Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Politics of Knowledge Production in Environmental Risk Research in the United States

博士论文研究：美国环境风险研究中的知识生产政治

• 批准号: 1226676
• 负责人: Adriana Petryna
• 金额: $ 1.84万
• 依托单位: University of Pennsylvania
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-09-15 至 2014-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1226676&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Politics; Knowledge

Doctoral candidate Britt Dahlberg (University of Pennsylvania), under the guidance of Dr. Adriana Petryna, will conduct research on the role of scientific and community practices in defining what it means for a place and its residents to be designated "at risk." Taking as a case example a United States town founded around asbestos manufacturing, her research will examine the ways in which other community concerns become incorporated into, or displaced by, a renewed focus on asbestos as an environmental health emergency. Through ethnographic attention to the multitude of perspectives and experiences in the town, her research will identify the ways in which a narrow focus on asbestos as a health threat may exclude concerns about asbestos' broader social and economic effects (as well as other concerns altogether) from public discourse.This dissertation project will employ participant-observation, interviewing, and document analysis to understand how residents, community groups, and government agencies each define the main risks of the town, communicate these with one another, and how their interactions shape the ultimate scope of the on-going environmental risk investigation, as well as public understandings of the primary risks, and ideal futures, for the town. This project will advance anthropological and science and technology studies' understandings of (1) how bodies, health, and environment are being re-conceptualized and reconfigured around ideas of "risk" and "environmental health;" (2) how expertise, evidence, and the terms for evaluating knowledge-production practices are re-negotiated when science is used to address public problems and when citizens are involved in the making of knowledge about the environments in which they live; and (3) the forms of governance operating in contemporary public health research and interventions which increasingly incorporate the built and social environment into health research. This project will also contribute to knowledge of the politics and stakes of involving communities in environmental health research, which may be used to improve community-science collaboration practices. Supporting this research also supports the education of a graduate student.

博士候选人布里特·达尔伯格（宾夕法尼亚大学）将在阿德里亚娜·佩特里纳博士的指导下开展研究，研究科学和社区实践在定义一个地方及其居民被指定为“处于危险之中”意味着什么方面的作用。 她的研究以美国一座围绕石棉制造的城镇为例，研究如何将其他社区问题纳入或取代对石棉作为环境健康紧急情况的重新关注。通过对城镇中多种观点和经验的人种学关注，她的研究将确定如何将石棉作为健康威胁的狭隘关注可能排除对石棉更广泛的社会和经济影响（以及其他问题）的担忧。本论文项目将采用参与观察、访谈和文件分析的方式来了解居民、社区团体和政府机构如何各自定义城镇的主要风险，如何相互沟通，以及他们的互动如何塑造城镇的主要风险。最终范围正在进行的环境风险调查，以及公众对该镇主要风险和理想未来的理解。该项目将促进人类学和科学技术研究对以下方面的理解：(1) 身体、健康和环境如何围绕“风险”和“环境健康”的概念重新概念化和重新配置； (2) 当科学被用来解决公共问题以及当公民参与创造有关他们生活环境的知识时，如何重新谈判专业知识、证据和评估知识生产实践的条件； (3)当代公共卫生研究和干预措施中的治理形式，越来越多地将建筑和社会环境纳入健康研究。该项目还将有助于了解社区参与环境健康研究的政治和利害关系，这可用于改善社区科学合作实践。支持这项研究也支持研究生的教育。