Knowledge Production Research Articles

Responsible extractivism and other tales. LinkedIn, feel good, and the politics of responsible mining on social media

This article uses LinkedIn posts of responsible cobalt service providers to address the role of social media as a tool for corporate social responsibility. I argue that through written narrative, photographic practices, and knowledge production, these small companies assert their dominance on an industry that partly defines the transition to greener consumption. However, a close analysis of the discourses propagated via these mediums suggests that white supremacist, racist, and (post)colonial conceptions of African miners are reiterated and reproduced, largely preventing improvements in Congolese artisanal cobalt mines. Through invisibilization, fetishization, saviorism, and business development, these LinkedIn tales negate miners’ agencies. I illuminate a dual use of contrast in photographic content in the contrasting professionalization of white and African actors and using technical visual ratio and tones to legitimize and magnify their intended actions. Finally, I analyze the information grabbing through the control over information production and dissemination, with self-organized online events and participation in global and regional conferences as a system of othering of Congolese voices in favor of ‘feel good’ activities of service providers.’

A indexação da informação jurídica: mapeamento sistemático na área de Ciência da Informação

This paper addresses the information processing, more precisely, the theme of the indexing of legal information. Its objective is to analyze the scientific production on the theme in the area of Information Science, aiming at the elaboration of a systematic mapping of literature and identification of an overview of these publications. This is a theoretical, exploratory and descriptive research, with a qualitative and quantitative approach. The bibliographic databases searched were BRAPCI, LISTA, Redalyc, SciELO, Scopus and CAPES Periodicals Portal. The works analyzed point to the librarian’s need for specialized knowledge about the indexing of legal information. All articles dealt with the scarcity of works and discussions about the theme, and the need for further research in order to minimize noise at the time of searching. The conclusion is that the production of scientific knowledge disseminated by scientific journals on the theme, in the period from 2002 to 2022, includes ten articles by Brazilian authors associated mainly with universities. The articles bring important contributions to the research and practice of indexing legal information, but the problem of scarcity of works persists.

Anthropologies of health policy

In this introduction to our special issue, we take a wide view of the history and epistemic stakes of anthropological and ethnographic approaches to health policy. Drawing on the history of critical medical anthropology, the anthropology of policy, and critical policy studies, we show how anthropologies of health policy are particularly essential in this current moment, as policy production becomes increasingly abstracted and even more entwined with specific forms of evidence making. Taken together, the contributors of this special issue argue that anthropology’s interventions into health policy are essential in three ways. First, they shed light on the practices of policy ‘communities’, the pragmatic parameters under which they work, and the central logics under which health policy actors are operating. Second, they examine the effects of policy implementation upon those intended to be the subjects of health policy, highlighting the effects of policy for those marginalised by gender, race, and caste. Here, anthropology provides a view into the ‘lived experience’ of those targeted by health policy, but it also demands that anthropologists provide ‘counter-stories’ and ‘counter-evidences’ that dismantle narrow systems of policy knowledge production. Finally, anthropological attention provides an essential lens into the things that carry over in the act of policy reform—the past reverberations and imperial inheritances. Together with our contributors, we call for anthropologies of health policy that work to highlight and dismantle such inheritances.

Knowledge production in refugee studies from the South: Theorization of refugee labour in the literature on Turkey

Abstract This article explores the case of the migration studies industry in Turkey, which has flourished over the past decade, through an examination of knowledge production on refugee labour. Focusing on research about Syrian refugees’ labour and employment in Turkey between 2012 and 2018, the article discusses the ways in which refugee labour is articulated and studied to provide ground for a wider critique of migration-related knowledge production. This study aims to reflexively question academic outputs by (1) exploring the conceptual frames used broadly in research on refugee labour, and (2) developing an overview of the literature on Turkey with a focus on this topic. Through the case of the literature on refugee labour in Turkey, we explore the underlying political economy premises of migration research. This case serves as an example to argue that knowledge produced in a Southern context is mainly incorporated as case studies despite attempts to advance theoretical discussions, highlighting a North–South hierarchization of knowledge.

