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Unit 6 - Political economy of knowledge production and decolonising research

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Course: Political Economy of Antimicrobial Resistance and Infectious Diseases (2)
Book: Unit 6 - Political economy of knowledge production and decolonising research
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Date: Saturday, 27 April 2024, 4:56 AM

Table of contents

Unit Introduction

Unit Title: 

Unit 6 - Political Economy of Knowledge Production and Decolonising Research

This unit was delivered by Mr. Adam Willman, SOAS

Unit Description

This final lecture will address the political economy of knowledge production and decolonising the research process. Drivers and sources of knowledge production will be critically discussed including how various institutions influence research priorities. The ‘knowledge for who and knowledge for what’ question will be used to explore the role of these institutions in shaping research and knowledge production. Students will be asked to think about how they situate their own research within the broader knowledge production system We will also explore how to decolonise research. The use of research assistants and other research partners will be used as an example of the political economy issues within the research process. These topics will focus not just on formal political economy research but will also allow students tools for informal political economy insights into their own research processes.

Learning Objectives

By the end of the lecture the students will be able to:

  1. Recognise political economy issues related to knowledge production and the research process
  2. Identify research methods that help to decolonise the research process

Core Reading Materials

  1. Deane, K. and Stevano, S. (2016) ‘Towards a political economy of the use of research assistants: reflections from fieldwork in Tanzania and Mozambique’, Qualitative Research, 16(2), pp. 213–228. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/274379629_Towards_a_Political_Economy_of_Research_Assistants_Reflections_from_fieldwork_in_Tanzania_and_Mozambique (link)
  2. Keikelame, M.J., Swartz, L., 2019. Decolonising research methodologies: lessons from a qualitative research project, Cape Town, South Africa. Global Health Action 12, 1561175. https://doi.org/10.1080/16549716.2018.1561175 (link)
  3. Stone, G.D., 2016. Towards a general theory of agriculture knowledge production: environmental, social, and didactic learning. Culture, Agriculture, Food and Environment 38(1), pp. 5-17. Available at: https://pages.wustl.edu/files/pages/imce/stone/stone_2016_cafe.pdf (link)

Additional Reading


Political Economy of Knowledge Production 

  1. Fine, B., Johnston, D., Santos, A.C., Van Waeyenberge, E., 2016. Nudging or Fudgning: The World Development Report 2015, Development and Change, 47(4), pp. 640-663. Available at: https://eprints.soas.ac.uk/21949/1/wdrnudgedd%25281%2529.pdf (link)
  2. Šūmane, S., Kunda, I., Knickel, K., Strauss, A., Tisenkopfs, T., Rios, I. des I., Rivera, M., Chebach, T., Ashkenazy, A., 2018. Local and farmers’ knowledge matters! How integrating informal and formal knowledge enhances sustainable and resilient agriculture. Journal of Rural Studies 59, 232–241. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Talis-Tisenkopfs/publication/314162826_Local_and_farmers%27_knowledge_matters_How_integrating_informal_and_formal_knowledge_enhances_sustainable_and_resilient_agriculture/links/5a42a4b4458515f6b04fd4b2/Local-and-farmers-knowledge-matters-How-integrating-informal-and-formal-knowledge-enhances-sustainable-and-resilient-agriculture.pdf (link)
  3. Whatmore, Sarah J. 2009. Mapping knowledge controversies: Science, democracy and the redistribution of expertise. Progress in Human Geography 33(5):587-598. Available at: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.869.8139&rep=rep1&type=pdf (link)

Methods 

  1. Maguire, P., 1987. Doing Participatory Research: A Feminist Approach. Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Amherst, Massachusetts, USA. Available at: https://scholarworks.umass.edu/cie_participatoryresearchpractice/6/ (link)
  2. Morgan, D. (2007) ‘Paradigms lost and pragmatism regained: Methodological implications of combining qualitative and quantitative methods’, Journal of Mixed Methods Research 1(1): 1-48. Available at: https://www.researchgate.net/publication/240730449_Paradigms_Lost_and_Pragmatism_Regained_Methodological_Implications_of_Combining_Qualitative_and_Quantitative_Methods (link)
  3. Schiellerup, P. (2008), Stop making sense: the trials and tribulations of qualitative data analysis. Area, 40: 163-171.  Available at: https://www.eci.ox.ac.uk/publications/downloads/schiellerup08_stopmaking.pdf (link)
*Please contact Adam if you have difficulties accessing a paper*


Unit 6 Lecture Slides

Please find the lecture slides for unit 6 here (link).