“It’s a conspiracy theory<i>and</i>climate change”

Mathur, Nayanika

doi:10.14318/hau5.1.005

Cited by 39 publications

(15 citation statements)

References 31 publications

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“…Inter-ontological relationships are often characterized by power asymmetries; those who are better equipped, including the state, often try to dominate others' ontological positions (Mathur 2015). In the case I explored, open conflicts-concerning climate change in the narrow sense-were still rare.…”

Section: Inter-ontological Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Ontologies of climate change

Schnegg

2021

American Ethnologist

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In Namibia, both Damara pastoralists (ǂNūkhoen) and scientists agree that it rains less frequently than before. To explain their observations, however, scientists refer to carbon dioxide molecules, while the pastoralists point to social tensions, neoliberalism, and failures of the postcolonial state. To understand this discrepancy, I ask whether what scientists call precipitation and what Damara call ǀnanus are really the same thing. Engaging with phenomenological theories, I propose a worldliness continuum that reveals substantial ontological difference between the two. While precipitation occurs independently of humans, ǀnanus encompasses everything—it is life and death. If the two are different things, it is unsurprising that one needs different explanations for them. Acknowledging this creates space to navigate between the recognition of multiple ontologies and the politicization of carbon dioxide emissions. [climate change, ontology, phenomenology, world, knowledge, environment, drought, Namibia]

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Section: Inter-ontological Relationshipsmentioning

confidence: 98%

Ontologies of climate change

Schnegg

2021

American Ethnologist

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“…Some notice that conspiracy theories might be actually true (Dentith 2018;Räikkä 2009) or prompt investigations that lead to the discovery of the truth (Culloty 2021). Others express concern that a focus on falseness might lead to the exclusion of certain forms of thought (Bratich 2008;Hellinger 2019;Husting and Orr 2007) and neglect the power relations involved in the truth arbitrages (Mathur 2015;McCarthy Brown 2003;Pelkmans and Machold 2011). To account for imbalances of power in conflicts over truth, some scholars postulate an approach to conspiracy theories as narratives contesting hegemonic knowledge (Boyer 2006;Keenan 2006).…”

Section: Researching Conflicts Over Vaccinesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Are You with Us or Against Us?

Drążkiewicz¹

2023

Anthropology in Action

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When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, two contrasting images quickly became representative of the crisis. On the one hand, there were heroic doctors working day and night with the novel virus, risking their lives and making sacrifices to save others. On the other, there were ‘anti-maskers’ and ‘anti-vaxxers’: people doubting if the virus is real, questioning the effectiveness of protective measures, suspicious that the crisis is nothing more than an elaborate plot, a scam aimed to redesign their world and to destroy the values they hold dear. Reflecting on research conducted in Ireland with people separated by the conspiratorial divide, this paper examines some methodological and analytical challenges of doing simultaneous research with opposing stakeholders. Analysing my own entanglements in the conflicts over vaccines and conspiracy theories in this paper I argue that the pandemic was not just a battle to secure the acceptability of specific medical technology (the COVID-19 vaccine) but was also about safeguarding respectability of science and maintaining the rule of experts. It was about preventing ontological turn, the end of the era of reason, a dawn of modernity.

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“…Studies in Ladakh by Bhatia et al (2017) show that local people's perception about large carnivores in the snow-packed regions depended on their degree of "religiosity." Another case study from the Chamoli district in India's Uttarakhand state unravels the divergence in the discourse among different stakeholders (Mathur 2015). Here, the state narrative invokes climate change, especially, reduced winter snowfall, as the main driver for increasing trends in human-animal conflict (both with leopards and bears) and the disappearance of musk deer, while local narratives speak of a state which is indifferent, corrupt, and in cahoots with poachers and private companies-and in the process is destroying the ecosystem of these endangered species.…”

Section: Habitat Servicesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Contributions of the cryosphere to mountain communities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya: a review

et al. 2019

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There is a growing recognition of the contribution of the cryosphere to human societies. This is especially important in the Hindu Kush Himalaya (HKH), where poverty and vulnerability are high and climate change impacts on the cryosphere are strong. However, there is a lack of synthesized knowledge about the contributions of the cryosphere to high mountain communities. This paper uses a cryosphere service framework-a derivative of the ecosystem service concept-to classify different goods and services provided by the cryosphere. Case studies were selected using an adapted systematic review methodology. These studies were then synthesized and examined through the lens of critical political ecology. The review shows that while the cryosphere provides a whole range of goods and services for mountain communities, not all of these are well documented. Material services like the supply of water for irrigation and agriculture, and disservices such as disasters, are better documented than non-material services like the spirituality of landscapes. The majority of the case studies do not use an interdisciplinary lens. While some studies on irrigation discuss the physical basis and human organization of irrigation, the literature on disasters mostly focuses on the physical processes and at most generalized loss and damage assessments. Further, most case studies do not use the critical epistemologies needed to examine how politics, power, and intersectionality influence societal responses to changes in the cryosphere. The paper suggests that future studies adopt interdisciplinary collaboration to understand human impacts and adaptive responses through critical political ecology frameworks.

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“It’s a conspiracy theoryandclimate change”

Cited by 39 publications

References 31 publications

Ontologies of climate change

Ontologies of climate change

Are You with Us or Against Us?

Contributions of the cryosphere to mountain communities in the Hindu Kush Himalaya: a review

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