Knowledge Production Research Articles

The Impact of Technological Change on Knowledge Production and Exchange

The Impact of Technological Change on Knowledge Production and Exchange

Knowledge Production in the “Arab-Majority” World and Unlearning in the Field

This paper presents and autoethnographically analyzes three key sites in which the author—a Lebanese “Arabo-Muslim man”—failed to interpellate the lifeworlds of Lebanese “Arabo-Muslim” female participants during a research project in Lebanon: the public-private divide, gender, and the autonomous subject. Specifically, the article identifies key forces that produce this failure, including education, presence in the Westernized university, Westernized secularization, social class, family background, and urbanity, all situated within the larger structures of modernity/coloniality. Doing this, the article grates against the assumption that researchers who share a “race,” citizenship, language, or ethnicity and who are “from” the Arab region are de facto well placed to pursue decolonial knowledge production alongside the region and its dwellers. The article consequently posits the possibility of unlearning and relearning—disrupting this failure—through immersive embodied listening fieldwork within the material space of the Arab world, undoing the formation of an alienated, fractured, Westernized self. Moving beyond the cognitive and theoretical to the material, experiential, and embodied, the article accordingly underlines reflexive listening fieldwork's potential as a generative site (among others) from which alternative knowledges of/with/on the global South(s) can emerge.

Statistics as politics: a methodology for the critical approach of tourism quantification

ABSTRACT Quantification is a central instrument of tourism governance, as numbers are perceived as a solid factual basis for action. However, critical studies of quantification reveal the political, performative and constructed nature of statistics. Adopting this perspective, we offer an original methodological and conceptual framework for the analysis of tourism quantification systems. The framework includes the mapping of actors and datasets, ethnomethodological observation applied to statistical work, and discourse and controversy analysis. Such an investigation illuminates how the production of quantitative knowledge reflects and is embedded in power structures and power shifts in the tourism sector. It also allows to study quantitative observation as part of the sector's response to contemporary challenges, such as overtourism, the rise of big data, or sustainability.

Education Research and Policy: A Commentary on Jabbar and Menashy’s “Economic Imperialism in Education Research: A Conceptual Review”

In light of recent suggestions by Jabbar and Menashy that economics has colonized other social sciences and influenced the way policymakers enact education reforms, I examine the question whether economic imperialism warps education policy. For many reasons, I find the hypothesis unrealistic. It ignores that the term “economic imperialism” implies that there is a deliberate or concerted attempt among economists to subjugate other social scientists. It is weakened by the acceptance and enduring application of economic theory in law, psychology, corporate finance, sociology, healthcare, and so on. And it erodes one of the pillars upon which the academy rests: the collaborative production of knowledge which requires interactions and exchanges. I contest the claim that economics has taken over other disciplines and undermined the education reform process. I disagree that an overreliance on economic theory suffuses policymaking, and I find it hard to believe that by focusing primarily on economic outcomes, policymakers disregard other important aims of education. The hypothesis that the preponderance of economics in education policy is attributable to its usefulness is intrinsically realistic and avoids all undue antagonisms.

Metodologias sensíveis co-labor-ativas: produzir conhecimentos ‘junto com’ movimentos sociais e territórios para a transição paradigmática

ABSTRACT This essay discusses the methodological dimension in qualitative research in supporting movements of paradigmatic transition in public health. It reflects on the limits, needs, challenges and advances that the authors have been building to ‘work together’ with territories, community organizations and social movements that act within them, based on sensible collaborative methodologies. One of the main objectives of these methodologies involves the power of agency in instituting processes of the subjects who live, work and mobilize within the territories, in particular in recognizing, validating and supporting the production of knowledges aimed at social transformation, the struggle for rights, the search for dignity and well living. From the construction of Sustainable and Healthy Territories in the context of an agenda marked by socio-environmental crises, we propose a retrieval of epistemology with wisdom that combines ontological, methodological, pedagogical, artistic and affective dimensions. In this sense, social transformation also implies changing a hegemonic model of science that, in the name of objectivity, excludes knowledge systems and experiences born in other spheres of community life, including traditional ones. We end with a brief presentation of recent experiences of knowledges encounters and research projects that illustrate the proposed sensible methodologies.

