Knowledge Production Research Articles

Epistemological Flashpoints in China’s “Person-Making” Education with Reinvoked Cultural Discourses: Lideshuren as an Example

Abstract As an imprint and reinvigoration of Confucian culture, China foregrounds its 21st-century state-run education as to make national(istic) citizens, re-invoking lideshuren (establishing personhood by cultivating moral excellence) as its signature discourse beyond Western frameworks. Drawing upon Foucault’s thinking, this paper untangles China’s effort as being epistemologically vexed in three steps. First, I pick up Foucault’s interpellation on language, discourse, and episteme, evoking a possible language-episteme conflation and/or rupture which is crucial to understanding China’s lideshuren knowledge (re)production and translation within and across cultures. Second, I trace lideshuren to a Confucian prototype to make visible its possible historical-cultural murmurings along a correlative relationality episteme. This historical detour enables me to better problematize, in the third section, contemporary China’s re-mobilizing, trans-forming, and re-interpreting Confucian lideshuren discourses to both the Chinese and Western wor(l)d along a delimiting modern ‘trap of philology’. This historical-present epistemological comparison, albeit reductive, feeds into my analysis of China’s making of universal-national(istic) citizens at the nexus of nationalism and globalism. By focusing on China, this paper provides implications for comparing national educations as making universal individuals in a globalized age.

Understanding Sino-Singapore educational exchanges: international student mobility and cross-border knowledge production

Understanding Sino-Singapore educational exchanges: international student mobility and cross-border knowledge production

Is Chinese IR Scholarship White? A Non-Dichotomous Critique of ‘The International as Singular, Enlightened and Sanitised’

Most Western IR theories – mainstream and critical alike – share an implicit Western-centric belief of the constitution and drivers for global development (towards modernity), whereas an emerging trend of literature criticizes such an assumption as epistemic whiteness. Examining global IR knowledge production beyond the Euro-American academia, this article proposes a non-dichotomous framework of critique. It centres around three interrelated conceptual modes of dichotomy, linearity and denialism, which correspond to three epistemological markers as the logics of existence, development and resistance. Mainland Chinese Sinophone International Relations (IR) scholarship on Sino-African relations is examined against this framework. The analysis demonstrates that, under the heavy influence of modernist worldviews, Sino-centric versions of dichotomy, linearity and denialism can be reproduced among academic works that are intentionally produced to resist epistemic whiteness. This poses critical questions on the applicability of epistemic whiteness as a term to capture the full dynamics. This article thus proposes an alternative term, the international as singular, enlightened and sanitized, to represent this problematic ontological imagination of the international. It calls for global IR scholars to exercise greater reflexivity towards an unproblematic acceptance and internalized appreciation of modernity as the endgame of history.

Becoming and unbecoming academics: Classed resources and strategies for navigating risky careers.

Academics influence not only knowledge production but also selection to the labour market and policy development. They have power. Despite the sociological attention paid to class in higher education, few studies have examined the way in which class interferes with the careers of those navigating from being students to becoming scholars. Building on Bourdieu's theory of social reproduction, this study examines how class influences different groups' experiences of becoming academics. Based on 60 interviews with Norwegian scholars in their early to mid-careers, the analysis identifies the kind of classed resources that are in play in the unequal access to academic positions. Beyond more classical resources, such as financial, cultural, and psychological certainty, the interviewees point to the significance of an early familiarity with the rules of the game and strategic navigation of the academic system. We use these findings to discuss and nuance Pierre Bourdieu's perspectives on the role of incorporated, practical consciousness and disinterestedness in class reproduction in the academic world. This theoretical contribution facilitates the combined analysis of the implicit and the explicit ways that dominant classes preserve their position in the hierarchy, which the study demonstrates as key to social reproduction in academic careers.

"Instead of Building More Buildings, They Should Plant More Trees", a Photovoice Study of Determinants of Happiness and Sadness Among East London Adolescents.

