Blurring Global Epistemic Boundaries: The Emergence of Traditional Knowledge in Environmental Governance

Abstract: In the wake of the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, ‘traditional knowledge’ became a recurring theme in global environmental governance. The emergence of traditional knowledge in a governance field marked by global science begs the following question: how is it that a particular set of intellectual activities other than science came to be perceived as a form of knowledge whose attributes are valuable for governing the global environment? This paper aims to grapple with this question by tracing the emergence of the category of traditional knowledge in global environmental governance. The main argument is that traditional knowledge came to be conceived of as a cognitive resource with utilitarian and ‘glocal’ properties through a series of interventions on the part of public scientists and landmark environmental reports that blurred the boundaries between science and nonscience. Building upon the concept of boundary work in Science and Technology Studies, this paper puts forth the

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource, 40 S.
• Language: Englisch
• Notes: Erstveröffentlichung ; begutachtet (peer reviewed)

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Global Cooperation Research Papers ; Bd. 25

Classification and Topics

• Classification: Politik

Contributors, Places and Time

• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Mannheim
• (who): SSOAR, GESIS – Leibniz-Institut für Sozialwissenschaften e.V.
• (when): 2020
• Event: Veröffentlichung
• (where): Duisburg
• (who): Käte Hamburger Kolleg / Centre for Global Cooperation Research (KHK/GCR21)
• (when): 2020
• Creator: López-Rivera, Andrés
• Contributor: Käte Hamburger Kolleg. Centre for Global Cooperation Research (KHK/GCR21)

Further information

• DOI: 10.14282/2198-0411-GCRP-25
• URN: urn:nbn:de:0168-ssoar-69721-5
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 25.03.2025, 1:53 PM CET