Plurality Of Knowledge Research Articles

Can participatory mapping activate spatial and political practices? Mapping popular resistance and dwelling practices in Bogotá eastern hills

Within the wider ongoing debate of Participatory Action Research, this paper interrogates the capacity of participatory mapping not just as a means to tap into plural knowledges over and emanating from specific geographies but rather to disrupt exclusionary constructions of space and place and the reproduction of the governing relationships that cause inequality. Focusing on a participatory mapping experience undertaken by the authors in collaboration with local residents in the steep slopes of Bogotá's eastern hills – an area threatened by forced evictions in the name of ecological preservation and risk protection arguments – we explore why and under what conditions participatory mapping might have the potential to disrupt conflicting interpretations of place and space held both by local residents and state agencies, which in turn can open the room to rework what types of interventions are actually needed and why. We hypothesise that this depends on the extent to which mapping can abridge the different scales at which the state and marginalised communities make sense of a site historically underpinned by different forms of spatial myopia and territorial stigma. This is in our view not just a consequence of the application of participatory mapping techniques per se, but depends on the way in which mapping is used to expand the political space in which different conceptions of a territory can effectively talk to each other.

Communication in an uncertain environment: risk assessment in aeronautics

Going beyond the singularity of some fieldwork, our case study in French aeronautics mobilises theories of situated action and distributed cognition. It is based on a comparative qualitative study of three major companies, and on a quantitative survey among the members of a professional network of engineers, reliability and quality controllers. Our study takes into account the confrontation between the theoretical principles of scientific research in reliability, and the constraints of professional practices within a hierarchised universe. The communicational dimension of risk which emerged some 15 years ago around crisis communication appears to constitute a major problematics going far beyond crisis. Complexity and risk entail a particular kind of collective conception which differs from that of ordinary products because of the plurality of knowledge and actors involved. All actors, continuously aiming at technico–economic compromises, must understand one another and interact in an uncertain universe to reach an aim of collective creation while mastering associated risks, a process that depends mainly on the expertise of intermediary objects (plans, reports, and so on) at various steps of the conception by independent actors. But our field observation of these objects suggests the communicational aspect warrants more attention.

Science and Social License: Defining Environmental Sustainability of Atlantic Salmon Aquaculture in South-Eastern Tasmania, Australia

Social license reflects environmental and social change, and sees community as an important stakeholder and partner. Science, scientists, and science policy have a key role in the processes that generate social license. In this paper, we focus on the interaction between science and social license in salmon aquaculture in south-eastern Tasmania. This research suggests that social license will be supported by distributed and credible knowledge co-production. Drawing on qualitative, interpretive social research we argue that targeted science, instilled by appropriate science policy, can underpin social license by supporting emerging, distributed, and pluralistic knowledge production. Where social license is important and environmental contexts are complex, such knowledge production might support environmental governance, and so improve outcomes in coastal zone management and beyond.

Educação, literatura e cultura da infância: compreendendo o folclore infantil em Florestan Fernandes

A proposta deste artigo nasce da busca por uma postura pedagógica que propicie a inclusão efetiva do folclore nas escolas, bem como a consequente pluralidade de saberes que daí advém como processo de significação do passado no presente. Propomos assim uma poética da linguagem que enfatize a relação entre o folclore e a literatura na cultura da infância. Tomamos como suporte teórico as reflexões do sociólogo e educador Florestan Fernandes, que tratou o folclore como primeiro tema de pesquisa na sua trajetória discente e docente na Faculdade de Filosofia em São Paulo.

The spectre of educational policy spreads throughout Europe. Its presence as a discipline in postgraduate education

Abstract The aim of this paper is to identify and analyse the ways educational policy is understood, taught and practiced as a training discipline at postgraduate level in the European context. We have validated its epistemological solvency through a quantitative, comparative and ethnographic study of its main features as a discipline –such as ideological and valorative component, praxis-oriented discourse or sustainable and plural normative proposals- found in a stratified sample of 20 countries, 112 universities and 170 training programmes. We also discuss the innovative and formative potential of educational policy to resolve the most contested pedagogical issues and design the educational system, specifying when, how and in which conditions it is constructed as an academic discipline. Among the findings stand out the accreditation and the assessment of the specific role of the values, actors, institutions, supranational decisions and public and curricular policies that shape up educational programmes at a European level, hence contributing to the disciplinary progress of educational policy as a pedagogical, normative, axiological and plural knowledge.

