Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Production, Circulation, and Utilization of Scientific Knowledge

如今，人们在地球上广泛观察到，冰川在萎缩，海平面在上升，极端天气事件的频率和严重程度都在增加。我们也知道，这些和其他发展背后的全球变暖模式的未来轨迹将受到人类选择的影响，特别是受到其国家奉行的能源政策的影响。因此，研究人员正在试图了解这些政策从何而来，以及政府和公民如何决定他们的能源未来。社会科学研究人员特别关注环境和地缘政治政策的竞争是如何产生的。人类学特别适合为这些问题提供见解，因为该领域关注的是促使普通人做出这些重大决定的日常活动、理解和过程。换句话说，人类学将大规模的地缘政治问题带入日常焦点。纽约城市大学人类学研究生Zeynep Oguz将在Gary Wilder博士的指导下，调查土耳其石油和天然气勘探过程的案例。这位研究人员之所以选择土耳其，是因为在那里，政府运营的矿产勘探与研究所（MTA）与公共和私营石油公司合作，在地中海东部和黑海寻找碳氢化合物。利益相关者的这种结合使研究人员能够观察到资源勘探环境中多个参与者的参与，包括专家、政治家、私营企业和环境活动家。此外，与油气开采相比，社会科学家对油气勘探的早期阶段研究不足，尽管它对关键决策的制定至关重要。研究人员将专注于潜在油气资源的生产、循环和技术科学知识的利用。他将采用一系列社会科学研究方法，包括参与观察天然气和石油勘探。他还将采访参与这一过程的地质学家和工程师，以捕捉他们对资源、环境和未来的日常实践和世界观。他将追踪数据集、实地报告、地图和其他通过油气勘探获得的发现的流通情况，并进行进一步的采访，以评估政府官员和民间社会成员如何利用科学信息制定或质疑能源政策。这项研究的结果将有助于深入了解影响、延续或阻碍能源政策和减缓气候变化决策过程的因素。它还将有助于对知识是如何产生、传播和利用的新的和更普遍的社会科学理解。

It is widely observed on the Earth today that glaciers are shrinking, sea levels are rising, and extreme weather events are increasing in frequency and severity. We also know that the future trajectory of the global warming patterns underlying these and other developments will be affected by the choices humans make and, especially, the energy policies their countries pursue. Therefore, researchers are seeking to understand where these policies come from and how governments and citizens determine their energy futures. Social science researchers in particular ask how competing environmental and geopolitical policies arise. Anthropology is particularly well placed to provide insights into such questions because the field focuses on the everyday activities, understandings, and processes that bring ordinary people to make these momentous decisions. In other words, anthropology brings large-scale geopolitical issues into an everyday focus. City University of New York anthropology graduate student Zeynep Oguz, with the guidance of Dr. Gary Wilder, will investigate the case of oil and natural gas exploration processes in Turkey.The researcher has chosen Turkey because there the government-run Mineral Exploration and Research Institute (MTA) has partnered with public and private oil companies to search for hydrocarbons in the eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. This conjunction of stakeholders enables the researcher to observe the involvement of multiple actors in a resource exploration setting, including experts, statespeople, private businesses, and environmental activists. Further, in contrast to extraction, the early stage of hydrocarbon exploration have been understudied by social scientists even though it is critical to the making of key decisions. The researcher will focus on the production, circulation, and appropriation of techno-scientific knowledge about potential hydrocarbon resources. He will employ a range of social science research methods including participant observation in gas and oil exploration. He also will interview geologists and engineers involved in the process to capture their everyday practices and worldviews about resources, the environment, and the future. He will trace the circulation of data sets, field reports, maps, and other findings derived through hydrocarbon exploration, and conduct further interviews to assess how government officials and members of civil society utilize scientific information to make or contest energy policy. Findings from this research will provide insight into the factors that affect, perpetuate, or obstruct decision-making processes in energy policy and climate change mitigation. It will also contribute to new and more general social scientific understanding of how knowledge is made, circulated, and utilized.