Neo-colonial science

Last updated

Neo-colonial research or neo-colonial science, [1] [2] frequently described as helicopter research, [1] parachute science [3] [4] or research, [5] parasitic research, [6] [7] or safari study, [8] is when researchers from wealthier countries go to a developing country, collect information, travel back to their country, analyze the data and samples, and publish the results with no or little involvement of local researchers. A 2003 study by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences found that 70% of articles in a random sample of publications about least-developed countries did not include a local research co-author. [2]

Contents

Frequently, during this kind of research, the local colleagues might be used to provide logistics support as fixers but are not engaged for their expertise or given credit for their participation in the research. Scientific publications resulting from parachute science frequently only contribute to the career of the scientists from rich countries, thus limiting the development of local science capacity (such as funded research centers) and the careers of local scientists. [1] This form of "colonial" science has reverberations of 19th century scientific practices of treating non-Western participants as "others" in order to advance colonialism—and critics call for the end of these extractivist practices in order to decolonize knowledge. [9] [10]

This kind of research approach reduces the quality of research because international researchers may not ask the right questions or draw connections to local issues. [11] The result of this approach is that local communities are unable to leverage the research to their own advantage. [4] Ultimately, especially for fields dealing with global issues like conservation biology which rely on local communities to implement solutions, neo-colonial science prevents institutionalization of the findings in local communities in order to address issues being studied by scientists. [4] [9]

Effects

The use of helicopter research has also led to a stigma of research within minority groups; some going so far as to deny research within their communities. Such safari studies lead to long-term negative effects for the scientific community and researchers, as distrust develops within peripheral communities. [12]

Donor robbery

Funds for research in developing countries are often provided by bilateral and international academic and research programmes for sustainable development. Through 'donor robbery' a large proportion of such international funds may end up in the wealthier countries via consultancy fees, laboratory costs in rich universities, overhead or purchase of expensive equipment, hiring expatriates and running "enclave" research institutes, depending on international conglomerates such as CGIAR. [13]

Use of open data

The current tendency of freely availing research datasets may lead to exploitation of, and rapid publication of results based on data pertaining to developing countries by rich and well-equipped research institutes, without any further involvement and/or benefit to local communities; [14] similarly to the historical open access to tropical forests that has led to the disappropriation ("Global Pillage") of plant genetic resources from developing countries. [15]

Professional discourse

In certain fields of research, such as global public health, [16] both the journals and professionals creating the field have defined much of their work under colonial structures and assumptions. [16] This in turn prevents participation in the field from early in the process, even before authorship or credit is given during the publishing representation of editorial boards of journals publishing in environmental sciences and public health, with a vast majority of editors based in high-income countries despite the global scope of the journals' fields. [17]

Mitigation

Some journals and publishers are implementing policies that should mitigate the impact of parachute science. One of the conditions for publication set by the journal Global Health Action is that, "Articles reporting research involving primary data collection will normally include researchers and institutions from the countries concerned as authors, and include in-country ethical approval." [18] Similarly The Lancet Global Health placed restriction encouraged submissions to review their practices for including local participants. [6] Similarly in 2021, PLOS announced a policy that required changes in reporting for researchers working in other countries. [19]

A number of research communities are putting protocols in place for indigenous health information. In the US, the Cherokee Nation established a specific Institutional Review Board, aiming at ensuring the protection of the rights and welfare of tribal members involved in research projects. [20] The Cherokee Nation IRB does not allow helicopter research. [12] The Human Heredity and Health in Africa (H3Africa) Initiative launched guidelines for working with genetic information from the continent in 2018. [21]

An Ethiopian soil scientist, Mitiku Haile, suggests that such "free riding" should be "condemned by all partners and, if found, should be brought to the attention of the scientific community and the international and national funding agencies". [22]

Also in Africa, since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic in 2020, travel restrictions on international scholars tend to local scientists stepping up to lead research. [23]

Examples by field

Examples of neo-colonial approaches to science include:

Climate change

An analysis of research money from 1990 to 2020 for climate change, found that 78% of research money for research on Climate change in Africa, was spent in European and North American institutions and more was spent for former British colonies than other countries. [25] This in turn both prevents local researchers from doing groundbreaking work, because they don't have the funding for experimental activities and reduces investment in local researchers ideas and in topics important to the Global South, such as climate change adaptation. [26]