Come cambia il lavoro di fabbrica Tecnologie, globalizzazione e intelligenza collettiva

Work has deeply changed over the past decades, still the change has not yet been perceived by the collective imagination as a new ‘industrial revolution’, as happened in the assembly line by Ford. To find what’s new, the idea is to focus on the operative contents of work and on the contexts in which people are working, rather than on the conditions, such as wages, working hours and continuity of employment. The analysis of the new contents shows a rapid growth of complexity to be managed by workers: either technological, due to the need to know and control at the same time various technologies, or organizational and relational, linked to the emergence of global networks that require relational capabilities, and finally cultural, due to the fact that most workers have to deal with the cultures of other countries and other companies. A conceptual framework for the new paradigm of work is still lacking, but it certainly has at its center: the collective intelligence, the plurality of knowledge, the ability to deal with other cultures, and the teamwork.

The trajectory of project management: why EPOS is important

This paper welcomes the pluralistic knowledge base represented by EPOS, it being particularly appropriate to our efforts to understand the knowledge needed to manage projects and programs effectively. The paper charts the advances in our thinking about project and program management from the early a-theoretic NASA/DoE days, through a later period reflecting our growing recognition of the importance of managing the Front-End, then to the ‘Third Wave’ of managing the institutional context, whether internal or external, in which the project is embedded. Greater interaction between academia and practitioners is called for. EPOS is well positioned to run with these and similar initiatives.

Crossing borders and linking plural knowledge: biodiversity conservation, ecosystem services and human well-being

The challenges we face today in terms of local, regional and global environmental changes and pressures on biodiversity can only be addressed with a close coupling of approaches from natural and social sciences together with local knowledge. The authors emphasise that biodiversity research and intervention should integrate this new comprehensive perspective, bringing together biological sciences, social sciences and local knowledge. This approach should demystify the traditional dichotomies that still impose epistemological and moral reductionist borders between nature and culture, systematically hiding the heuristic value of the social and cultural dimension of biodiversity loss. In this context, biodiversity is a field dominated by multiple tensions between plural knowledge within science itself and local knowledge (less visible), which brings to the discussion conflicts that are inherent to science, technology, economics, sociology, politics and culture. This is a fundamental dimension to understand and respond to the challenges we are facing on biodiversity loss.

Psicoterapia como estratégia de tratamento dos transtornos alimentares: análise crítica do conhecimento produzido

O objetivo deste estudo foi empreender uma análise crítica acerca do conhecimento científico produzido sobre a utilização das psicoterapias como estratégia de tratamento dos transtornos alimentares. A partir de buscas nas bases PsycINFO, PePSIC e SciELO, no período entre 1999 e 2011, foram recuperados 35 artigos, categorizados em: psicoterapias breves, grupais, psicodinâmicas, complementares, bem como psicoterapias aliadas a outros tratamentos, como o psicofarmacológico. As abordagens mais frequentemente mencionadas foram psicodinâmicas e cognitivo-comportamentais. A modalidade de atendimento predominante foi a grupal. Ainda que preconizando o uso combinado de diversas estratégias, a literatura é unânime em destacar a importância das psicoterapias no tratamento. A análise crítica evidenciou necessidade de leituras que transcendam a mera identificação de técnicas psicoterápicas consideradas mais eficazes para o tratamento dos transtornos alimentares. Deve-se considerar o contexto mais amplo no qual os tratamentos são propostos, bem como promover um diálogo aberto entre enfoques teóricos, valorizando a pluralidade de saberes e a psicoterapia como prática em permanente transformação.