The Moral Economies of Reflexive Migration Studies

Abstract Reflexive Migration Studies has emerged as a subfield of Migration Studies. Drawing on moral economy perspectives, we explore how the entanglement of, and tensions between, moral and economic rationalities shape the development of a field of knowledge production in which we ourselves partake. Clearly, Reflexive Migration Studies has not emerged in a vacuum but through socio-material practices and in a specific scientific context and community. Using the case of the Migration Studies landscape in Germany, we suggest that a moral economies perspective allows us to examine the production of knowledge infrastructures, scholarly identities, and research outputs that are key in creating a new academic field. By scrutinizing these infrastructures, identities, and outputs, we point to tensions between some of the morally charged claims and the material conditions and labour contexts of doing Reflexive Migration Studies. With our contribution, we want to raise questions regarding the direction that we, as scholars participating in the field, are taking. We see the risk that the critique brought forward in Reflexive Migration Studies falters in light of prevailing economies of scientific knowledge production and academic labour.

Status positions and scientific Capital in Russian Science

The paper addresses scientific capital distribution and describes status positions of scientists in the field of modern Russian science. Inequalities in science are associated with a variety of factors including gender, wealth, symbolic and moral authority etc. However, technological development has emphasized the significance of new inequality forms based on digital and networking skills. An important question is how these new inequality factors change the field of science. The theoretical and methodological framework of the paper is based on the ideas of R. Merton on the differentiated allocation of rewards, as well as the provisions of P. Bourdieu on dominance in the field of science and on the types of scientific capital. The authors present the result of an online survey of Russian scientists (N=551), the aim of which was to identify the gaps and contradictions within the field of Russian science. To differentiate between the status positions of scientists the authors constructed an integral index of scientific status, according to which all the scientists were divided into three categories with low, medium and high status positions. Empirical data show that there is a contradiction between the scientific dominance based on formal status, and the one based on the production of advanced scientific knowledge. Formal characteristics of the scientific status do not fully reflect subjective perception of the return on the accumulated scientific capital. It is suggested that the elimination of contradictions by means of science policies may contribute to the development of Russian science.

Reflections and Tessituras From Course Conclusion Work: Where Is Physical Education in Ceará Heading?

In many institutions in Brazil, it is necessary to prepare a Final Course Work to obtain a bachelor's degree. The TCCs (Trabalhos de Conclusão de Curso) reveal trends in scientific production, as is the case with Physical Education programs, structured in accordance with the National Curriculum Guidelines (2018). This study aimed to analyze the themes and theoretical contributions reflected in the Final Course Works that support scientific production in the field of Physical Education at a University Center located in the State of Ceará. The bibliographic research was predominantly qualitative. Data were analyzed using Content Analysis and simple descriptive statistics. The results showed a higher production from undergraduate programs (54.4%), with bibliographic research and foundational, diagnostic, or descriptive studies being the most used in the six semesters analyzed. The main emerging topics were studies on Digital Addiction, Remote Teaching, and Physical Education as a tool for preventing generalized anxiety disorder. In this scenario, the practice of mapping and evaluating knowledge production in the field of Physical Education is gradually becoming recurrent as it uncovers possibilities and breakthroughs in this area of knowledge.

British politics symposium on Ben Clift (2022) the OBR and the politics of technocratic economic governance (Oxford University Press)

AbstractThis contribution to the symposium situates Clift’s (The office of budget responsibility and the politics of technocratic economic governance, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2023a) book in wider scholarship on ‘epistemic politics’ in comparative and international political economy. I argue that the book serves to foreground the power and politics of economic knowledge and technocratic expertise in three ways: (1) by unpacking the ‘everyday’ life of ideas as grounded in material processes of knowledge production; (2) lifting the veil on the ‘model world’ of economic policy by analysing the epistemological foundations of technocracy; and (3) deconstructing the politics of crisis by revealing the OBR’s critical role in interpreting and narrating developments like Brexit and Covid. The rest of the paper is devoted to reflecting on the core theme of the book—technocratic economic governance—focussed on three related issues: problematising technocracy and technocratic expertise; the dynamics of learning and accountability; and the importance of historicising economic governance since 2010.

