Pesticides and sensorium: From testimonials to expertise
Mar 30, 2023 — All day
On Thursday, March 30 2023, at 12:00PM, the Institute for Science, Society and Public Policy hosted Dominique Robert, Associate Professor of Criminology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa; ISSP Faculty Affiliate, and Mitia Rioux-Beaulne, Associate Professor of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Ottawa; ISSP Faculty Affiliate, to discuss expertise vs. embodied knowledge regarding pesticide use in agricultural settings.
Please note this event will be taking place in French.
About the topic:
The expertise of scientists is traditionally based on invisibility, i.e., on their ability to remove themselves from the methodological framework allowing them to produce disinterested knowledge. In contrast, community groups and citizens advocating for the banning of pesticides in agriculture and forestry rely on their local knowledge and embodied knowledge. How do they go about making their testimony more general? What bridges are built between testimony and expertise? Professor Robert shared some of her thoughts based on the analysis of the public consultation on pesticides conducted by the New Brunswick provincial government in 2021.
Monica Gattinger
Opening Remarks
Director, ISSP and Full Professor at the School of Political Studies, University of Ottawa
Dr. Gattinger is an award-winning researcher and highly sought-after speaker, adviser and media commentator in the energy and arts/cultural policy sectors. Her innovative research programme convenes business, government, Indigenous, civil society and academic leaders to address complex policy, regulatory and governance challenges. She has published widely in the energy and arts/cultural policy fields, with a focus on strengthening decision-making in the context of fast-past technological change and markets, changing social values, and lower levels of trust in governments, industry, science and expertise.
Dominique Robert
Keynote Speaker
Associate Professor of Criminology, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ottawa; ISSP Faculty Affiliate
My students and I are conducting research inspired by pragmatic sociology and science and technology studies (STS), namely Actor-Network Theory. I am available to supervise students who wish to explore in a critical fashion questions of science and technology, namely the use of genetics and neurosciences in the justice system, early prevention technologies, the design and use of instruments such as diagnostic and evaluation tools, the measure of harms and ecojustice, the autonomisation of decision-making (ex: cyber justice), prevention through urban and environmental design, the intersection between health, poverty and justice issues.
Mitia Rioux-Beaulne
Moderator
Associate Professor of Philosophy, Faculty of Arts, University of Ottawa; ISSP Faculty Affiliate
I am currently researching the question of history in early modern French philosophy. The concept of history underwent great transformations during this period, which brought about far-reaching consequences in the theory of knowledge, the development of philosophical aesthetics and the moral and political philosophy. Working on this concept takes one to the centre of the making of modern philosophy. I am now working on two less-known characters of the early modern philosophy, namely Bernard de Fontenelle and Denis Diderot, who, embody the two most important institutions for the transmission of knowledge and culture of their time, and of which they theorized the historical function: the academies (Académie française, Académie des sciences...) and the "Encyclopédie".
Food for thought is an ISSP monthly luncheon speaker series featuring cross-cutting science, society & policy discussions.