How can we help each other to make knowledge and social change within "unruly" (heterogeneous, distributed) ecological complexities?

Peter TaylorUniv. Massachusetts Boston

Critical & Creative ThinkingScience, Technology & Values

Education for Sustainability

peter.taylor@umb.eduwww.faculty.umb.edu/pjt

I

terracing

cajete sowing

diversity management

population

& labour

agro-ecology

demographic

collapse

population increase

no regulation of goat

grazing, terrace

maintenance, etc.

land less intensively

cultivated or abandoned;

subsistence maize & goats;

serious erosion

outmigration &

population decline

local social

& economic

institutions

rise of caciques:

land concentration

labor discipline

collapse of tradit-

ional socioeconomic

institutions

"private"

moral

economy

"external"

situation &

interventions Revolution

& land

reforms

Spanish

invasion

some markets limited maize

commercialization

outmigration

-> cash back

cheap urban

food policies

industrial

development

1500 180017001600 1900 2000

liberal-

ization

semiproletarian

economy

sustainable

maize production

church

labour

scarcity

labour

scarcity

labour-saving practices:

goats, plowing, wheat

repartimiento

moral

economy

Independence

What places could someone intervene in these “intersecting processes” so as to modify the future development of this situation?

II

WIDER

INTELLECTUAL &

SOCIO-POLITICAL

DISCOURSE

SIMULATION

RELATIONSHIP

OF MODELER

TO MODELED

SITUATION

RANGE OF SOCIAL

POSSIBILITIES

ENTERTAINED

Explicit Options

Agency of Implementation of

Model-based Conclusions

Rationality for Decisions about Social Action

Hardware/ software

Technical assumptions

Questions addressed

Types of data

Model relationships

Discrimination among

states of nature

Disputes arising

Sponsors

Social Action

modeler

modeling

Institutional location

Intervening personnel Modeler's relationships within

wider discourse

What places could someone intervene in this knowledge-making so as to modify the future development of this situation?

III

SYSTEM

MECHANIST/

BEHAVIORIST

TERMINOLOGY

MANAGEMENT/

OUTSIDE

INTERVENTION

DYNAMO

SOFTWARE

SMALL SET OF

BEHAVIOR MODES

Sahel-

Sudan

project

LOOSELY CO-ORDINATED

RESEARCH TEAM

LONG-TERM DEVELOPMENT

OUTSIDE AID/ INTERVENTION

MEDIATOR TO AFRICAN/ISTS

SHORT STUDY TIME

System

Dynamics

Group

M.I.T.

U.S. Congress

U.N. &

international

aid

africanists

pastoralists

systems analysis

community

U.S.A.I.D.

LITTLE

PARTICIPATION

SHORT FIELD TRIP

Alternatives to eight consistent aspects of system dynamicsmodeling.

S YS TEM DYNAMICSvs.

ALTERNATIVES

1. Rules and systemstructure

fixed changing

2. History as a source of long-term values conditions for futurechanges

3. Particularity one generic system locally particularsystems

4. Individuals uniform andaggregated

stratified anddifferentiating

5. Parameters constant constructed

6. Temporal and spatia lvariability

leave systemstructure unchanged

essential to systemstructure

7a. S ystems decomposable intosubsystems

not neccesarilydecomposable

7b. External forces simply mediated contribute to"internal"

restructuring

8. Responses to crisesrequire

overall policychanges

local participation inresponses

What places could someone intervene in this knowledge-making & intersecting processes so as to modify the future development of this situation?

IV

PARTICIPANTS & their ISSUES

requests

MAPS of issuesREVISION

PRESENTATION of maps

QUESTIONING

TOOLS

WORKSHOP LEADERS

ISSUE: understanding ecology of carabids in urban environments

Issue: recommendations for management of urban ecology are needed Issue: urban ecology

should be a proper subject for ecologists to study

Nature is everywhere, includingthe cities!

Challenge of combininglocal contingencieswith general principles

Funding

isolationof patches

habitat structure, disturbance climatedispersal& relativecolonization, abundance,phenology, diversitypopulation size

survey autecology carabid assemblages

Issue: how tosample meaningfully

sampling method

exploratorydata analysis

theoreticalrural-urban gradientsdevts

.

Issue: minimum requirements (why are some spp. able to survive in urban areas?)

How can we help each other to make knowledge and social change within "unruly" (heterogeneous, distributed) ecological complexities?

In what situations could you envisage using mapping to help yourself and others make knowledge and social change within "unruly" ecological complexities? What might hinder this or limit its usefulness?

