective for understanding the power/knowledge dynamics at work in action research projects and draws on the science-shop project SintJan Kloosterburen to illustrate how roles and knowledge are actively negotiated between involved actors and inf luenced by the wider societal debate in which the research process is embedded. Although action researchers often present themselves as heroes and bringers of knowledge, the actual processes and mechanisms at work urge another understanding of the role of researchers and knowledge within action research.
No caption available
… 
No caption available
… 
No caption available
… 
No caption available
… 
Content may be subject to copyright.
A preview of the PDF is not available
ResearchGate has not been able to resolve any citations for this publication.
Book
Full-text available
This book offers the reader a remarkable new perspective on the way markets, laws and societies evolve together. It can be of use to anyone interested in development, market and public sector reform, public administration, politics & law. Based on a wide variety of case studies on three continents and a variety of conceptual sources, the authors develop a theory that clarifies the nature and functioning of dependencies that mark governance evolutions. This in turn delineates in an entirely new manner the spaces open for policy experiment. As such, it offers a new mapping of the middle ground between libertarianism and social engineering. Theoretically, the approach draws on a wide array of sources: institutional & development economics, systems theories, post-structuralism, actor- network theories, planning theory and legal studies.
Article
Full-text available
In an historical overview, this paper links to the paradox that the increasing scientification of politics leads to a politicisation of science. For a long time, scientists offered their capabilities as 'speaking truth to power'. Since the beginning of the 1990s, this input has been transformed into an argumentative policy analysis. This reinvigorates political prudence as 'making sense together'.
Article
Full-text available
In this paper we analyse the successful local/regional opposition to a proposed new town north of the Dutch city Leiden in terms of pathways, sites and techniques of object formation. In the struggle over spatial plans and policies, new objects are constructed and played out. In some cases, the new objects became institutionalized and codified future development in the region. We focus on the strategic role of the construction of heritage and nature in the planning process, concepts utilized by opponents of the urban plans. Revisiting Foucault's concepts of power/knowledge and discourse, we present a detailed analysis of the process of emergence, solidifying and institutional embedding of new forms of heritage and nature as new discursive objects. We argue that such a retour à Foucault is important, allowing for an elucidation of object formation, still understudied in planning and governance studies.
Article
Full-text available
A key issue of scientific research is the impact of science in landscape planning. Two trends in society demand this issue to be a research priority: the decentralization of government power to the local level and the growing distrust towards experts and scientific knowledge in policy and the public. We show how these trends challenge the role and position of science in landscape planning. We conclude that it is urgent to systematically extend our knowledge on the impact of science in decision-making networks
Article
This article examines the area of legal aid in public interest environmental matters, though many ofthe issues raised have direct relevance to the funding of public interest litigation generally. The questions of standing, funding and public participation are analysed and legal aid policies developed at Commonwealth level and in New South Wales are referred to. Mr Boer, however, stresses that the public interest nature of environmental suits demands an attitude in relation to the provision of legal aid which must transcend the normal boundaries of traditional assistance mechanisms. The article then focuses on the creation of the Environmental Defender's Office, a public interest community legal centre specialising in environmental law, recently established in Sydney. The author, who is convenor of the Board of Management of the EDO, concludes that without adequate environmental legislation, broad standing provisions, flexible legal aid systems, and community support, the prospect of establishing EDOs elsewhere is even more daunting than in the reasonably favourable climate found in New South Wales.
Article
Introduction Part I. Theory of Collective Action: 1. The construction of collective action 2. Conflict and change 3. Action and meaning 4. The process of collective identity Part II. Contemporary Collective Action: 5. conflicts of culture 6. Invention of the present 7. The time of difference 8. Roots for today and for tomorrow 9. A search for ethics 10. Information, power, domination Part III. The Field of Collective Action: 11. A society without a centre 12. The political system 13. The state and the distribution of social resources 14. Modernization, crisis, and conflict: the case of Italy Part IV. Acting Collectively: 15. Mobilization and political participation 16. The organization of movements 17. Leadership in social movements 18. Collective action and discourse 19. Forms of action 20. Research on collective action.
Article
Summary In this paper, I draw on my own experiences to question some of the boundaries constructed around notions of activism and academia. Firstly, I introduce activism as a discursively produced concept with potential both to challenge and to support social exclusion. I propose an inclusive, reflexive view of activism that places us all as ‘activists’. Using this understanding of activism and the work of feminist and other critical geographers, I consider the role of reflexivity within research and other activist projects. Drawing on my own experiences of activism, I then explore some of the boundaries that reproduce the academic-activist binary. I suggest such boundaries are actively constructed and may compromise the liberatory potential of academic research. I conclude the article by suggesting that a reflexivity grounded in the contingency of our lives can support activism within the academy and beyond.
Article
To increase the integrity and trustworthiness of qualitative research, researchers need to evaluate how intersubjective elements influence data collection and analysis. Reflexivity--where researchers engage in explicit, self-aware analysis of their own role--offers one tool for such evaluation. The process of engaging in reflexive analysis, however, is difficult, and its subjective, ambiguous nature is contested. In the face of challenges, researchers might retreat from engaging in the process. In this article, the author seeks to "out" the researcher's presence by exploring the theory and practice of reflexivity. Examples from research illustrate its problematic potential.