Soil science

Soil scientists have qualified helicopter research as a perpetuation of "colonial" science. Typically researchers from rich countries would come to establish soil profile pits or collect soil and peat samples, which is often more easily done in poor countries given the availability of cheap labour and goodwill of villagers to dig a pit on their land against small payment. The profile will be described and samples taken with the help of local people, possibly also university staff. In case of helicopter research, the outcomes are then published such as discovery in tropical peatlands, sometimes in high-level journals without the involvement of local colleagues. "Overall, helicopter research tends to produce academic papers that further the career of scientists from developed countries, but provide little practical outcomes for nations where the studies are conducted, nor develop the careers of their local scientists." [1]

Coral Reef research

A 2021 study in Current Biology quantified the amount of parachute research happening in coral reef studies and found such approaches to be the norm. [27] [3] [11]

Examples by region


Europe

The 2015 description of Tetrapodophis was performed by three European scientists. When the Brazilan newspaper Estadão – Brazil being the country where the fossil hails from – questioned lead researcher David M. Martill, he replied "It should be fossils for all. No countries existed when the animals were fossilized. [..] what difference would it make [partnering with Brazilian scientists]? I mean, do you want me also to have a black person on the team for ethnicity reasons, and a cripple and a woman, and maybe a homosexual too, just for a bit of all round balance? [..] Now I don't work in Brazil. But I still work on Brazilian fossils. There are hundreds of them in museums all over Europe, America and in Japan." [28]

Central Africa

A 2009 study found that Europeans participated in 77% of regionally co-authored papers in Central African countries. [29] Even though local authors are credited with the work, they aren't always given participatory roles in the final production of the research itself—instead playing roles in fieldwork. [29]

Indonesia

In April 2018, a publication about Indonesia's Bajau people received great attention. These "sea nomads" had a genetic adaptation resulting in large spleens that supply additional oxygenated red blood cells. [30] A month later this publication was criticised by Indonesian scientists. Their article in Science questioned the ethics of scientists from the United States and Denmark who took DNA samples of the Bajau people and analyzed them, without much involvement of Bajau or other Indonesian people. [31] [32]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Research</span> Systematic study undertaken to increase knowledge

Research is "creative and systematic work undertaken to increase the stock of knowledge". It involves the collection, organization, and analysis of evidence to increase understanding of a topic, characterized by a particular attentiveness to controlling sources of bias and error. These activities are characterized by accounting and controlling for biases. A research project may be an expansion of past work in the field. To test the validity of instruments, procedures, or experiments, research may replicate elements of prior projects or the project as a whole.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scientific misconduct</span> Violation of codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in scientific research

Scientific misconduct is the violation of the standard codes of scholarly conduct and ethical behavior in the publication of professional scientific research. It is violation of scientific integrity: violation of the scientific method and of research ethics in science, including in the design, conduct, and reporting of research.

Neocolonialism is the control by a state over another nominally independent state through indirect means. The term neocolonialism was first used after World War II to refer to the continuing dependence of former colonies on foreign countries, but its meaning soon broadened to apply, more generally, to places where the power of developed countries was used to produce a colonial-like exploitation.

The Mexico City policy, sometimes referred to by its critics as the global gag rule, is a former United States government policy that blocked U.S. federal funding for non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that provided abortion counseling or referrals, advocated to decriminalize abortion, or expanded abortion services. When in effect, the Mexico City policy is a U.S. government policy that requires foreign non-governmental organizations to certify that they will not "perform or actively promote abortion as a method of family planning" with non-U.S. funds as a condition for receiving U.S. global family planning assistance, and during its January 23, 2017 implementation any other U.S. global health assistance, including U.S. global HIV and maternal and child health (MCH) assistance.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sepiolite</span> Soft and porous white magnesium silicate clay mineral

Sepiolite, also known in English by the German name meerschaum ( MEER-shawm, -⁠shəm; German:[ˈmeːɐ̯ʃaʊm] ; meaning "sea foam"), is a soft white clay mineral, often used to make tobacco pipes (known as meerschaum pipes). A complex magnesium silicate, a typical chemical formula for which is Mg4Si6O15(OH)2·6H2O, it can be present in fibrous, fine-particulate, and solid forms.

Digital soil mapping (DSM) in soil science, also referred to as predictive soil mapping or pedometric mapping, is the computer-assisted production of digital maps of soil types and soil properties. Soil mapping, in general, involves the creation and population of spatial soil information by the use of field and laboratory observational methods coupled with spatial and non-spatial soil inference systems.

