ANTH 410/610 Knowledge Co-Production: Theory, Method, Practice
FALL 2026 - 3 credits
TuTh 2-3:13pm
Woods Hall 1102
Instructor: L. Jen Shaffer, PhD
Contact: lshaffe1@umd.edu for more information
Short Description:
Knowledge co-production is increasingly promoted as the gold standard for scientists, policy makers and implementers, industry reps, local community members, and other stakeholders to assess issues, collect data, and develop effective solutions to the, problems communities face. This course delves into the intricate process of knowledge co-production, where diverse stakeholders collaborate to generate, share, and apply, knowledge.
While this course will emphasize environmentally-oriented research and applied problem-solving, readings and discussion can be useful for students in many disciplinary fields.
Some of the Questions Our Course-Learning Will Address:
· What is knowledge?
· How do we produce and share knowledge in a Western context? How does this relate to post-normal science?
· How is knowledge produced and shared in Indigenous, Traditional, and local contexts? Citizen science? Inter/Multi/Trans-disciplinary teams?
· What methods are used for knowledge co-production? What does "successful" knowledge co-production look like?
· What are the benefits and challenges of knowledge co-production?
· Are there variations in how knowledge co-production proceeds depending on the problem-type being addressed (e.g. biodiversity conservation, community health, food/water security, cultural heritage preservation, landscape management, resilience for environmental change, disaster management, etc)? If so, does this matter and why?
· What are potential participant issues with the knowledge co-production process itself, both known (power differentials, legacy of previous experiences, participant capabilities and capacities, unknown outcomes) and unknown?
· What foundational information is needed prior to implementing a knowledge co-production process (e.g. historic and existing relationships of participants, participant networks)?
· How do we make knowledge co-production adaptive, flexible, and sustainable once the funding and other structural support is gone?