Scientists as citizens and Knowers in the detection of deforestation in the Amazon

This paper examines how scientists deal with tensions emerging from their role as providers of objective knowledge and as citizens concerned with how their research influences policy and politics in Brazil. This is accomplished through an ethnographic account of scientists using remote sensing techn...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social studies of science 2017-08, Vol.47 (4), p.466-484
Main Authors: Monteiro, Marko, Rajão, Raoni
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brazil
Citizens
Conservation of Natural Resources
Deforestation
History of medicine and histology
Knowledge
Politics
Public Policy
Rainforest
Rainforests
Remote monitoring
Remote sensing
Remote Sensing Technology
Research Personnel
Scientists
Secluded
Sociopolitical factors
Technology
Uncertainty
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Summary:This paper examines how scientists deal with tensions emerging from their role as providers of objective knowledge and as citizens concerned with how their research influences policy and politics in Brazil. This is accomplished through an ethnographic account of scientists using remote sensing technology, of their knowledge-making activities and of the broader sociopolitical controversies that permeate the detection of deforestation in the Amazon rainforest. Strategies for mitigating uncertainty are central aspects of the knowledge practices analyzed, bringing controversies 'external' to the laboratory 'into' the lab, making these boundaries conceptually problematic. In particular, the anticipation of alternative interpretations of rainforest cover is a crucial way that scientists bring the world into the lab, helping to shed light on how scientists, usually seen and analyzed as isolated, are in fact often in constant dialogue with the broader political controversies related to their work. These insights help question the idea that the monitoring of deforestation through remote sensing is a form of secluded research, drawing a more complex picture of the dual role of scientists as knowledge producers and concerned citizens.
ISSN:0306-3127
1460-3659
DOI:10.1177/0306312716679746