1st Edition
Scientists, Experts, and Civic Engagement Walking a Fine Line
How do scientists, scholars, and other experts engage with the general public and with the communities affected by their work or residing in their sites of study? Where are the fine lines between public scholarship, civic engagement, and activism? Must academics 'give back' once they collect data and publish results? In this volume, authors from a wide range of disciplines examine these relationships to assess how they can be fruitful or challenging. Describing the methodological and ethical issues that experts must consider when carrying out public scholarship, this book includes a checklist for critical factors of success in engagement and an examination of the role of digital social media in science communication. Illustrated by a range of case studies addressing environmental issues (climate change, resource use, post-disaster policy) and education, it offers an investigation into the levels and ways in which scholars can engage, and how and whether academics and experts who engage in community work and public scholarship are acknowledged and rewarded for doing so by their institutions. Also bringing into the debate the perspective of citizens who have collaborated with academics, the book offers an exploration of the democratizing potential of participatory action research.
Biography
Amy E. Lesen is Research Associate Professor at Tulane University's Center for Bioenvironmental Research.
’Simultaneously a memoir of civically engaged scholars and a practical guide for developing such projects, this book makes the compelling argument that education is civic engagement. Drawing together scholars and practitioners of community engagement, Lesen’s volume addresses the role of the university in shaping our youth and in promoting civic participation in the social and natural sciences. A strong argument for new democratic pedagogies in the academy, this book demonstrates what knowledge, values and action can look like in the university. Scientists, Experts, and Civic Engagement couldn’t be timelier given our socially uncertain and rapidly changing times.’ Barbara L. Allen, Virginia Tech University, USA ’Communities negatively impacted by environmental, economic, social and human health disasters are frequently the target of studies by academics, but receive little to no benefits. Amy E. Lesen provides excellent, thoughtful and beneficial guidance to scientists and academics as well as to the impacted communities on the methods and terms of civic engagement that will strengthen the studies and benefit the communities involved before, during and after the research is carried out. Benefits to the impacted communities are critical to assisting them in their survival.’ Wilma A. Subra, President, Subra Company, USA ’Scientists traditionally earn their economy of prestige through their research that culminates in peer-reviewed publications. In Scientists, Experts, and Civic Engagement: Walking a Fine Line, Dr Lesen and her co-authors present strong arguments and approaches for changing the traditional paradigm, and they urge scientists to use their special approach to research questions to address the social needs that affect communities in an exponentially expanding global economy.’ Robert A. Thomas, Loyola University New Orleans, USA
