Transdisciplinarity in agroecology: practices and perspectives in Europe

• Published in: Agroecology and sustainable food systems 2021-04, Vol.45 (4), p.523-550
• Main Authors: Fernández González, Claudia, Ollivier, Guillaume, Bellon, Stéphane
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Agroecology; Cognitive ability; Content analysis; Documents; Europe; Food; Life Sciences; research practices; Scientists; Sustainable food systems; transdisciplinarity; Typology
• ISSN: 2168-3565; 2168-3573; 2168-3573; 2168-3565
• DOI: 10.1080/21683565.2020.1842285

Agroecology, as a science for the study, design and management of sustainable food systems, retakes epistemic, methodological and practical approaches of transdisciplinarity. However, there is not a unanimous understanding of these approaches and few studies investigate its implementation. Transdisciplinarity is defined lato sensu as the practices of collaboration and knowledge integration between non-academic actors and scientists. This approach is at stake in Europe, especially in the field of food systems. Our aim is to analyze the magnitude, conceptions and praxis of works from European agroecologists claiming transdisciplinarity. Based upon a content analysis of publications and interviews with some of their authors, our results show that, although there is a growing literature on transdisciplinarity in Europe, the proportion of publications is low compared to the overall publications in agroecology. Despite the global aspiration of using it as an approach to achieve cognitive justice and horizontal knowledge construction, our typology of transdisciplinarity in practice shows a diversity of patterns. Four clusters were identified, ranging from genuine co-creation of knowledge to uneven collaborations between scientists and stakeholders, thus questioning scholars' responsibility As a nascent and promising domain, transdisciplinarity in agroecology should be encouraged in European research and experiences capitalized.