Decolonising Science
Posted: Tue Jul 13, 2021 11:33 am
I've seen a lot of papers over the last year or so discussing the benefits and practicalities of decolonising various fields of science, and I thought it would be useful to have somewhere to discuss this topic so I've made this thread.
I've just finished reading this paper (open access) on decolonising ecology which I highly recommend. It gives a good overview of why the history of colonialism is harmful to ecological research and provides suggestions on how to start fixing things:
- decolonise your mind: recognise that the Western way of viewing ecology and the environment is just one approach and there are other, equally valid approaches. Recognise the way that the reliance on scientific literature written in English distorts and limits our understanding.
- know your history - recognise the role of colonialism in shaping the ecology of colonised lands and how that is perpetuated through, for example, displacing people from their homes for "conservation" purposes. Acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which you are working. Identify and acknowledge the gaze (who you write for) and pose (the standpoint from which you write) in your work.
- decolonise access - improve access to scientific literature. As the paper states, "Habitual law breaking should not be a requirement of scientific practice." Make data more accessible and recognise and address the imbalance between Global North and South in terms of access to resources, museum collections, etc.
- decolonise expertise - broaden the definition of expertise. Recognise and acknowledge the expertise held in Indigenous communities. Recognise that this is not sufficient without also addressing power imbalances within and between institutions, and between those working in institutions and those outside of them.
- practice ethical ecology - build diverse and inclusive research groups. Change funding and reward structures so that collaborative and collective work is recognised.
The twitter thread by the lead author is a good overview for those who don't want to read the whole paper, and provides some additional resources, including this incredible Google Doc of resources on decolonising conservation. I haven't had a chance to go through them yet but there's some seriously interesting reading there.
I've just finished reading this paper (open access) on decolonising ecology which I highly recommend. It gives a good overview of why the history of colonialism is harmful to ecological research and provides suggestions on how to start fixing things:
- decolonise your mind: recognise that the Western way of viewing ecology and the environment is just one approach and there are other, equally valid approaches. Recognise the way that the reliance on scientific literature written in English distorts and limits our understanding.
- know your history - recognise the role of colonialism in shaping the ecology of colonised lands and how that is perpetuated through, for example, displacing people from their homes for "conservation" purposes. Acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which you are working. Identify and acknowledge the gaze (who you write for) and pose (the standpoint from which you write) in your work.
- decolonise access - improve access to scientific literature. As the paper states, "Habitual law breaking should not be a requirement of scientific practice." Make data more accessible and recognise and address the imbalance between Global North and South in terms of access to resources, museum collections, etc.
- decolonise expertise - broaden the definition of expertise. Recognise and acknowledge the expertise held in Indigenous communities. Recognise that this is not sufficient without also addressing power imbalances within and between institutions, and between those working in institutions and those outside of them.
- practice ethical ecology - build diverse and inclusive research groups. Change funding and reward structures so that collaborative and collective work is recognised.
The twitter thread by the lead author is a good overview for those who don't want to read the whole paper, and provides some additional resources, including this incredible Google Doc of resources on decolonising conservation. I haven't had a chance to go through them yet but there's some seriously interesting reading there.