PhD Scholar

Creating Spaces to Negotiate Environmental Knowledges at the Environment and Development Interface in Australia

E-mail: Kirsten.Maclean@anu.edu.au

There are ongoing debates in the contemporary environment and development literature regarding the role of both scientific and Indigenous participation in sustainable development initiatives. These debates have been critical of the supremacy of western scientific knowledge in such initiatives, with some academics asserting that science can be imperialistic, and its application can sometimes lead to social inequity and exclusion. In response, local and Indigenous knowledges have often been offered as providing a panacea for all environment and development problems.

Other scholars have argued that we need to move beyond this dichotomy. Before this can be done we need to understand the commensurability of these knowledge groups. In particular, how do the different interest groups construct notions of 'the environment'? What are these constructions and how can they be allianced? How do different administrative regions affect and manage these alliances and networks? To what extent is this equitable and how can this be improved? Finally, what role is there for local knowledge and, in particular, Indigenous ecological knowledge in these networks?

I propose to engage with these debates by conducting an investigation into the knowledge synergy that is (or indeed is not), occurring between local and more 'global' knowledge bases in Australia. The empirical focus is upon knowledge interfacing between government organisations, non-government organisations, 'communities' and individuals involved in environmental management in Australia. I use two case studies - one in central Victoria and the other in central Australia as a basis for this investigation. The case studies act as points of access into the localised knowledge networks surrounding environmental management in Australia.

The research methodology takes a 'participatory learning and action' approach. This involves compiling ethnographies of the projects, conducting semi-structured interviews with interested participants, and doing transect walks. The emphasis is upon open, flexible, interactive research relationships between all stakeholders who choose to be involved. This will help get at the perceptions, opinions and relationship dynamics of and between different interest groups, as well as set the foundations to devise appropriate strategies for greater interfacing between these groups.