Cultivating democracy and sustainability through collaborative ecological research, education, and action

Background/Question/Methods

Scientists and scholars have played important roles in off-campus civic life that range well beyond the provision of information and technical assistance from a stance of disinterested neutrality.  Drawing on historical and narrative interview data, three distinct civic engagement traditions in American higher education will be identified and discussed.  These traditions engage scientists, artists, and scholars in multiple and often non-neutral roles as civic educators, servants, social critics, advocates, leaders, and even organizers.  The ways these roles are understood and performed have serious ethical, political, and cultural implications that are rarely acknowledged and discussed.  

What roles should scientists and scholars play in off-campus civic life?

The development and use of practice stories through narrative interviews, coupled with theoretical and conceptual tools from public philosophy and political theory, offer a means of answering this question.  Research reveals that they can help practitioners of public engagement in the ecological sciences and beyond to engage in critical reflection about their non-neutral commitments and their public engagement work and experiences in ways that cultivate a democratic-minded civic professionalism that is oriented toward both sustainability and justice.

Results/Conclusions

Scientists and scholars have powerful stories to tell about their public engagement work and experiences.  We need to make space for them to tell and interpret their stories with others if we are to make progress in advancing their positive and constructive roles in civic life.