Doctoral Dissertation Research: An Ethnography of Collaboration in Agroforestry Science

对环境的破坏继续威胁着全世界的农业生产力。 但是，防止进一步损害或减轻现有损害的政策可能难以制定和执行。科学家们已经确定，可持续农业生产力的一个主要障碍是，决策者、公民和科学家往往有不同的优先事项和实现这些目标的手段。这一年的目标，论文研究项目是阐明如何在实践中谈判这些挑战。研究人员将采用民族志方法来研究现实世界的科学行为及其转化为政策，详细研究来自不同领域的科学家之间以及科学家、官僚和农民之间的日常合作行为和结果。康奈尔大学的博士生Timothy McLellan将在Annelise Riles博士的指导下在农业生态研究所进行研究，该研究所是一个致力于传统农业做法对环境影响的现代科学研究的非政府组织。该研究所来自不同领域的科学家相互合作开展研究;与当地土著农民合作，就其活动对环境的影响向他们提供咨询意见;并与负责监督环境法规的制定和执行的政府代表合作。该研究所设在中国，这一地点的选择将使这些不同的，有时是困难的关系比其他地方更明显，更适合研究。麦克莱伦先生将观察研究所的工作，并与研究所工作人员进行广泛的访谈。 他将遵循一系列长期项目，参加研究会议，实地调查和其他科学活动。为了了解农民对科学家的看法，他还将花3个月的时间在一个土著社区生活。 这种在地方一级的深入研究是民族志研究的特点。它使研究人员不仅能够了解人们做什么，而且还可以了解他们对工作和彼此的分类，这些分类以更肤浅的调查研究中看不到的方式影响他们的活动。 越来越多的人呼吁科学家更好地向公众宣传他们的研究，使其对政策制定者有用。这个项目将密切关注当他们试图做到这一点时会发生什么。研究结果对负责环境保护的决策者、研究环境影响的科学家以及必须处理这两方面问题的人都有帮助。

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.