Decolonizing global AI governance: assessment of the state of decolonized AI governance in Sub-Saharan Africa.

Global artificial intelligence (AI) governance must prioritize equity, embrace a decolonial mindset, and provide the Global South countries the authority to spearhead solution creation. Decolonization is crucial for dismantling Western-centric cognitive frameworks and mitigating biases. Integrating a decolonial approach to AI governance involves recognizing persistent colonial repercussions, leading to biases in AI solutions and disparities in AI access based on gender, race, geography, income and societal factors. This paradigm shift necessitates deliberate efforts to deconstruct imperial structures governing knowledge production, perpetuating global unequal resource access and biases. This research evaluates Sub-Saharan African progress in AI governance decolonization, focusing on indicators like AI governance institutions, national strategies, sovereignty prioritization, data protection regulations, and adherence to local data usage requirements. Results show limited progress, with only Rwanda notably responsive to decolonization among the ten countries evaluated; 80% are 'decolonization-aware', and one is 'decolonization-blind'. The paper provides a detailed analysis of each nation, offering recommendations for fostering decolonization, including stakeholder involvement, addressing inequalities, promoting ethical AI, supporting local innovation, building regional partnerships, capacity building, public awareness, and inclusive governance. This paper contributes to elucidating the challenges and opportunities associated with decolonization in SSA countries, thereby enriching the ongoing discourse on global AI governance.

Vanishing Nubia

As the Nasserist state built a large hydroelectric dam in the south of Egypt in the early 1960s, Egyptian botanists undertook salvage surveys of the area to be flooded behind the dam, known as historic Nubia. Scientists in these surveys searched for a type of palm tree (Medemia argun) well documented in ancient Egyptian tombs but unrecorded “in living condition” since the late eighteenth century. Gathering written and photographic accounts in memoirs, archives, and botanical tracts, this essay charts the documentary traces of the search for Medemia argun and the affective responses that surface along the margins of texts to show how debate over the potential absence or extinction of a “flagship” endogenous plant coincided with two important shifts in botanical knowledge production: transitions in botany as a discipline that employed new research methodologies and located Egypt “geobotanically” as the temporal and spatial origin for world flora; and transitions in botany as an arena of scientific expertise during postcolonial nationalism's reordering of the Egyptian academy. Building on extinction and destroyed landscape studies, this article explores ecological lexicons of absence and practices of “following” in botany.

Post-independence health research productivity in Portuguese-speaking African countries: A bibliometric analysis of 43 years of research and higher education in Mozambique

BackgroundAfrica has a high double burden of infectious and non-communicable diseases underscoring the critical need for robust scientific research. However, it is also associated with low scientific research productivity. Mozambique, which gained independence in 1975, serves as a poignant example. However, there remains a notable scarcity of evidence evaluating the country's trajectory in scientific and academic development. This study aims to evaluate 43 years of health-related scientific knowledge production through bibliometric analysis, focusing on key indicators. Additionally, it seeks to characterize the higher education institutions within the country. MethodsThe data was retrieved from the Web of Science Core Collection using an advanced search tool with Boolean research strategies, covering the period from 1976 to 2022 for all PALOP and 1976 to 2019 for Mozambique. To map Mozambican higher institutions, information was sourced from the Ministry of Science Technology and Higher Education database. Descriptive statistics were employed to summarize the findings, while the VOSviewer program version 1.6.19 was utilized to visualize distance-based bibliometric networks, focusing on co-authorship among institutions and keyword co-occurrence. ResultsPortuguese-speaking African countries (PALOP) contribute 2.5 % (10,933 out of 442,309) to Africa's total scientific output, with Mozambique leading at 63.6 % (6,951 publications) followed by Angola at 16.6 % (1,811 publications). All PALOP countries experienced decreased scientific productivity during the third year of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Mozambique, over 70 % (1,710 out of 2,380) of health-related publications from 2011 to 2019 were concentrated in this period. Key journals for health sciences include PLOS ONE, Malaria Journal, and Tropical Medicine & International Health, focusing on HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. Higher education institutions in Mozambique show regional disparities, with 67.9 % in the South and only 8.9 % in the North, indicating significant inequality in their distribution across the country. ConclusionThis study highlights Mozambique's significant progress in health research productivity over 43 years, establishing it as a leader among PALOP countries. The substantial increase in publications, particularly after 2008, underscores the nation's growing research capacity and commitment to addressing critical health challenges such as HIV, malaria, and tuberculosis. However, regional disparities in higher education access and limited research contributions from private universities remain high in Mozambique.