Pedodiversity is the variation of soil properties within an area. Pedodiversity studies were first started by analyzing soil series–area relationships. According to Guo et al. (2003) the term pedodiversity was developed by McBratney (1992) who discussed landscape preservation strategies based on pedodiversity. Recently, examinations of pedodiversity using indices commonly used to characterize bio-diversity have been made. Ibáñez et al. (1995) first introduced ecological diversity indices as measures of pedodiversity. They include species richness, relative species abundance, and Shannon index. Richness is the number of different soil types, which is the number of soil classes at particular level in a taxonomic system. Abundance is defined as the distribution of the number of soil individuals.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Micronutrient deficiency</span> Medical condition

Micronutrient deficiency is defined as the sustained insufficient supply of vitamins and minerals needed for growth and development, as well as to maintain optimal health. Since some of these compounds are considered essentials, micronutrient deficiencies are often the result of an inadequate intake. However, it can also be associated to poor intestinal absorption, presence of certain chronic illnesses and elevated requirements.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oriol Mitjà</span> Catalan researcher

Oriol Mitjà i Villar is a Catalan-born Spanish researcher and consultant physician in internal medicine and infectious diseases with expertise in poverty-related tropical diseases. He has conducted research at the Lihir Medical Centre in Papua New Guinea since 2010 on new diagnostic and therapeutic tools to eradicate yaws. He was awarded the Princess of Girona Award in the scientific research category. Currently at the Germans Trias i Pujol Research Institute, Mitjà is conducting research on SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and strategies to control the infection at a community level.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Planetary health diet</span> Flexitarian diet created by the EAT-Lancet commission

The planetary health diet, also called a planetary diet or planetarian diet, is a flexitarian diet created by the EAT-Lancet commission as part of a report released in The Lancet on 16 January 2019. The aim of the report and the diet it developed is to create dietary paradigms that have the following aims:

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Tolullah Oni</span> Nigerian urban epidemiologist

Tolullah "Tolu" Oni is a Nigerian urban epidemiologist at the Medical Research Council Epidemiology Unit at the University of Cambridge. She is a NextEinstein Forum Fellow and World Economic Forum Young Global Leader.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decolonization of knowledge</span> Process of undoing colonial influences on knowledge

Decolonization of knowledge is a concept advanced in decolonial scholarship that critiques the perceived hegemony of Western knowledge systems. It seeks to construct and legitimize other knowledge systems by exploring alternative epistemologies, ontologies and methodologies. It is also an intellectual project that aims to "disinfect" academic activities that are believed to have little connection with the objective pursuit of knowledge and truth. The presumption is that if curricula, theories, and knowledge are colonized, it means they have been partly influenced by political, economic, social and cultural considerations. The decolonial knowledge perspective covers a wide variety of subjects including philosophy, science, history of science, and other fundamental categories in social science.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Diabetes in India</span>

India has an estimated 100 million people formally diagnosed with diabetes, which makes it the second most affected in the world, after China. Furthermore, 700,000 Indians died of diabetes, hyperglycemia, kidney disease or other complications of diabetes in 2020. One in six people (17%) in the world with diabetes is from India. The number is projected to grow by 2045 to become 134 million per the International Diabetes Federation.

Fred Nalugoda is a public health researcher studying HIV/AIDS in rural Uganda for over 20 years, mainly through surveillance and field work. He currently serves as the Program Director of a research station in Kalisizo in Uganda as part of his continued work at the Rakai Health Sciences Program (RHSP).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Igor Rudan</span>

Igor Rudan is a Croatian-British scientist, writer, and science communicator. He leads research projects in global health and genetics, writes books, and creates documentary series.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu</span> Ugandan Mental health programme developer

Etheldreda Nakimuli-Mpungu is a professor, researcher, epidemiologist and psychiatrist at the Department of Psychiatry in the Faculty of Medicine, Makerere University in Uganda. Her research is particularly focused on supportive group psychotherapy as a first-line treatment for depression in people with HIV. She is one of only five recipients of the Elsevier Foundation Award for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World in Biological Sciences, as well as listed at one of the BBC's 100 Women in 2020.

Post-abortion care (PAC) is treatment and counseling for post-abortion women. It includes curative care, such as treating abortion complications, as well as preventative care, such as providing birth control to prevent future unwanted pregnancies. Post-abortion care reduces morbidity and mortality associated with abortion.