'Dialogue, review and reflect': A spiral of co-learning and co-research to surface knowledge on the right to health

This article explores how participants of a Learning Network, comprising members of six civil society organisations and academics from four universities, understand and participate in a dialogical process of co-learning and knowledge generation about the right to health. First, we describe a co-research process that facilitates the surfacing of previously suppressed or undocumented knowledge on the right to health. Second, we explore how co-research captures and disseminates knowledge related to collective action undertaken by civil society organisations working towards translating the right to health into practice. While undertaking this exploration, we maintain an interest in an African appreciation of ‘collective’ knowledge. Through the dialogical process and spiral of reflection, power between the research partners has been shared and spaces for co-learning and co-research created. Subaltern knowledge on the right to health has been placed within a constellation of plural knowledges, rather than at the periphery. Surfacing ‘other’ knowledge on the right to health reflects the lived realities of people and assists in understanding how the right to health can be achieved in practice.
 
 Keywords: Health and human rights, participatory action research, co-learning, co-research, knowledge, South Africa

Strategic Change in a Pluralistic Knowledge Based Organization: Forming New Creative Collectives

This study examines a strategic change process within a large medical center to fundamentally alter the way it conducts medical research. We observed change processes at three levels of analysis – ...

Cultural Diversity in a Global Society

In her Editorial “The global knowledge society” (3 February, p. [503][1]), N. V. Fedoroff argues that “creating a truly global knowledge society” would empower humanity to solve its common problems. However, she neglects to acknowledge that humanity's problems, although shared, are inextricable from local cultural and ecological contexts. Knowledge may be empowering as a solution to these problems, but it often empowers inequitably. With these disparities, a “global knowledge society” could harm certain cultures and cause loss in the world's cultural diversity. For example, the globalization of the knowledge of traditional Chinese medicine has escalated demands for medicinal materials to beyond local ecological capacities, putting thousands of wild Chinese herbs at risk of extinction ([ 1 ][2]), and consequently damaging this treasured cultural practice. Preserving the world's cultural diversity at a time of globalization—of both knowledge and economy—is in humanity's own interest of future viability. The world needs not one homogenized global knowledge society, as the Editorial suggests, but a global mosaic of multiple, pluralistic knowledge societies, each rooted in its own unique cultural identity. This latter view reflects the idea of “knowledge societies” espoused by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)—“the plural here,” the organization asserts in a report, “sanctions the need for an accepted diversity” ([ 2 ][3]). 1. [↵][4]1. S. Cao, 2. Q. Feng , Science 335, 1168 (2012). [OpenUrl][5][FREE Full Text][6] 2. [↵][7]UNESCO World Report, “Towards knowledge societies” (UNESCO Publishing, Paris, 2005), p. 5; . [1]: pending:yes [2]: #ref-1 [3]: #ref-2 [4]: #xref-ref-1-1 View reference 1 in text [5]: {openurl}?query=rft.jtitle%253DScience%26rft.stitle%253DScience%26rft.aulast%253DCao%26rft.auinit1%253DS.%26rft.volume%253D335%26rft.issue%253D6073%26rft.spage%253D1168%26rft.epage%253D1169%26rft.atitle%253DAsian%2BMedicine%253A%2BExploitation%2Bof%2BPlants%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Adoi%252F10.1126%252Fscience.335.6073.1168-b%26rft_id%253Dinfo%253Apmid%252F22403370%26rft.genre%253Darticle%26rft_val_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Ajournal%26ctx_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ver%253DZ39.88-2004%26url_ctx_fmt%253Dinfo%253Aofi%252Ffmt%253Akev%253Amtx%253Actx [6]: /lookup/ijlink/YTozOntzOjQ6InBhdGgiO3M6MTQ6Ii9sb29rdXAvaWpsaW5rIjtzOjU6InF1ZXJ5IjthOjQ6e3M6ODoibGlua1R5cGUiO3M6NDoiRlVMTCI7czoxMToiam91cm5hbENvZGUiO3M6Mzoic2NpIjtzOjU6InJlc2lkIjtzOjE1OiIzMzUvNjA3My8xMTY4LWIiO3M6NDoiYXRvbSI7czoyNDoiL3NjaS8zMzYvNjA3OC8xNTUuMy5hdG9tIjt9czo4OiJmcmFnbWVudCI7czowOiIiO30= [7]: #xref-ref-2-1 View reference 2 in text

Putting singular and plural morphology in context

This study explores the development of children's knowledge of linguistic and pragmatic aspects of singular and plural in Italian, for definite articles (Experiment 1) and verbs (Experiment 2). Participants aged three to adult were asked to pick objects from two dishes, each with a different number of items on them (one vs. two), following the morphological information. Results show that children understand that singular forms refer to 'one' at about age four, whereas they understand that plural forms refer to 'more than one' when they are older than six. Moreover, children use singular and plural knowledge in appropriate relation with the referential context only when they are about six.