Globally, mental health problems in adolescents, alongside associated morbidity and mortality, have never been higher. Local living, working and environmental conditions, socio-economics, and intra-individual and inter-individual processes impact mental health. The risk of developing mental health problems is higher in certain areas, including East London. However, limited research explores East London adolescents' experiences of mental health. An in-depth and locally situated understanding of determinants shaping East London adolescents' happiness and sadness is needed. This study used Photovoice, a qualitative method within a community-based participatory research methodology, to generate photographic and textual data, which was analyzed using reflexive thematic analysis. This method allows participants to be part of knowledge production and authors to present the data. Our findings underscore the bidirectional interplay between environmental factors and adolescents' happiness and sadness. Gratitude for nature was described as increasing happiness: adolescents connected to nature to memories, appreciation, and leisure opportunities. Adolescents were concerned about the fragility of nature in response to urban development. The urban environment was perceived as imposing, inspiring, and offering therapeutic benefits blighted by pollution. Beautiful areas were described as paradisical and lacking, revealing urban development and economic productivity disparities. Our research documents the voices of an under-researched group, revealing novel insights while empowering adolescents as co-producers of mental health research. This study indicates participatory research is valuable for granting adolescents autonomy and addressing misrepresentation. The findings implicate multiple stakeholders, including "Health in All Policies." By deepening our understanding of adolescent mental health in East London, our study can be leveraged to bolster the effectiveness and relevance of interventions for East London adolescents.

Discursive Patterns of Opinion-Based Knowledge in the Production of Health-Related Social Media Posts in Turkey

Online media platforms play a central role in presenting opinions, facilitating information exchange, and supporting knowledge production. However, on most social media platforms, verifying the credibility of posts and comments remains highly challenging due to their open nature and lack of a strong governance structure. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, social media platforms became tainted by uncertain knowledge, partly caused by the limited control these platforms have over user-generated content. This lack of credible information fueled a collective state of panic (Peschke, 2021). Since social media spaces largely involve individuals engaging and sharing their opinions, the credibility of knowledge production on these platforms must be questioned. Despite the proliferation of disinformation, uncertainty, and misinformation on social media platforms (Wardle & Derakhshan, 2017), opinion-based knowledge production has also emerged from these channels, which are challenging to monitor. This article analyzes the communication patterns on health of Turkish posts and comments on Facebook and Twitter during October and November 2021. The data were evaluated against opinion-based content, allowing this study to trace the dynamics of posts and comments by categorizing them as opinion, information, or knowledge production. Data interpretation is grounded in these classifications, with particular attention to the interplay between public engagement and health information. Understanding how the media-based public creates opinion-based knowledge during the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic underscores the potential for collaboration between media-based publics and scientific authorities.

Eurocentrism and the constraints in alternative knowledge production: the case of Pakistani international relations

This article addresses the persistent Eurocentrism in the national IR academies within the Global South, notwithstanding continued appeals for pluralization of the global field of IR. Focusing on the discipline of IR in Pakistan, the study explores the implications of Western intellectual dominance through in-depth interviews with local IR academics. The findings demonstrate a marked dependence on realist ideas (the classical strand in particular), which emphasize state-centric and security-focused views of world politics. This restricted approach corresponds with realpolitik because of its pragmatic focus on state security and interests, while ignoring broader theoretical assumptions. These realist ideas are sustained through academic norms, establishing a pattern which perpetuates Eurocentric perspectives in the Pakistani IR community. The article recognizes Western intellectual gatekeeping practices, and the national higher education system of Pakistan, as notable hindrances to the advancement of the discipline in Pakistan. Additionally, lax academic standards in local knowledge production, tied to professional progression, confine Pakistani IR academics to domestic publishing platforms. This discursive environment incentivizes state and security-oriented research, leading to IR scholarship in Pakistan that lacks originality and quality, remains predominantly Eurocentric, and primarily supports state security policies. The study underscores the necessity for a more diverse and contextually relevant approach to IR in Pakistan, which would better capture the country’s unique realities and contribute to a richer global discourse.