Elimination of tuberculosis is the effort to reduce the number of tuberculosis (TB) cases to less than one per 1 million population, contrasted with the effort to completely eradicate infection in humans worldwide. The goal of tuberculosis elimination is hampered by the lack of rapid testing, short and effective treatment courses, and completely effective vaccine. The WHO as well as the Stop TB Partnership aim for the full elimination of TB by 2050—requiring a 1000-fold reduction in tuberculosis incidence. As of 2017, tuberculosis has not been eliminated from any country.

Vaccine equity means ensuring that everyone in the world has equal access to vaccines. The importance of vaccine equity has been emphasized by researchers and public health experts during the COVID-19 pandemic but is relevant to other illnesses and vaccines as well. Historically, world-wide immunization campaigns have led to the eradication of smallpox and significantly reduced polio, measles, tuberculosis, diphtheria, whooping cough, and tetanus.

Louisa Degenhardt is an Australian drug and alcohol researcher, and a scientia professor. She is also a senior principal research fellow with the National Health and Medical Research Council, part of the Centre for National Drug and Alcohol Research. She was elected as a fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2024. She received an Order of Australia in 2023.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Minasny, Budiman; Fiantis, Dian; Mulyanto, Budi; Sulaeman, Yiyi; Widyatmanti, Wirastuti (2020-08-15). "Global soil science research collaboration in the 21st century: Time to end helicopter research". Geoderma. 373: 114299. Bibcode:2020Geode.373k4299M. doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114299. ISSN   0016-7061.
  2. 1 2 Dahdouh-Guebas, Farid; Ahimbisibwe, J.; Van Moll, Rita; Koedam, Nico (2003-03-01). "Neo-colonial science by the most industrialised upon the least developed countries in peer-reviewed publishing". Scientometrics. 56 (3): 329–343. doi:10.1023/A:1022374703178. ISSN   1588-2861. S2CID   18463459.
  3. 1 2 "Q&A: Parachute Science in Coral Reef Research". The Scientist Magazine®. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  4. 1 2 3 "The Problem With 'Parachute Science'". Science Friday. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  5. ↑ "Scientists Say It's Time To End 'Parachute Research'". NPR.org. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  6. 1 2 Health, The Lancet Global (2018-06-01). "Closing the door on parachutes and parasites". The Lancet Global Health. 6 (6): e593. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30239-0 . ISSN   2214-109X. PMID   29773111. S2CID   21725769.
  7. ↑ Smith, James (2018-08-01). "Parasitic and parachute research in global health". The Lancet Global Health. 6 (8): e838. doi: 10.1016/S2214-109X(18)30315-2 . ISSN   2214-109X. PMID   30012263. S2CID   51630341.
  8. 1 2 "Helicopter Research". TheFreeDictionary.com. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  9. 1 2 Vos, Asha de. "The Problem of 'Colonial Science'". Scientific American. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  10. ↑ "The Traces of Colonialism in Science". Observatory of Educational Innovation. 20 July 2020. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  11. 1 2 Stefanoudis, Paris V.; Licuanan, Wilfredo Y.; Morrison, Tiffany H.; Talma, Sheena; Veitayaki, Joeli; Woodall, Lucy C. (2021-02-22). "Turning the tide of parachute science". Current Biology. 31 (4): R184–R185. doi: 10.1016/j.cub.2021.01.029 . ISSN   0960-9822. PMID   33621503.
  12. 1 2 3 4 Cherokee Nation IRB: Helicopter Research
  13. ↑ Minasny, Budiman; Fiantis, Dian; Mulyanto, Budi; Sulaeman, Yiyi; Widyatmanti, Wirastuti (2020-08-15). "Global soil science research collaboration in the 21st century: Time to end helicopter research". Geoderma. 373: 114299. Bibcode:2020Geode.373k4299M. doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114299. ISSN   0016-7061.