Beyond the “fit”: introducing climate forecasts among organic farmers in Georgia (United States)

Organic farmers are a prime clientele for climate services by virtue of their social profile and vulnerability of produce to climate extremes. The study draws on an online survey and in-depth interviews with organic farmers in Georgia (United States). It shows that organic farmers access and act on climate information in ways that reflect their emphasis on diversified and flexible systems. They favor a pluralistic knowledge base that integrates scientific expertise with place-based experience and intuitive understandings. Their management style combines information at multiple temporal scales and draws on a range of technical and social resources. Translating climate forecasts into usable science for organic farming requires attention to the identities, commitments, and relationships that define the organic farming community.

A Continental Approach to Protecting Traditional Knowledge Systems and Related Resources in Africa

This paper concedes to the notion that the protection of African traditional knowledge systems at the regional level is urgently required. The disharmony and tension between the two existing, recognised and funtional regional organisations - Organisation Africaine de la Propriete Intellectuelle (OAPI) and African Regional Industrial Property Organisation (ARIPO) has contributed to the delay in the creation of harmonized laws protecting African traditional knowledge systems. Nonetheless, it is imperative to seek an appropriate porotection mechanism and emphasise the opinion that regional protection mechanisms should reflect the needs and customary ways of traditional peoples. Harmonisation of regional protection mechanisms will ensure the protection of African indigenous products including traditional knowledge, genetic resources, folklore, brands and values. The bottom up approach advocating legal and knowledge pluralism is an unavoidable feature of African communities and should be considered in establishing a regional legal framework. The coming together of African nations help to ensure that emerging international law gives recognition to their position on various intellectual property issues and there is increased awareness and coordination among these nations.

In Search of ‘Successful’ Accounting Research

This critical commentary on Ohlson's paper (in this issue) problematises the concept of ‘successful’ accounting research; highlighting its ex-post, variable nature as a socially manufactured object. Contrasting Ohlson's notion of a singular body of shared ‘common knowledge’ in accounting with the plurality of knowledges valued by different research communities, the commentary advocates a deliberate courting of heterogeneous research paradigms so as to stimulate insightful scholarship. The commentary also reflects on systemic trends underlying the growth of research measurement programmes, and points out that the quest for ‘successful’ research could perversely undermine the generation of memorable and innovative research. Finally, individual researchers are encouraged at each career stage to determine for themselves the intended results to which they aspire, conscious that there are multiple notions of ‘successful’ research and therefore multiple routes to success.

Journal Self-Citation VIII: An IS Researcher in the Dual Worlds of Author-Reader and Author-Institution

This paper responds to the question of whether it is ethical for a journal editor to request an author to cite papers from a journal to which one is submitting an article. To craft a response to this question, two sets of relationships are explored. The first set is an author-reader relationship, and the second set is an author-institution or community relationship. In these dual relationships, the author is considered to be an IS researcher who publishes and disseminates knowledge through the channel of research journals. The reason for articulating these twofold relationships is to go beyond the common belief that the author is the sole and autonomous source of knowledge creation and distribution. We posit that: (1) an author cannot exist isolated from the reader, and (2) an author exists only as a part of an institutional system which opens and at the same time constrains an author’s knowledge production. In other words, an author is destined to create knowledge within the constrained system. For that very reason, it is important to understand the author as a function of conditional discourse of a specific institution. We conclude that editors’ requests for an author to cite papers from a journal to which one is submitting an article is ethically critical to: (1) build a good author-reader relationship, and (2) produce rich and plural knowledge which is “good” for advancing learning in the global community.