Race, Time, and the Petrified Subject in Algeria

Two major thinkers of anti-colonialism in Algeria—Kateb Yacine, author of the novel Nedjma (1956), and Frantz Fanon—described the impacts of colonial violence through figures of petrification that blur the border between human and nonhuman. Their works ground this article's relational reading across anti-Black and anti-Algerian racializations, drawing on Sylvia Wynter's concept of rhythmic reading and scholarship on comparative racialization. Petrification seeks to capture subjective absence: a modality of living as a negated subject who is excluded from the category of the human. This relational frame suggests absence as a plural, disappearing mode of knowledge production under colonialism. Yacine's novel fleshes out alternative modalities of being human that appear, in Fanon's Algerian writings, as flickers en route to revolution, or clinical diagnoses. Fanon's oeuvre and its readers generate a new critique of Yacine's canonical novel. This article develops absence as a new vocabulary, beyond colonial psychiatry and its agentive resistance, for the reading of literature from the settler colony. Building on feminist critiques of Nedjma, it names anti-Blackness in the novel as an instance of the text's participation in the field of Man at the moment it tries to write, through absence, its outside.

Engagement of early career researchers in collaborative assessments of IPCC reports: achievements and insights

The participation of a diverse –in terms of geography, discipline and gender– group of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in the peer review process can help alleviate the workload of senior researchers and counteract the perceptual biases that the latter tend to show. Moreover, ECRs can benefit from developing skills that are often not included in educational programs. From 2018 to 2021, the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists, in collaboration with other associations, organized six group reviews of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) reports by a total of more than 600 ECRs from over 70 different countries. This study aims to evaluate this group review in terms of its contribution to the production of scientific knowledge, and as a career development opportunity for ECRs. The data analyzed consists of application forms, review comments, and feedback surveys that were collected during each review process. The results of this study show that, overall, the group reviews were a success in terms of the experience of ECRs and their contribution to the peer review of the IPCC reports. Most survey respondents considered the general organization of the group reviews satisfactory and expressed interest in participating in future group reviews. However, most participants did not engage in discussions with their peers, which constitutes a missed opportunity to engage in active learning and the shared production of knowledge. ECRs made a significant contribution to the review of the IPCC reports by producing an average of 2,422 ± 532 comments per group review, 36% of which were substantive. PhD students were shown to be as proficient reviewers as postdoctoral researchers and faculty reviewers. More importantly, the diversity of reviewers in terms of geography and discipline, together with the fact that they are ECRs, can help produce more balanced scientific reports since they bring new perspectives, thus counteracting the biases that senior researchers have. These group reviews could be improved by providing more comprehensive training and facilitating communication among reviewers so that they can engage in meaningful exchanges. We conclude that the IPCC should formalize the inclusion of ECRs in future reviews of the IPCC reports.

