Unruly Complexity

Unruly Complexity Ecology, Interpretation, Engagement

by Peter J. Taylor

University of Chicago Press, 2005
Cloth: 978-0-226-79035-0 | Paper: 978-0-226-79036-7 | Electronic: 978-0-226-79039-8
DOI: 10.7208/chicago/9780226790398.001.0001

AVAILABLE FROM

University of Chicago Press (cloth, paper, ebook)
Barnes & Noble Nook
Chegg Inc
Copia Interactive
DeGruyter Multi-User Ebook Program
Google Play
Kno
OverDrive
University Press Scholarship Online (UPSO)

ABOUT THIS BOOKAUTHOR BIOGRAPHYTABLE OF CONTENTS

ABOUT THIS BOOK

Ambitiously identifying fresh issues in the study of complex systems, Peter J. Taylor, in a model of interdisciplinary exploration, makes these concerns accessible to scholars in the fields of ecology, environmental science, and science studies. Unruly Complexity explores concepts used to deal with complexity in three realms: ecology and socio-environmental change; the collective constitution of knowledge; and the interpretations of science as they influence subsequent research.

For each realm Taylor shows that unruly complexity-situations that lack definite boundaries, where what goes on "outside" continually restructures what is "inside," and where diverse processes come together to produce change-should not be suppressed by partitioning complexity into well-bounded systems that can be studied or managed from an outside vantage point. Using case studies from Australia, North America, and Africa, he encourages readers to be troubled by conventional boundaries-especially between science and the interpretation of science-and to reflect more self-consciously on the conceptual and practical choices researchers make.

AUTHOR BIOGRAPHY

Peter J. Taylor is associate professor and director of the Programs in Science, Technology & Values and Critical & Creative Thinking at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, where he teaches environmental studies, science studies, and reflective practice.

Acknowledgments

Prologue

Part I: Modelling Ecological Complexity

A. The Construction of Complexity

B. The Hidden Complexity of Simple Models

Chapter 2: Open Sites in Model Building

Part II: Interpreting Ecological Modelers in Their Complex Social Context

A. Social-Personal-Scientific Correlations in the Work of H. T. Odum: A First Reading

B. Another Look: Diagrams and Physical Analogies

Chapter 4: Reconstructing Heterogeneous Webs in Socio-Environmental Research

A. The Simulated Future of a Salt-Affected Agricultural Region

B. An Intersection of Domains of Action that Include MIT, USAID, System Dynamics Modelers, and Nomadic Pastoralists

Part III: Engaging Reflexively within Ecological, Scientific, and Social Complexity

A. Further Intersections that Affect Researchers and Interpreters Extending Their Webs

B. Workshops in which Ecologists Map Their Webs of Knowledge-Making

C. Two Terms that Help Researchers Conceptualize More Complexity

Chapter 6: Reasoned Understandings and Social Change in Research on Common Resources: Introducing a Framework to Keep Tensions Active, Productive, and Ever-Present

A. Researchers Conduct a Dialogue, Involving Concepts and Evidence, with the Situations Studied

B. Socially Situated Researchers Interact with Other Social Agents to Establish What Counts as Knowledge

C. Researchers Pursue Social Change by Addressing Self-Consciously the Complexities of the Situations They Study and Their Own Social Situatedness

Epilogue: Three Stories

A. Participation

B. Flexible Engagement

C. Open Questions

Summary of Themes and Questions Opened Up

Glossary

Notes

References

Index