skip to main content
US FlagAn official website of the United States government
dot gov icon
Official websites use .gov
A .gov website belongs to an official government organization in the United States.
https lock icon
Secure .gov websites use HTTPS
A lock ( lock ) or https:// means you've safely connected to the .gov website. Share sensitive information only on official, secure websites.

Explore Research Products in the PAR
It may take a few hours for recently added research products to appear in PAR search results.


Title: Trust/distrust in Multi-disciplinary Collaboration: Some Feminist Reflections
In this paper we theorize trust as emerging in different material/infrastructural and epistemic realities as part of our multidisciplinary collaboration about water, called Neighborhood Environments as Socio-Techno-Bio Systems: Water Quality, Public Trust, and Health in Mexico City (NESTSMX)”. This collaboration, led by feminist anthropologists, brings together anthropology, environmental-public health, and environmental engineering researchers to analyze how neighborhoods as “socio-techno-bio systems” shape how people trust or distrust water. Our project follows the infrastructures and social structures that move water in and out of neighborhoods, households, and bodies making them trust it more or less. At the same time our multi-disciplinary research team inhabits different epistemic research environments that creates tensions about how we make knowledge and what counts as data. Trust and distrust then shapes how we constitute both our object of inquiry and how we know it.  more » « less
Award ID(s):
1744724
PAR ID:
10289766
Author(s) / Creator(s):
;
Date Published:
Journal Name:
Catalyst: Feminism, Theory, Technoscience
Volume:
6
Issue:
2
ISSN:
2380-3312
Format(s):
Medium: X
Sponsoring Org:
National Science Foundation
More Like this
  1. ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development)
    null (Ed.)
    This paper reports on social research investigating perceptions concerning the diversion of urine from the waste stream and its use as fertilizer in two study regions, New England and the Upper Mid­west. We hypothesized that discomfort or disgust might affect acceptance of such a shift in human “waste” management. However, our findings suggest that a more significant concern of those potentially involved in this process may be distrust of how economic interests influence scientific and technical information. Both physical risks (to the environment and public health) and socio-political risks (to fragile farm economies and consumer communities) play out at individual, household, regional, and global scales. We describe the intersection of these complex understandings as nested risks and responsibilities that must inform the future of urine reclamation. Our respondents' shared concern about environmental risks has already galvanized communities to take responsibility for implementing closed-loop alternatives to current agricul­tural inputs and waste management practices in their communities. Attention to these nested understandings of both risk and responsibility should shape research priorities and foster participatory approaches to urine nutrient reclamation, including strategies for education, planning, regulation, technology design, and agricultural application. 
    more » « less
  2. ; ; ; ; (, Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence)
    Generative AI (GenAI) has brought opportunities and challenges for higher education as it integrates into teaching and learning environments. As instructors navigate this new landscape, understanding their engagement with and attitudes toward GenAI is crucial. We surveyed 178 instructors from a single U.S. university to examine their current practices, perceptions, trust, and distrust of GenAI in higher education in March 2024. While most surveyed instructors reported moderate to high familiarity with GenAI-related concepts, their actual use of GenAI tools for direct instructional tasks remained limited. Our quantitative results show that trust and distrust in GenAI are related yet distinct; high trust does not necessarily imply low distrust, and vice versa. We also found significant differences in surveyed instructors' familiarity with GenAI across different trust and distrust groups. Our qualitative results show nuanced manifestations of trust and distrust among surveyed instructors and various approaches to support calibrated trust in GenAI. We discuss practical implications focused on (dis)trust calibration among instructors. 
    more » « less
  3. ; ; ; ; (, Journal of STEM outreach)
    The Diverse and Integrative STEM Continua Using Socio-environmental Systems In and Out of Neighborhoods (DISCUSSION) network core team developed a low-cost, interdisciplinary, inquiry-based STEM curriculum of workbooks called the Food, Energy, and Water Learning Module (FEWLM). Built on the Next Generation Science Standards with a systems thinking approach, these workbooks provide hands-on, self-driven and team-building activities for elementary and middle school youth with the intent to increase their scientific exposure and awareness about environmental sustainability and human health issues. FEWLM was implemented at local Boys and Girls Clubs, local public after-school programs, and the DISCUSSION “HydroPHonics” Summer Enrichment camp. More than 150 underrepresented minority youths were engaged in our FEWLM science learning events during a two-year period; however, approximately 50 youths were surveyed about their experiences with FEWLM, attitudes and interest in science, and career ambitions. Evidence indicated that our FEWLM learning experiences had a positive impact on elementary and middle school youth by increasing their interest in STEM, perception of STEM in their lives, and confidence in their ability to participate in STEM. 
    more » « less
  4. (, American Anthropologist)
    ABSTRACT In this article, I describe my ongoing bioethnographic collaboration with a multidisciplinary team of exposure scientists in environmental engineering and health. First, I explain how and why integrating ethnography and number‐based disciplines is such a complex, time‐consuming, and worthwhile process, when ethnography produces a kind of excessive “big data” that is not easily enumerated. Then I describe three of our current bioethnographic projects that seek to make better numbers about how (1) neighborhoods, (2) water distribution, and (3) employment and chemical exposures shape bodily processes in a highly unequal world. To conclude, I reflect on how we might harness ethnographic excess for making better numbers and thus better knowledge, and also how bioethnographic collaboration inevitably transforms ethnography even as we insist on its excess. [collaboration, methodology, ethnography, big data, biomedical science] 
    more » « less
  5. ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (, Environment and planning)
    Assumptions of trust in water systems are widespread in higher-income countries, often linked to expectations of “modern water.” The current literature on water and trust also tends to reinforce a technoscientific approach, emphasizing the importance of aligning water user perceptions with expert assessments. Although such approaches can be useful to document instances of distrust, they often fail to explain why patterns differ over time, and across contexts and populations. Addressing these shortcomings, we offer a relational approach focused on the trustworthiness of hydro-social systems to contextualize water-trust dynamics in relation to broader practices and contexts. In doing so, we investigate three high-profile water crises in North America where examples of distrust are prevalent: Flint, Michigan; Kashechewan First Nation; and the Navajo Nation. Through our theoretical and empirical examination, we offer insights on these dynamics and find that distrust may at times be a warranted and understandable response to experiences of water insecurity and injustice. We examine the interconnected experiences of marginality and inequity, ontological and epistemological injustice, unequal governance and politics, and histories of water insecurity and harm as potential contributors to untrustworthiness in hydro-social systems. We close with recommendations for future directions to better understand water-trust dynamics and address water insecurity. 
    more » « less
  • Citation Formats
  • MLA
  • APA
  • Chicago
  • BibTeX
  • Save / Share this Record
  • Send to Email