DDIRG: Boundary-walkers: Insights into expertise and practices of translation between Indigenous knowledge and Western natural science

应对环境挑战需要认识到并利用多种形式的专门知识来有效地管理环境变化。本论文项目调查本土环境知识与西方科学相结合的潜在贡献，以更好地理解和管理快速的环境变化。它结合了档案数据和对土著科学家的深入访谈数据，这些科学家与他们出生的社区有很强的文化联系，以探索如何将这些不同的观点混合和协调起来，使其能够在环境政策制定中综合使用。该项目支持研究生培训，将美洲原住民纳入STEM领域，并找到利用土著知识帮助改善紧迫环境问题的方法。该项目在混合形式的知识、科学合作和政策制定科学的科学技术研究中推进研究。它还推动了促进环境可持续性的努力。“边界行者”一词用于描述土著自然科学家，他们能够接触到土著形式的环境知识。研究人员试图了解西方和本土知识体系如何合作，以应对快速环境变化带来的问题，跨境旅行者如何跨越这一鸿沟，以及如何将这些知识用于环境政策制定。数据来自大学、博物馆、部落图书馆和协会的档案，以及对30名边界徒步旅行者的深入采访。总体而言，这项原创研究为将不同形式的知识整合为实践提供了前进的道路。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Coping with environmental challenges requires recognizing and harnessing multiple forms of expertise to effectively manage environmental change. This dissertation project investigates the potential contributions of combining indigenous environmental knowledge with western science to better understanding and manage rapid environmental change. It combines archival data and data from in-depth interviews with Indigenous scientists who have strong cultural ties to their natal communities to explore the ways that these different perspectives can be hybridized and aligned to enable their combined use in environmental policy making. This project supports graduate student training, the inclusion of Native Americans in STEM fields, and find ways to use Indigenous knowledge to help ameliorate pressing environmental problems.This project advances research within science and technology studies on hybrid forms of knowledge, scientific collaboration, and the science of policy making. It also advances efforts to promote environmental sustainability. The term “Boundary Walkers’ is used to describe natural scientists who are Indigenous and who have access to indigenous forms of environmental knowledge. Investigators seek to understand how Western and Indigenous knowledge systems can work together to confront problems arising from rapid environmental change, how boundary-walkers navigate across this divide, and how this knowledge can be put to practical use in environmental policy making. Data come from archives at universities, museums, and tribal libraries and associations, and from in-depth interviews with 30 boundary walkers. Overall, this original research provides pathways forward for integrating diverse forms of knowledge for practical good.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.