A political epistemology for health and environmental justice conflicts
This seminar with Silvio Funtowicz discusses Martinez-Alier's argument that the Environmental Justice Atlas illustrates the mobilization of "extended peer communities" (EPCs) as defined in Post-Normal Science (PNS).
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The 2023 Holberg Prize, one of the largest international prizes awarded annually to an outstanding researcher in the humanities, social sciences, law or theology, was recently awarded to Catalan scholar Joan Martinez-Alier.
Martinez-Alier is Professor Emeritus at the Institute of Environmental Science and Technology at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona (ICTA-UAB). He will receive the award during an 8 June ceremony at the University of Bergen, Norway.
Martinez-Alier receives the Prize for his ground-breaking research in ecological economics, political ecology and environmental justice. He is known for criticizing established economic theory and traditional approaches to economic growth. Martinez-Alier is also a major figure and leading public intellectual in the burgeoning movement for "degrowth".
At this seminar, Silvio Funtowicz will discuss Martinez-Alier's argument that the Environmental Justice Atlas illustrates the mobilization of "extended peer communities" (EPCs) as defined in Post-Normal Science (PNS).
The EPCs are the arena where a multiplicity of perspectives, styles of knowing, and power differentials are expressed in a context of extreme inequalities and injustice, weak democratic institutions, authoritarian tendencies and a magical idea about the power of science and technology.
PNS is a political epistemology for health and environmental justice conflicts where facts are contested, there is a plurality of values, stakes are high and decisions urgent. In health and environmental justice conflicts, the deployment of knowledge is no longer restricted to scientific and technical experts, but it has become an integral part of the struggle of affected communities to contest power and assert their rights.
The webinar is open for anyone interested, and to participate you only need to click on the Zoom link at noon (CET) on Monday 8 May.
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Silvio Funtowicz was Professor II at SVT from February 2012 to spring 2021 and is now a guest researcher here. He is a philosopher of science active in the field of science and technology studies. Together with Jerome R. Ravetz, he introduced the concept of post-normal science (PNS) in the 1990s.