Situating knowledges, making kin and telling stories: Geographical encounters with Donna J Haraway

Donna Haraway has been a constant presence in geographical thought and practice over the past 30 years. From her early and very influential essay on Situated Knowledges, to her more recent engagements with the Anthropocene in Staying with the Trouble, her work has become a key reference point for questioning the production of geographical knowledge. In this commentary I trace the influence of Haraway's thought on geographical scholarship, exploring how it both shapes our disciplinary histories and provides a critical lens upon them. In particular I highlight how Haraway's work informs feminist and more-than-human geographies, resonates with Indigenous ontologies and challenges geographers to reflect critically on the implications of their positionality and provinciality for academic research.

Analysis of knowledge production in Applied Social Sciences in Scientific Initiation

Analysis of knowledge production in Applied Social Sciences in Scientific Initiation

Making Global Climate Action work for nature and people: Priorities for Race to Zero and Race to Resilience

There is increasing recognition in science and policy that the current nature and climate change crises are highly intertwined, and that these need to be jointly addressed. Within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Race to Zero (R2Z) and the Race to Resilience (R2R) campaigns foster climate action by cities, regions, businesses, investors, and civil society organizations for mitigation and adaptation. The campaigns are part of UNFCCC-backed institutional arrangements linking intergovernmental climate governance with actions beyond national commitments to support the implementation of the Paris Agreement, also referred to as the Global Climate Action Agenda (GCAA). Both mobilization campaigns highlight and promote the contribution of nature to climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience. Yet, the integration of nature in climate ambition is more complex than indicated in the calls to action. We here identify key areas of concern in the alignment of climate and biodiversity goals, discussing the biophysical and socio-ecological considerations relative to (i) practices for enhancing land-based and marine sinks to limit warming; (ii) the unpredictability of biodiversity dynamics under climate change; (iii) the spatial scale at which actions can be implemented; and (iv) the types of metrics that can be used for tracking progress. We provide recommendations for the two mobilization campaigns to integrate in their criteria and metrics frameworks to support effective and equitable actions that deliver for climate, but also for nature and people. We then make a call to action for transdisciplinary knowledge production and dissemination that strengthens science-policy interactions.

A comparative Study of the Fifth Generation University in Iran's Higher Education (case study: Iran and Selected Countries)

Introduction: This study aimed to study the comparison of fifth generation universities in higher education in Iran and selected countries in a qualitative and comparative way. Method: In this research, the Kandel method was used to identify the components of the fifth generation university, and the Boley method was used to analyze the data to extract common and non-common components. The data collection method was web-based and purposive sampling. By checking the keywords in the databases, the articles that were published in both English and Farsi in the field of the components of the fifth generation university until September 21, 2022 were selected and carefully studied and analyzed Results: With thematic analysis of 23 components of the fifth spiral model to¬ as the base model of the fifth generation university.5 Components that were abundant between one and 3 countries were removed and the effective components that were abundant in more than 5 countries remained. After the merger of the component, which was of a single nature, 3 similar components (sensitive to the environment) were. The developer of environmental sustainability and the use of fashion 3 for the production of knowledge and innovation and 15 components between selected countries and Iran were extracted as differential components. Conclusion: Finally, according to the results of this research, in order to reach the fifth generation university, the need to design and present appropriate strategies by managers and decision makers، To reduce the distance of differential universities with the leading universities in this field.

Touching the Soul

Abstract Exploring music’s influence on the physiological model developed by the Benedictine natural philosopher Benito J. Feijoo (1676–1764), this article aims to contribute to ongoing conversations about the role of intersensory, affectional, and gender experiences in the production of knowledge. One of the most influential writers in the Hispanic world, Feijoo sought to explain how the impressions of the external world captured by the senses could come to provoke “passions” or “movements of the soul,” what today we call “emotions.” The article suggests that Feijoo’s deep knowledge of the nature of sound, his observations and readings about music’s influence on mood and health, and above all, the intense feelings that music aroused in him influenced his view on the physiology of emotions.