Artificial Intelligence and Deep Learning in Stock Prediction: A Bibliometric Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) and deep learning (DL) are advancing in stock market prediction, attracting the attention of researchers in computer science and finance. This bibliometric review analyzes 525 articles published from 1991 to 2024 in Scopus-indexed journals, utilizing VOSviewer software to identify key research trends, influential contributors, and burgeoning themes. The bibliometric analysis encompasses a performance analysis of the most prominent scientific contributors and a network analysis of scientific mapping, which includes co-authorship, co-occurrence, citation, bibliographical coupling, and co-citation analyses enabled by the VOSviewer software. Among the 693 countries, significant hubs of knowledge production include China, the US, India, and the UK, highlighting the global relevance of the field. Various AI and DL technologies are increasingly employed in stock price predictions, with artificial neural networks (ANN) and other methods such as long short-term memory (LSTM), Random Forest, Sentiment Analysis, Support Vector Machine/Regression (SVM/SVR), among the 1399 keyword counts in publications. Influential studies such as LeBaron (1999) and Moghaddam (2016) have shaped foundational research in 8159 citations. This review offers original insights into the bibliometric landscape of AI and DL applications in finance by mapping global knowledge production and identifying critical AI methods advancing stock market prediction. It enables finance professionals to learn about technological developments and trends to enhance decision-making and gain market advantage.

Shāh Walī Allāh Dihlawi (d. 1762): The Hajj Journey and Intellectual Scholarship Between India and Arabia

Rather than simply claiming the “unorthodox” or “pluralistic” mindset of an early modern Muslim thinker, this intellectual micro-history aims to show the complexity of Shāh Walī Allāh’s (d. 1762) thought-world. This article follows him to Mecca and Medina for the Hajj pilgrimage. While pilgrimage is traditionally included in the fundaments of Islamic practice, it is also important to realize that the majority of Muslims have not historically participated in this pilgrimage. Due to the physical limitations of travelling as the Muslim community rapidly expanded in the 7th century onwards, we have nearly a thousand years until the 18th century where only a select few Muslims, usually wealthy enough to make the arduous journey, participated in the yearly practice. This created a complex culture of pilgrims in the Holy Cities with the cities functioning as informal circles of scholarship. Shāh Walī Allāh Dihlawī engages in this knowledge production process while carrying out the mandatory rituals associated with the Hajj pilgrimage. Thus, this article shows that the complex interplay of Walī Allāh with Meccan and Medinan scholars is a highly dynamic process with unexpected outcomes as specific sacred geography interacts with the conceptual (and genealogical) categories that scholarly pilgrims bring with them to this intellectual encounter. In doing so, we catch a glimpse of the 18th century through a very particular set of Indian Sufi eyes.

Neocolonialism and science diplomacy: lessons learned from the field and the way forward

To level the playing field in the production of global knowledge, we need to understand the practical implications of colonial heritage and how it has disproportionately affected scientific discourse and the generation and utilization of scientific knowledge from and about the Global South. This article explores how research practitioners can level the playing field. We must think about how we can collectively change the narrative so that every emerging scientist from the Global South can flourish and have an equal opportunity to conduct research that is meaningful to them and their societies. We argue the time has come for innovative and flexible models allowing science diplomacy to integrate features of reflexive and inclusive governance in its very core structures.