Decolonisation and South African Psychology research 30 years after democracy

On the occasion of 30 years of South African democracy, we reflect on the current state of Psychology research in South Africa. We conducted a situational analysis of all papers appearing in the South African Journal of Psychology ( SAJP) and abstracts in PsycINFO with the keyword ‘South Africa’ over the last 5 years and compared the results with a previous review that used the same methodology. Findings show an increase in papers using ‘hard’ science approaches and a decrease in systems-oriented theories. Assessment remains a major topic. While COVID-19 and climate change featured, there remains a lack of or low focus on several key psycho-social issues experienced by South Africans. People living in poorer provinces and young and older people are under-represented in knowledge production. Collaborations or comparisons with other African or South American countries have decreased. Positively, production is being spearheaded by South African scholars or people affiliated with South African institutions. Using a decolonising lens that foregrounds epistemic justice, we conclude that substantial work remains to be done for knowledge production in South African Psychology to fulfil the decolonising imperative of distributive epistemic justice.

Tweeting the academic resistance in Turkey and Hungary: from cultural crisis to defending the nation

ABSTRACT This paper explores the reemergence of universities as spaces for the contestation of government policies in an era of illiberalism, rising nationalism and populism. We focus on high-profile contestations occurring at two public universities in Turkey and Hungary: Boğaziçi University and the University of Theatre and Film Arts, respectively. At both universities, attacks on democratic governance and liberal-democratic values have resulted in academic resistance that have played out on physical campuses and in online spaces. We conceptualise a virtual space as a space of contestation and analyse social media data to identify the dominant narratives of governments and their supporters on one side and resistance supporters on the other that gives the way to two major narratives: while right-wing imaginaries and pro-government actors frame the liberal and pro-freedom inclinations of universities as a ‘threat’ to the nation, students and faculty portray the government as the true threat to their rights and freedoms and knowledge production within what was once a ‘safe space’ in universities, thus framing themselves as the ‘true guardians’ of their institutions. Our analysis shows how universities have become contemporary flashpoints in and upon which broader political contestations over national culture play out.

Catalysing gender transformation in research through engaging African science granting councils

Science investments should benefit everyone; however, research still predominantly lacks gender integration, resulting in incomplete findings and inequitable outcomes. Moreover, despite some progress, gender disparities persist in the research workforce. Research funders, including science granting councils, are pivotal in driving gender transformation through shaping knowledge production and research infrastructure. We report on key findings from the Science Granting Councils Initiative (SGCI) in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Gender Equality and Inclusivity (GEI) Project – a multi-year participatory intervention aimed at strengthening the capacities of councils to integrate GEI across their functions. Participating councils were located in 13 African countries, and their actions spanned four domains: building organisational GEI infrastructure; reshaping norms, practices, and power relations that perpetuate gender inequality; implementing targeted measures to address women’s unequal access to resources and research opportunities; and promoting collective ownership of efforts to advance GEI in the research and innovation ecosystem.

Integrating science on indigenous arts, culture, and law: A sine qua non for Africa’s true independence from colonialism and eurocentrism

Africa has been fighting against colonialism and Eurocentrism for a long time in an attempt to reverse the regime of oppression and socio-economic marginalization and exploitation, and take back control of its cultural identity and right to self-determination. This adventure requires the recognition and revitalisation of indigenous arts, culture, and law—all of which have been subjugated and ignored during colonial rule. Ironically, the situation has not improved much by the dominating presence of post-independent neo-colonial structures and perpetuated Eurocentric phenomenon that have been ingrained into the socio-cultural and economic fabrics of the African state. This research explores the critical need for integrating science on African indigenous arts, culture, and legal systems, as a way of globalizing as well as revitalizing these elements, towards the ultimate emancipation of the continent from the vestiges of colonialism and Eurocentricism. Relying on the postcolonial, and indigenous knowledge systems theoretical frameworks, the study engages the ethnographic, collaborative and interdisciplinary research approaches, subjecting data obtained to thematic analysis. Underscoring the profound interconnectedness of science, indigenous arts, and cultural heritage, the study argues that combining scientific methods with indigenous African epistemology provides a powerful framework for advancing Africa’s true independence from the protracted legacies of colonialism and Eurocentrism. The research concludes that a holistic integration of these elements therefore, is indispensable for fostering a decolonized and inclusive approach to knowledge production, self-determination and sustainable development, against the background of the rich insights and sustainable practices embedded within the African cultural traditions. Ultimately, the research recommends that embracing and integrating science on indigenous epistemologies can propel Africa towards an emancipated, truly independent, and culturally affirming future, transcending the enduring legacies of colonialism and Eurocentrism.