Open and Distance Learning in Qualifying Social Work Education in Britain and the USA: Celebrating Diversity and Difference?

Social work educators seem to have mixed feelings about the development of open and distance learning in Britain and the USA. Open and distance learning has tended to be marginalised. It has been compared unfavourably to campus based programmes, but there has been a lack of research on this topic in the United Kingdom. However, research in the USA indicates that open and distance learning social work students have a high degree of satisfaction with teaching and learning approaches compared with those on campus based programmes, while student outcomes and level of achievement have been at least comparable to those on ‘traditional’ programmes. Some criticisms of open and distance learning in the UK are examined. These include narrow, mass produced, ‘assembly line’, mechanistic, isolating, individualistic approaches. Advantages of open and distance learning in the UK are considered, such as well organised teaching packs, flexibility and individual choice in pace, time and place of learning with especially good learning opportunities for mature women with family commitments. Improvements are advocated, centred around developing more opportunities to rehearse and develop practice skills, encouraging more divergent, critical thinkers operating from a more pluralistic knowledge base and the empowerment of students in collectives.

José Martí e a educação popular: um retorno às fontes

Este artigo apresenta uma leitura de José Martí como fonte histórica da educação popular na América Latina. Parte-se do pressuposto de que não pode haver uma verdadeira refundamentação sem o retorno àquilo que sejam momentos, idéias ou princípios fundantes da educação popular. Após situar brevemente o pensamento e a obra de José Martí, caracteriza-se o conceito de educação popular como educação do povo, no sentido de educação universal. Num outro nível, busca-se identificar na obra de Martí traços da educação popular como um movimento político-pedagógico que se configura especialmente a partir da segunda metade do século passado. A premissa é que, num dado momento, educação do povo e educação popular deixam de ser termos equivalentes e que, em José Martí, temos elementos para pensar esses dois termos de forma dialética, num movimento de recriação de uma prática que, embora cindida pelas contingências históricas, é única. São identificados em sua obra quatro princípios da educação popular: a valorização da pluralidade de saberes; a relação interpessoal como ambiente para o aprender-ensinar e base para a transformação social; o conhecimento da realidade a partir de uma perspectiva emancipatória como ato político; e a educação como processo autoformativo da sociedade.

The RAFT network: 5 years of distance continuing medical education and tele-consultations over the Internet in French-speaking Africa

Continuing education of healthcare professionals is a key element for the quality and efficiency of a health system. In developing countries, this activity is usually limited to capitals, and delocalized professionals do not have access to such opportunities, or to didactic material adapted to their needs. This limits the interest of such professionals to remain active in the periphery, where they are most needed to implement effective strategies for prevention and first-line healthcare. Telemedicine tools enable the communication and sharing of medical information in electronic form, and thus facilitate access to remote expertise. A physician located far from a reference center can consult its colleagues remotely in order to resolve a difficult case, follow a continuous education course over the Internet, or access medical information from digital libraries or knowledge bases. These same tools can also be used to facilitate exchanges between centers of medical expertise: health institutions of a same country as well as across borders. Since 2000, the Geneva University Hospitals have been involved in coordinating the development of a network for eHealth in Africa (the RAFT, Réseau en Afrique Francophone pour la Télémédecine), first in Mali, and now extending to 10 French-speaking African countries. The core activity of the RAFT is the webcasting of interactive courses. These sessions put the emphasis on knowledge sharing across care professionals, usually in the form of presentations and dialogs between experts in different countries. The technology used for the webcasting works with a slow (25 kbits/s) internet connection. Other activities of the RAFT network include visioconferences, teleconsultations based on the iPath system, collaborative knowledge bases development, support for medical laboratories quality control, and the evaluation of the use of telemedicine in rural areas (via satellite connections) in the context of multisectorial development. Finally, a strong emphasis is put on the development of capacities for the creation, maintenance, and publication of quality medical didactic contents. Specific courses are organized for the national coordinators of the network to develop these competencies, with the help of the Health-On-the-Net Foundation. The richness of the plurality of knowledge and know-how must be steered towards emulation and sharing, respectful of each partner's identity and culture. Collaborations with UNESCO and WHO have been initiated to address these challenges.