Messing up Visual Management Studies: A Problematizing Review

AbstractManagement studies are increasingly turning to visual materials to generate rich insights on the complexities in organizational life, thereby developing visual management studies (VMS). In this paper, we conduct a problematizing review to re‐imagine VMS so that it is better equipped to deal with the complexities or, from our perspective, the messiness in organizational life. Informed by theoretical readings in visual studies and reflexivity we analyse this research domain with three questions: (1) How is the visual conceptualized? (2) How is visual meaning decided? and, (3) how is the visual researcher depicted? Our findings show how the studies in our review tend to converge on an orderly form of knowledge production, missing out on the domain's messy potential. Our proposal is to mess up VMS through rediscovering visual, social and philosophical perspectives that theorize the visual, cultivating the polysemy of the visual and working with the ‘inter‐situality’ of visual meaning, thereby ensuring that, as visual researchers, we take responsibility for the visual in our research decisions.

Exploring challenges and politics of knowledge production in the global South - Evidence from Bangladesh’s aid and development sector

This article takes Bangladesh as a case study and explores the motivations (or lack of), challenges, and politics of knowledge production with a particular focus on development scholarship and practice. This piece is based on qualitative research methods and draws from 25 semi structured interviews with highly experienced and senior Bangladeshi development practitioners and academics. Empirical evidence and consequent analysis presented in this work contribute to the debates around the schism in access to resources, politics of aid, and power over knowledge production. This article also reveals local cultural contexts as consultancy works are perceived to be more financially rewarding. This is manifested through current practices that have created a condition where local researchers and practitioners feel they have no time (or incentive and motivation) to engage in knowledge production. Moreover, this article explores whether one’s race and/or nationality play any role in knowledge production, and how the respondents reflect about these issues based on their lived experience. In doing so, findings of this study further the arguments of structural inequality and colour-blind approach within aid and global development landscape. This article offers a rich account of how existing practices favour staff members from the donor countries and exclude Bangladeshi researchers and practitioners from knowledge production processes. This article also brings forward an important issue which highlights that, as perceived by the respondents of this study, one’s institutional affiliation with prestigious Western institutions might matter more in knowledge production (as we know it) than the content, ideas and credibility of knowledge that are generated in the global South. This article contends that by excluding, rejecting, side-lining, and subjugating knowledges produced in the global South development policies and practices will continue to manufacture a particular type of knowledge that will circumvent equity in knowledge production and perpetuate Western hegemony.

The Rise of Global Health Emergency Governance

AbstractIn this paper I shed new light on contemporary developments in global health governance, policymaking, and knowledge production. Specifically, by investigating the historical roots and emergence of global health emergency governance. Drawing on the Foucauldian notion of “problematisation” and on Science and Technology Studies of disaster, I trace, examine, and elucidate three main axes through which, I argue, health emergencies became a problem of global governance. I show, first, the formation of emergency management as a distinct professional field. Second, the migration of emergency management into global health governance and its proliferation within it. And third, the move from global health emergency management to the global governance of health emergencies. Overall, I suggest the rise of global health emergency governance provides crucial context for understanding social, political, and epistemic tensions and controversies in health emergencies such as COVID-19. Through the analysis, I identify a particular rationale that is rooted in emergency management and had become embedded in global health emergency governance. A rationale that involves “temporal compression” and “structural plasticity.” I discuss possible implications of this rationale for global health governance, policy, and knowledge.

Clearwater Drive: and other essays from the kitchen scholar

Abstract This study employs Black feminist autoethnography (BFA) to examine knowledge hierarchies and the concept of organic intellectualism. This work repositions Black grandmothers as central figures in knowledge production by shifting the understanding of Black grandmotherhood from a traditionally narrow framework of wisdom to a broader, more authoritative realm of scholarship. Drawing on Ula Taylor’s concept of the “Street Stroller” and Paula Marshall’s “Kitchen Poet,” this article introduces the notion of the “Kitchen Scholar.” This work is part of a larger project.

