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Representations of Nature on the Mongolian Steppe: An Investigation of Scientific Knowledge Construction
Author(s) -
Williams Dee Mack
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.2000.102.3.503
Subject(s) - objectivity (philosophy) , traditional knowledge , indigenous , sociology of scientific knowledge , multidisciplinary approach , ideology , sociology , situated , knowledge production , environmental ethics , multinational corporation , ethnic group , social science , political science , epistemology , anthropology , ecology , knowledge management , politics , philosophy , artificial intelligence , computer science , law , biology
Extensive land degradation across the Mongolian steppe has prompted a variety of multinational and multidisciplinary research projects over recent years. The situation provides an important opportunity to investigate and illuminate some of the international, national, and local dimensions of scientific practice that critically condition the production of environmental knowledge. In this article I juxtapose the competing knowledge bases and assumptions of various relevant groups (including natural vs. social scientists, nationalist Chinese vs. ethnic Mongolians, and urban intellectuals vs. indigenous herders) to develop the argument that multiple ideological and institutional boundaries work together to circumscribe scientific inquiry and data collection. The situated construction of knowledge undermines prospects for improving incremental objectivity and impedes more comprehensive understanding of serious environmental problems. [Chinese grasslands, land degradation, indigenous knowledge, sociology of science, interdisciplinary research]