Iʿjāz of the Qurʿān for Using the Words Gold, Silver and Not Money

The production of knowledge on iʿjāz in economy is strongly influenced by the literature on scientific miracles of the Qurʿān. The interpretation of the verses of the Qurʿān pertaining to maʿāsh comes up against the binary logic aimed at constructing a scientific identity by summoning key concepts from mainstream economic thought. This article is based on philology as an art of reading well to shed light on the iʿjāz of the Qurʿān through the use of the words gold and silver and not that of money. It is structured around multidisciplinary approach and a qualitative analysis through the meanings in reference to the literature on the secrets of eloquence and evidence of the inimitability of the Qurʿān. The results showed that the iʿjāz in the use of the words gold and silver invites to live in the world of rizq, as an umwelt or 風土 fūdo. This mode of existence provides resilience against voluntary servitude to the system of monetary creation ex nihilo by the interest loan granted by commercial banks. Such particular way is a thematic interpretation of the verses relating to the means to acquit the rights of the Creator and those of the creatures. It converges like Hénon attractor as a chaotic fractal set with research in history, anthropology and numismatics which does not use the word money.

Analysis of convergence between a unified One Health policy framework and imbalanced research portfolio

The One Health (OH) approach is collaborative, multisectoral, and transdisciplinary, acknowledging the interdependence among animal, human and environmental health. It has garnered attention within the scientific community, particularly in response to the rising prevalence and global spread of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Common OH issues include zoonotic diseases, antimicrobial resistance (AMR), food and water safety, and the human-animal bond. Among various OH topics, AMR represents a well-described, long-term, complex issue, with a substantial global death toll and large economic costs. Whereas interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary teamwork seems appropriate to address such complex challenges, effects on knowledge production are poorly known. In this study, we investigate how the scientific community mobilizes “One Health.” A comparative bibliometric analysis of OH and AMR research enabled us to assess the level of transdisciplinary research, identify emerging themes, through a co-occurrence network analysis of keywords, and disciplines mobilized, through a co-citation network analysis of scientific journals, in research, as well as level of international collaboration through analysis of co-authorship among countries. We detected a lack of consideration for non-communicable diseases (e.g., obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular diseases) and the well-being of human and animal populations in analysis of themes. Furthermore, although many disciplines are involved in OH and AMR research, little attention was given to social sciences, environmental health, economics, and politics. There was a strong influence of major global economic powers, including the United States and China, in scientific research on OH and AMR, as well as substantial collaboration among European countries. The present results indicated that guidelines are needed to address the mentioned concerns, and specific funds are required for underrepresented countries.

A Critical Look at Digital Media, the Intellectual Property Regime and Free Open Source Software

This article examines how the intellectual property regime works in digital media and how free open source software is pushing the boundaries of the regime on the digital realm. The main purpose of this article is to highlight the differences that models of knowledge production can make in the process of building a participatory society. This article uses Michael Gibbons' Mode 1 and Mode 2 theories as a method. In the light of this theory, power relations in the production and distribution of knowledge are discussed. The Mode 2 model points to a commons-based model of knowledge production that has a democratic potential. The intellectual property regime is struggling to control the flow of information on the internet. It is quite difficult for the intellectual property rights regime to control the circulation of knowledge on the Internet, as digital media play a key role in the free flow of knowledge. Free open source software is an effective model for those who support the free flow of information in the digital space.