Making Human Learning Visible in a World of Invisible Generative AI

The growth of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) in Higher Education (HE) challenges us to think differently and creatively about learning and assessment in order to prepare graduates for their futures (Dawson, 2023) This presentation will argue that the very strength of GenAI is also its Achilles’ heel. Anyone can access, garner and generate data rapidly, but human beings have never had a greater need for scrutiny and evaluation of this output. Our graduates will need to have a transparent understanding of how they are learning in terms of the critical choices they make, the information or knowledge they engage with, and where machine learning ends and theirs begins (Okolie et al, 2022). The future of assessment in HE must go beyond simply measuring knowledge acquisition and instead focus on capturing and evidencing students’ capacity for critical thinking. We will highlight some preliminary findings and early impacts of work underway at the University of Bath (UK) and University of Stellenbosch (South Africa), who are working collaboratively to ensure students develop holistically, excel in critical thinking, and gain the confidence and skills to use GenAI effectively to advance their ideas and learning (Osborne, 2024). This will be structured in three parts: Part one (Reviewing): We will outline work during academic year 23/24 by academic staff to review all their assessments against a three-fold categorisation model of permitted GenAI usage. From September 2024, all assessments clearly signal to students the extent to which GenAI is permitted in each assignment. Part two (Guidance): We will showcase resources that support staff to rethink assessment design that embeds GenAI in ways that are authentic, valid and robust (Upsher et al, 2024). We will also present resources that support students to consider how they might use GenAI ethically, and to develop their AI literacy skills and critical thinking. Part three (Examples): We will present initial findings from an internal project that is engaging with national and international employers, in-house world-leading AI researchers and our own students that highlight creative approaches to harnessing GenAI as a tool to reinforce and support (rather than replace) human learning. We conclude by suggesting that HE has always promoted critical thinking and the rigorous investigation and examination of the production of knowledge. We need graduates who can critically engage with their learning, and assessments that capture and evidence this. The only way to do this effectively is to put people at the start, middle and end of our assessment journey.

Learning and Distributed Expertise in Community‐Based Science

ABSTRACTIn the face of growing social‐ecological challenges, multiple forms of expertise must be brought to bear in environmental problem‐solving. As such, community‐based science has been touted as a potential way to “democratize” scientific knowledge production, allowing for multiple sources of expertise to be harnessed and for learning across stakeholders to occur in new ways. The extent to which this occurs, however, is mediated by a variety of factors. Focusing on the context of a dam removal and river restoration initiative in the Western United States, we leverage community science literacy as a conceptual lens to critically interrogate if and how multiple forms of expertise are taken up through community‐based science toward the goal of watershed revitalization. Based on an analysis of empirical evidence collected from interviews, ethnographic observations, and project artifacts, we found that local residents in the watershed demonstrated robust forms of situated local knowledge that they often leveraged toward the work of science. This occurred through processes of coordination work, which were mediated by opportunities for individuals to shift between roles, the contributions of brokers and boundary spanners, and issues of power, status, and rank. While individuals demonstrated and shared their nuanced local knowledge, dominant science still structured if, when, and how this was taken up in the project. Ultimately, we suggest that leveling hierarchies in community‐based science—and affording broader publics greater epistemic agency in shaping the work of science—is key to fostering social‐ecological transformation through science learning in informal settings.

Urbanising religion and health: naga symbolism in northeast Thailand’s urbanscape

ABSTRACT In the western part of the world today, religion is often overlooked in the planning of healthy and sustainable cities. Yet even though modern urban planning is assumed to be secular, places of worship can be seen throughout cities, and urban structures are built on existing historical spatial configurations which inevitably include religion. In Southeast Asia, religion is central to city planning, architecture, and building orientation, although the connections with urban health are less known. To stimulate discussion on the nexus of urbanscapes, religions, and urban healths, I analyse photographs taken in towns and cities in northeast Thailand about the naga, a giant serpent-like demi-god in Buddhism, folklore, and mythology. Specifically, by applying Davey and Grant’s [2024. The visual essay and knowledge production: towards a visually informed understanding of urban health. Cities & Health, 8 (1), 1–7] analytic framework for compiling visual essays, I ponder the following question and its implications: How might naga symbolism in the urbanscape of northeast Thailand be connected to urban health? I show that naga symbolism is pervasive in urban fabric and has potential implications for health including its reframing to something human-centred or value-centred or post-human.