V

Vision 20/20 WEST NIPISSING VISION February 1993

STRONG DIVERSIFIEDECONOMIC BASE

EXCITING ATTRACTIVECOMMUNITY TO LIVE IN

ACTIVELY INVOLVEDPOPULATION

WIDELYPROMOTEDTOURISM BASE

EXPANDEDBUSINESSDEVELOPMENT

APPROPRIATENATURALRESOURCESDEVELOPMENT

WELLMAINTAINEDEXPANDINGINFRA-STRUCTURE

COMMUNITYBASEDSERVICES

RESPONSIVEACCOUNTABLE UNIFIEDGOVERNMENT

ACTIVEINVOLVEDCOMMUNITY

IMPROVEDRECREATIONOPPORTUNITY

LIFELONGEDUCATIONFACILITIES

Broad BasedTourismPromotion

ImprovedFour SeasonAccommodation

AccessibleWaterways andWaterfronts

PackagedTouristAttractions &Tours

ExpandedCoordinatedCommunityFestivals

ModernRecyclingFacilities

NorthernOntarioService IndustryCentre

AppropriateNatural &Resource BasedIndustry

IncentivePrograms toAttractBusinesses

FrancophoneBilinguialCollege

LocalBusinesses meetall needs

AttractGovernmentOffices

ForestryDevelopment

Expanded LocalAgriculturalMarket

FishHatcheries

Clean LakeNipissing

ImprovedTransportationNetworkLocally/A rea

Well ServicedCommunity

EnvironmentallyResponsiveCommunity

First ResponseTeams

CommunityBasedServices forMental Health &PhysicallyChallenged

Expanded LocalAccess toSpecializedClinics

CoordinatedIntegratedServices underOne Roof

ExpandedVibrantSenior CitizenCommunity

RestructuredSocial AssistanceSystem

EffectiveCooperationBetweenMunicipalities

OngoingCitizenInvolvement inLocalGovernment

Local ServiceBoards inUnincorporatedMunicipalities

Re-evaluateLand UseBy-laws

ActiveInvolvement ofCitizens in AllCommunityDevelopments

West NipissingTeamCooperation

West NipissingFriendlyWelcomingCommunity

RuralResidentialDevelopment

OpenCommunicationacross WestNipissing

Youth Involvedin Planning AllActivities

YouthActivitiesPromoted andSupported

ImprovedAccess toLake Nipissing

BroadenedLeisureActivities andFacilities

ImprovedOrganizedSports

AccessibleExpandedAdult Education

FocusedJob TrainingPrograms

EnhancedPost SecondaryEducation

What would it mean to take seriously the creativity and capacity-building that seems to follow from well-facilitated participation but not to conclude that researchers should "go local" and focus all their efforts on one place?

"flexible engagement"

challenge for researchersin any knowledge-making situation =

connect quickly with otherswho are almost ready to foster participatory processes&

through the experience such processes provide their participants

enhance the capacity of others to do likewise

A B C

1 A1 B1 C1

2 A2 B2 C2

3 A3 B3 C3

Formulations1. simple,well-bounded systems2. simple scenarios -> greater complexity & further work needed in particular cases 3. work based on dynamics among particular entities/agents whose actions implicate or span a range of realms, which develop over time

Angles on practice of researchersA. “dialogue” with situation studiedB. interactions with other social agents to establish what counts as knowledgeC. affecting social change through attention to the complexities of both the situations studied and the researchers’ own social situatedness

Intersecting Processes

cut across scales

involve heterogeneous components

develop over time

causality & agency:distributed, not localized

multiple points of engagement

to modify the course of development

joint & partial responsibility

System Intersecting processes

Clearly defined boundaries Boundaries & categories problematicIPs involve heterogeneous componentsincl. unequal agents

Coherent internal dynamicsgoverning development,structure & stability, & adaptation to external environment

Levels & scale not clearly separable IPs cut across scalesStructures subject to restructuring IPs develop over time ,

e.g. differentiation among unequal agents+ historical contingency

External observer position No privileged standpoint

Natural reduction of complexity Control & generalization difficultstructuredness in IPs not reducible to micro- or macro-determinations

1. Intersecting processes involve inseparable dynamics

2. The account represents agency as distributed across different kinds of agents and scale.

3. The account has an intermediate complexity.

4. Intermediate complexity accounts favor the idea of multiple, smaller engagements linked together within the intersecting processes.

5. Intersecting processes accounts highlight the need for trans-disciplinary work grounded in particular locations.

6. Intermediate complexity preserves a role for some kind of social scientific generalization.

scientists establish knowledge and develop their practices through diverse practical choices

the outcomes of scientific work—theories, readings from instruments, collaborations, etc. —are accepted because they are aspects of heterogeneous webs that are difficult to modify in practice

interpretation of scientific work as “heterogeneous construction” exposes specific points at which concrete alternative resources could be mobilized

vibrating agency

open questions