Information from sound: exploring sounds and listening in information practices research

Introduction. This conceptual paper discusses the possibilities for expanding research around sounds/listening and sound-related practices in information research to further understandings of embodied/sensory information practices and attend to a greater diversity of information experiences and ways of knowing. Method/Analysis. The growth of research related to broad conceptualisations of sound and listening and the use of information from sound in knowledge production across many fields is discussed. Some challenges faced by that research and gaps in existing sound-related information practices research are noted. Results. Sound research in other fields faces issues around the management, interpretation, and contextualisation of sound-related data, and little is understood about the practices of sound recordists. Some information practices-related research has highlighted the complexity of interactions with sounds and related technologies and explored interactions with oral and music information sources. However, experiences and perceptions around seeking, creating, and using information from sounds lack in-depth study. Conclusion. The value of further information practices research related to sound is suggested: to expand embodied/sensory information research, to engage with the broad range of sonic skills and experiences, to further holistic examinations of information interactions, and to address information-related problems and research gaps in sound-focused research from other fields.

Introduction

Abstract Our special issue approaches knowledge as a product of intermingled sensory experiences in ways that confound neat divisions of body/mind, exterior/interior, subject/object, cognition, emotion, and imagination. Rejecting “cognitive ocularcentrism,” as well as approaches that focus on any single sense, we articulate an intersensorial framework premised on the entanglement of touch with other senses, particularly sight. Through this, we highlight hidden epistemic multiplicities, intersubjectivities, and literary strategies for the study of gender in the history of science, especially in reference to the gendering of personae and emotions. The putative rise of the visual in modern science was always already intersensorial, no matter how much cognitive ocularcentrism sought to tame this. By attending to seeming distractions within knowledge production, our issue seeks to reintegrate science back into the immersive flow of intersensorial experience and recover the sensuous webs that connect actors, geographies, fields, and time periods habitually separated.

‘Axis of Evil’ and the Academic Repression of Palestine Solidarity

In general, Palestine solidarity activism—irrespective of how and where it happens—faces censorship and repression, whereby solidarity with Palestine as a (national) cause is stigmatized and considered toxic to any mainstream discussion of the politics of Palestine/Israel. Academia tends to follow this norm of stigmatization and toxification of Palestine solidarity and any recognition of the legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle for liberation is viewed as a violation of the norms of scientific (i.e. objective) knowledge production. More recently, the adoption of the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance working definition of antisemitism has played a critical role in censuring and censoring individual scholars and scholarship deemed too supportive of the Palestinian struggle. In this article, however, I view this manner of repression as embedded in a political project that extends far beyond the working definition. Specifically, I argue that the academic repression of Palestine solidarity draws on the lasting discursive legacies of the Global War on Terror that sought to bifurcate the world into ‘good’ and ‘evil.’ Drawing on my personal experiences of repression where my work has been charged as being antisemitic, sympathetic to terrorism/terrorists and defending fundamentalism, I argue that lumping Palestinian solidarity with all things evil, abnormal, disruptive, negative, and inappropriate represents a continuation of the Global War on Terror as the Palestinian cause is toxified as nothing more than an extension of the ‘Axis of Evil.’

Epistemic Oppression and Affective Exclusion

Epistemic oppression is the systematic exclusion of oppressed groups from knowledge-making practices. One of the goals of feminist epistemology is to understand the nature of the barriers preventing oppressed individuals from realising their epistemic agency and contributing to knowledge production. Feminist epistemologists have taken monumental strides in theorising the different forms of exclusions that constitute epistemic oppression (e.g., Fricker 2007; Dotson 2014; Bailey 2014). But more needs to be done by way of understanding what makes an oppressive epistemic landscape resilient and resistant to change. In this paper, I develop a pragmatist account of the affective mechanisms in place that protect the epistemic landscape from critical reflection and produce what I refer to as affective exclusion. I argue that, since the mechanism that protects the epistemic landscape from critical reflection is affective by nature, we cannot reason ourselves out of affective exclusion. Instead, I propose that, although they often prevent us from realising our epistemic agency, our co-occurring emotions and feelings, such as grief, anxiety, and other epistemic feelings, can be catalysts for reflection about the skewed nature of the epistemic landscape. I conclude with a discussion of the role that narrative fiction might play in helping us resist affective exclusion and ending epistemic oppression.

