Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Ethnography of Collaboration in Agroforestry Science

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Damage to the environment continues to threaten agricultural productivity throughout the world. But policies to prevent further harm or mitigate existing damage can be difficult to develop and to enforce. Scientists have established that a major barrier to sustainable agricultural productivity is that policy makers, citizens, and scientists often have different priorities and means to achieve them. The goal of this year long, dissertation research project is to shed light on how these challenges are negotiated in practice. Taking an ethnographic approach to the real-world conduct of science and its translation into policy, the researcher will examine in fine detail the daily conduct and outcomes of collaboration among scientists from different fields, and between scientists, bureaucrats, and farmers. The Cornell University doctoral student, Timothy McLellan, advised by Dr. Annelise Riles, will undertake the research at the Agricultural Ecology Institute, a non-governmental organization devoted to modern scientific research on the effects of traditional agricultural practices on the environment. Institute scientists from different fields collaborate with each other to carry out research; with local indigenous farmers, to advise them on the effects of their activities on the environment; and with government representatives who are charged with overseeing the development and implementation of environmental regulation. The Institute is located in China, a choice of site that will make these different and sometimes difficult relationships more visible and amenable to study than they might be elsewhere. Mr. McLellan will observe the Institute's work and carry out extensive interviews with the Institute's staff. He will follow a selection of long-term projects, participating in research meetings, field surveys, and other scientific activities. In order to understand how farmers view the scientists, he also will devote 3 months to living in one of the indigenous communities. This kind of intensive research at the local-level is characteristic of ethnographic research. It allows the researcher to understand not only what people do but also the categories they have for their work and each other, which affect their activities in ways that are not visible in more superficial survey research. There has been an increasing call for scientists to do a better job of communicating their research to the public and make it useful to policy makers. This project will look closely at what happens when they try to do exactly that. Findings should be helpful to policy makers charged with environmental protection; to scientists who study environmental impacts; and to people who must deal with both.