Natures Sciences Sociétés (Apr 2024)
Participatory-action research leading to transformation of scientific disciplines’ interrelations, research paths, actors’ reasoning, and viticultural practices
Abstract
Scientific disciplines have been studying the impact of human activities on the planet since 1972 and have developed accurate scenarios. However, they have faced challenges in effecting timely changes. In their pursuit of excellence, these disciplines may have become excessively specialized, isolating themselves from one another and hindering their ability to tackle complex problems. As a solution we could envisage fostering interdisciplinary relationships between these disciplines, or involving society at large. However, both options would require dealing with different systems of evidence, languages, epistemologies, and temporalities. In the field of viticulture, despite numerous projects spanning more than two decades, the global use of harmful pesticides has persisted, leading us down a dead-end. Designing more environmentally friendly viticultural practices and extending beyond agriculture has consequently become an urgent and crucial issue. In this paper I compare the contributions of various disciplines and their relationships with one another in addressing this issue through a series of projects ranging from monodisciplinarity to interdisciplinarity. We also discuss their limitations in resolving the problem at hand. Drawing on ten years of experience in participatory-action research, we propose moving beyond interdisciplinary approaches and embracing a ‘transformative’ transdisciplinary path. This approach can profoundly transform all stages of research, from formulating questions to generating knowledge and implementing actions. Transformative participatory-action research also impacts relationships between disciplines and between researchers and societal actors, as well as the forms of reasoning involved. I suggest that such an epistemology, while better suited to dealing with complexity, can contribute to a much-anticipated sea change in the world.
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