Knowledge and ignorance in forensic identification: the origins of a contested human rights fact

ABSTRACT In 2006, DNA testing revealed that the Chilean Medical Legal Service had misidentified at least half of the 96 human rights victims whose remains had been exhumed in 1991 from a lot in the Santiago General Cemetery known as Patio 29. Years earlier the government had returned those remains to the victims' families. This examination of the history of that forensic misidentification uncovers the role played by the shifting relations of knowledge and ignorance in establishing the legal facts of those identities. Building on the growing literature in agnotology, the article demonstrates the ways in which the context of dictatorship created varied and overlapping forms of ignorance that continued to shape the outcome of the forensic work even after Chile returned to democracy. By detailing different examples of ignorance production by the state, a human rights organization, and a university department under military surveillance, the article illuminates the diverse ways that the civil–military dictatorship worked against knowledge production in the domains of science and human rights.

What can a journal editorial team do to strive for equity in health professions education publishing? Leading by example

What was the Educational Challenge? Representation gaps in medical education publishing are widely recognized and may be attributed to epistemic injustice, defined as ‘wrong done to someone in their capacity as a knower.’ Although peer review is meant to ensure ‘rigor,’ some quality assurance practices can inadvertently silence entire populations and impede understanding of a field’s foundational concepts. What was the Proposed Solution? To honor our journal’s commitment to equitable knowledge production, a diversity, equity, and inclusion working group at Teaching and Learning in Medicine (TLM) reimagined rigor to include striving for a ‘more equitable, diverse, and inclusive research system.’ How was the Proposed Solution Implemented? We implemented structural peer review reform at TLM by adapting Hogan et al.’s Dimensionality and R4P framework for health equity, prioritizing change in our communication with contributors. What Lessons Learned are Relevant to a Wider Audience? Since implementation, our journal has received feedback expressing appreciation for humanity and personal connection in our peer review, and we have observed increased publications from geographically marginalized authors. We believe our outcomes result from respecting marginalized authors’ authority to pursue their own interests, concerns, and successes with respect to knowledge production. What are the Next Steps? We believe our approach can be adopted by other peer-reviewed journals. We invite application and critique of our framework to advance community development in creating relevant, accessible, and equitable knowledge production for all people.

Good stress or bad stress? An empirical study on the impact of time pressure on doctoral students’ innovative behavior

In recent years, with rapid societal advancement and profound transformations in knowledge production, doctoral students are increasingly facing significant time pressures. These pressures not only stem from an escalation in research tasks but also from urgent demands for innovative outputs. Grounded in Affective Events Theory, this study explores the dual impact of time pressure on the innovative behaviors of doctoral students in China. It specifically examines how challenge and hindrance time pressures affect doctoral students’ innovative behavior through the mediating role of research self-efficacy and the moderating role of supervisor support. This research employed SPSS 26.0 and Mplus 8.3 for statistical analysis, analyzing multi-time point data collected from 452 Chinese doctoral students between May and August 2023. The results reveal that challenge time pressure significantly positively impacts doctoral students’ innovative behavior, while hindrance time pressure has a significant negative impact. Furthermore, research self-efficacy partially mediates the relationship between both challenge and hindrance time pressures and innovative behavior. In this process, the moderating role of supervisor support is significant, enhancing the positive effects of challenge time pressure and mitigating the negative impacts of hindrance time pressure, highlighting the importance of supervisor support in optimizing the impact of time pressure and promoting doctoral students’ innovative behavior. These findings not only enrich the theoretical framework in the field of time pressure research but also provide practical guidance for universities and supervisors on how to support doctoral students in effectively managing time pressure and fostering their innovation.