How can feminist and postcolonial science studies contribute to knowledge co-production? Insights for IPBES

Abstract

Iniesta-Arandia, I., Quintas-Soriano, C., García-Nieto, A.P., Hevia, V., Díaz-Reviriego, I., García-Llorente, M., Oteros-Rozas, E., Ravera, F., Piñeiro, C., Mingorría, S. 2020. How can feminist and postcolonial science studies contribute to knowledge co-production? Insights for IPBES. Ecosistemas 29(1):1936. https://doi.org/10.7818/ECOS.1936

The influence and social legitimacy of scientific knowledge are decreasing globally. One of the reasons is the lack of interaction and communication between the fields of research, management and local populations or society more broadly. In the contexts of sustainability policies and the global socio-ecological crisis, this has an impact on decision-making and the implementation of public policies. In this context, other action research models have emerged that promote a dialogue between society, science and policy and propose new scenarios where people from different fields and with different profiles collaborate in the production, exchange and application of knowledge. Despite this, difficulties in communication and collective knowledge building processes persist. In this article, we propose how the perspectives from feminist and postcolonial studies of science can help to address the problems found in these contexts from another angle. In addition, we illustrate these perspectives with a case study where there are different interactions between research and management personnel and / or the general public: The Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES). Finally, we discuss how perspectives from feminist and postcolonial studies of science, with their emphasis on subjectivities, power dynamics and processes of knowledge production, can help design science-policy-society interfaces that are effective, legitimate and contribute to the co-production of knowledge.