Już tu. Lokalność przed i ponad uprzestrzennieniem

The article presents locality in the light of Bernard Stiegler’s philosophy, placing particular emphasis on the non-spatial (non-territorial) dimension of locality, as well as on its relationship to temporality, idiomaticity, sense-making, and knowledge production. Such locality is thus more about what gives or produces place than what protects it. The concept of locality described in the article is a counterweight to discourses presenting locality as a cure for globalization and its dangers, in which locality appears as a constitutive, sustainable, harmonious, and originating place, prior to the technological exploitation of nature. Key-words: différance, gram, grammatology, Jacques Derrida, anticipation, temporality

Research and Development Collaborations Within the Context of a South African Developmental State

The article explores the significance of research and development (R&D) collaborations and partnerships between government and academia as a strategy to be employed in shaping the developmental agenda in states. The authors provide both a conceptual view and findings from primary data which interrogated the notion that a ‘research community’ should be anchored on its collaborative efforts and continuously strive for partnership creations with the aim of transforming societies and serving the public. An observation is made on the prospects of South Africa’s provincial governments and academia forging collaborations and partnerships with an open approach and common goals in order for the collaborations to have a purposeful meaning to the public. The current state of affairs in South Africa as alluded to in the National Development Plan (NDP) warrants for a developmental agenda that is dominated by knowledge production, dissemination and its uptake thereof. This context therefore enjoins different role players such as government and academia/research institutions and the private sector to work together and solve developmental problems such as poverty, inequality, unemployment and service delivery challenges. It is through initiatives such as R&D collaborations and partnerships that these aforementioned challenges can be curbed; however, this requires these sectors to do things differently. The Public Management Reform Theory provided the theoretical framework in this article as it advocates for an improved public sector’s administrative structures, coordination, management and operations. In addition, this theory envisages a better and modernized public service that delivers services in an effective and efficient manner. The theory points out to a paradigm shift in terms of how the public sector is traditionally perceived to one that is modernized, decentralized, customer friendly and economically and socially reformed. The methodology adopted in this article includes a qualitative research method, desktop research and document analysis. There is substantial primary data and secondary literature in the public domain that was used to substantiate arguments advanced in this article. It should be noted that over the years, there has been on-going academic conversations on research collaborations between academia and the public sector as a prerequisite for socio-economic development; therefore, this article is further contributing to this debate.

Decolonizing “Decolonization” and Knowledge Production beyond Eurocentrism

Abstract I historicize decolonial theories within the context of epistemic contestations and knowledge production in Africa. I offer a critical appraisal of decolonization as simulated within Western academic institutions and argue that the current tempo of decolonization movements is by no means an accident of history; it is, in fact, a residual narrative of colonial epistemology. I offer internal critique and discuss the limitations of decolonization as an intellectual strategy, before addressing how Western academics have appropriated the discourse in a manner fitting an intellectual crusade. The decolonial scholar is, at the same time, perpetuating the mandate of colonial epistemology by substituting coloniality with subjective displacement. Finally, I suggest a modest proposal for adopting a new framework that admits the epistemic virtues of decolonization while eschewing its limitations and internal contradictions. My argument is that decolonization studies, as understood in contemporary African philosophy, has remained afflicted with the same disease it seeks to cure by (i) uncritical affiliation with historical generalizations, (ii) failure to recognize that history is no location of innocence and (iii) recolonization of non-Western ontologies through epistemic imperialism and network legitimation.