The Mode 3 Networked University

The idea of a modern university is a constantly changing and often contested concept. This paper traces the idea of a university using three modes. These modes are the Mode 1 Ivory Tower, Mode 2 Factory and Mode 3 Network. This framework draws upon higher education literature as well as three modes of knowledge production. I use these modes as a framework to describe the genealogical and historical development of the university in the Western world. These however are not purely historical and elements of their characteristics can be found within and between university institutions today. A genealogy shows a historical path dependency (i.e a teaching and research institution) of the idea of a university and a new materialism perspective shows the coming together of the many elements of the network assemblage which includes the discourse on the idea of a university clashing with new ideas, technologies and policy. The growth and development of the modern university from small, autonomous, elite and autonomous in mode 1 to large, mass regulated factory with marketplace outputs within neoliberal societies is well documented. The Mode 3 Network University is emerging with a potential for universal access with networked societies and technologies and has many actors influencing its becoming and idea. The 2020 Covid-19 pandemic and a broadening multidisciplinary approach to the field of Networked Learning has been called for and I introduce the possibility of theoretically analysing the becoming and enactment of the Mode 3 Network University using concepts and frameworks from the broad field of New Materialism. Such approaches take into account the complex assemblage and network of actors which are human and non-human in the growing and diversifying university. The growth and marketisation of the university has added to this complexity with commercial 'unbundling' taking place. Degrees, institutions and functions are being unbundled and rebundled and this active complex network of actors including technologies, humans (academics, students, employers, wider public) and the residual path dependency of the three modes are in tension and conflict but come together to enact the modern university. New Material methodologies allow for these many influences to come together in a 'flat ontology' to allow for a more nuanced and new approach to research in Networked Learning.

Strategic connectivity in 5G and 6G and remote surgery: The case of Germany

This article addresses the topic of 5G and 6G as a Technological Innovation System (TIS) along with the industrial application of Remote Surgery as an empirical case, exploring three main contributions. Firstly, this research contributes to the connection of the Technological Innovation Systems perspective and 5G and 6G networks in a quantitative viewpoint at national and international levels. Secondly, it contributes to Knowledge Production (F2) and Diffusion (F3) studies through Bibliometrics and software uses. Third, it contributes to the studies of a connection in 5G and 6G networks in the Remote Surgery empirical case application on TIS analytical background. Methodologically, the research problem of this study is to explore the R&D capacity in 5G and 6G TIS concerning the applicability of Remote Surgery worldwide and, consequently, in Germany. The general objective is to improve the industrial relevance of Remote Surgery through quantifying publications and patents and the collaborative networks in these domains. According to publications and patent data, the results reveal a crucial R&D map of Germany until 2021.

Studying and stimulating a sense of community through co‐productive zine‐making in public libraries

AbstractThis paper reports on our ongoing experiences of using co‐productive zine‐making as a creative and participatory method in a research project on public libraries as social infrastructures. Engaging different audiences, including library management and staff, patrons and urban government authorities, the project aims to simultaneously study and stimulate a sense of community in public libraries. While many libraries already deploy zine‐making programmes as a low‐cost visitor activity, we use it as both a data collection and community‐building tool. Co‐productive zine‐making offers opportunities for reflection and mutual understanding to foster education, exchange and encounter between different stakeholders. It challenges the traditional power dynamics of knowledge production in academia and beyond. Zine‐making can act as a creative tool that pushes researchers to be more (self‐)reflexive. Yet, despite these benefits, zine‐making does not come without challenges, and therefore requires a specific researchers' skillset. This paper provides insight into both practical and ethical issues we encountered before, during and after the organisation of the first out of five zine‐making workshops in our project, held with community librarians in Rotterdam.