Activists and advocates often invoke the motto “follow the science,” whether their cause is climate, vaccines, or fiscal policy. This slogan suggests that solutions are readily discernable from scientific research. But while decision-making may proceed from an apparently authoritative body of knowledge, both producing and enacting this knowledge involves navigating indeterminacy, both as a challenge and as a site of possibility. Panelists will explore how both climate knowledge and climate politics are formed, contested, and enacted in global climate institutions, with a particular focus on the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) 27th Conference of Parties (COP27), held in November 2022 in Egypt.
Organizer: Jessica O’Reilly, Indiana University
Participants:
Jessica O’Reilly, Indiana University
Naveeda Khan, Johns Hopkins University
Cindy Isenhour, University of Maine
Association for Political and Legal Anthropology 