Science as a field of struggle: a multi-method empirical study of inequality and its epistemic effects in forest research

• Applicant: Dr. Susanne Koch
• Subject Area: Empirical Social Research ; Sociological Theory
• Term: since 2021
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 452021647

Inequality in science has become a prime subject of science studies, feminist and post-colonial theory, human geography and critical philosophy. Despite the shared interest in the topic, however, these research strands rarely refer to each other. In the ‘In-Forest’ project, we link hitherto disparate perspectives to enhance the understanding why inequalities in academia persist, which is a crucial precondition for overcoming them. As an interdisciplinary African-European research team, our ambition is to show how inequalities in science are reproduced by scientific practice and impact on the epistemic level, using the example of forest research. Therefore, we aim to capture gender and spatial inequalities in the field of forest science; grasp how such inequalities intersect and are reinforced by scientific habitus as principle of practice; and reveal how gender and spatial inequalities shape knowledge production and publication in forest science. To achieve these interrelated objectives, we will use the praxeological theory of Bourdieu which has scarcely been taken up in science studies, although it offers the opportunity to bridge the structure-agency divide that characterises existing scholarship. To demonstrate this potential is a crosscutting objective of the project. We focus on forest research as empirical case because of its critical relevance and field-specific observations. Forest research delivers knowledge that informs policymaking in various sectors and scientific forestry worldwide. A substantial part of it, however, is generated by (predominantly male) scholars at scientific centres in the Global North. Their core assumptions may not necessarily correspond to understandings of nature prevailing in other societies. We assume that problems with regard to forest policy and management often diagnosed in countries of the South also result from this imbalance and the disregard of alternative scientific perspectives that remain unrecognised. To contrast such perspectives, we will strike a new methodological path by triangulating author-level bibliometrics, ethnographic methods and comparative content analysis of forest research published internationally and in local journals of South Africa and Tanzania. The two countries are hotspots of forest research on the African continent. Many scholars based there are highly respected, yet dependent on international collaboration. How locality in intersection with the category of gender affects scholarly positions in the field is a core question we want to answer. While focusing on forest science and addressing its community, the project will contribute to the social studies of science by generating in-depth findings on inequality from a hitherto underexplored field. We anticipate that our results will trigger broader reflection and provide essential input for on-going debates, such as on how to foster knowledge diversity for sustainable development and inclusivity as a principle of responsible research. Project webpage: https://in-forest.research.st/

• DFG Programme: Research Grants
• International Connection: South Africa
• International Co-Applicant: Professor Nelius Boshoff, Ph.D.