  14. ↑ Lima, Renato A. F. de; Phillips, Oliver L.; Duque, Alvaro; Tello, J. Sebastian; Davies, Stuart J.; de Oliveira, Alexandre Adalardo; Muller, Sandra; Honorio Coronado, Euridice N.; Vilanova, Emilio; Cuni-Sanchez, Aida; Baker, Timothy R.; Ryan, Casey M.; Malizia, Agustina; Lewis, Simon L.; ter Steege, Hans; Ferreira, Joice; Marimon, Beatriz Schwantes; Luu, Hong Truong; Imani, Gerard; Arroyo, Luzmila; Blundo, Cecilia; Kenfack, David; Sainge, Moses N.; Sonké, Bonaventure; Vásquez, Rodolfo (11 April 2022). "Making forest data fair and open". Nature Ecology & Evolution. 6 (6): 656–658. doi:10.1038/s41559-022-01738-7. PMID   35411093. S2CID   248101054.
  15. ↑ Low, Alex (2001). "The Third Revolution: Plant Genetic Resources in Developing Countries and China: Global Village or Global Pillage". International Trade and Business Law Annual. 6: 323.
  16. 1 2 Horton, Richard (2013-11-23). "Offline: Is global health neocolonialist?". The Lancet. 382 (9906): 1690. doi:10.1016/S0140-6736(13)62379-X. ISSN   0140-6736. S2CID   54269192.
  17. ↑ Dada, Sara; Daalen, Kim Robin van; Barrios-Ruiz, Alanna; Wu, Kai-Ti; Desjardins, Aidan; Bryce-Alberti, Mayte; Castro-Varela, Alejandra; Khorsand, Parnian; Zamorano, Ander Santamarta; Jung, Laura; Malolos, Grace (2022-06-21). "Challenging the "old boys club" in academia: Gender and geographic representation in editorial boards of journals publishing in environmental sciences and public health". PLOS Global Public Health. 2 (6): e0000541. doi: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0000541 . hdl: 10197/13070 . ISSN   2767-3375. PMC   10021803 . PMID   36962476. S2CID   249939973.
  18. ↑ "Submit to Global Health Action". www.tandfonline.com. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  19. ↑ "Announcing a new PLOS policy on inclusion in global research". The Official PLOS Blog. 2021-09-27. Retrieved 2021-10-11.
  20. ↑ "Cherokee Nation Institutional Review Board". Cherokee Nation Institutional Review Board. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  21. ↑ Nordling, Linda (2018-04-18). "African scientists call for more control of their continent's genomic data". Nature. doi:10.1038/d41586-018-04685-1.
  22. ↑ Haile, Mitiku (2020-08-15). "Response to "Global soil science research collaboration in the 21st century: Time to end helicopter research"". Geoderma. 373: 114300. Bibcode:2020Geode.373k4300H. doi:10.1016/j.geoderma.2020.114300. ISSN   0016-7061.
  23. ↑ "Africa sees end to 'helicopter research' as pandemic changes minds". Times Higher Education (THE). 2020-07-15. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  24. ↑ North, Michelle A.; Hastie, Warwick W.; Hoyer, Lauren (2020-09-01). "Out of Africa: The underrepresentation of African authors in high-impact geoscience literature". Earth-Science Reviews. 208: 103262. Bibcode:2020ESRv..20803262N. doi:10.1016/j.earscirev.2020.103262. ISSN   0012-8252. S2CID   225253161.
  25. ↑ Overland, Indra; Fossum Sagbakken, Haakon; Isataeva, Aidai; Kolodzinskaia, Galina; Simpson, Nicholas Philip; Trisos, Christopher; Vakulchuk, Roman (2021-09-25). "Funding flows for climate change research on Africa: where do they come from and where do they go?". Climate and Development. 14 (8): 705–724. doi:10.1080/17565529.2021.1976609. hdl: 11250/2832233 . ISSN   1756-5529. S2CID   244210557.
  26. ↑ "Analysis: The lack of diversity in climate-science research". Carbon Brief. 2021-10-05. Retrieved 2021-11-15.
  27. ↑ "Study quantifying parachute science in coral reef research shows it's 'still widespread'". EurekAlert!. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  28. ↑ "Author of 4-legged-snake paper defies Brazilian fossil laws".
  29. 1 2 Boshoff, Nelius (2009-04-17). "Neo-colonialism and research collaboration in Central Africa". Scientometrics. 81 (2): 413–434. doi:10.1007/s11192-008-2211-8. ISSN   1588-2861. S2CID   15609124.
  30. ↑ Ilardo, Melissa A.; Moltke, Ida; Korneliussen, Thorfinn S.; Cheng, Jade; Stern, Aaron J.; Racimo, Fernando; Damgaard, Peter de Barros; Sikora, Martin; Seguin-Orlando, Andaine; Rasmussen, Simon; Munckhof, Inge C. L. van den (2018-04-19). "Physiological and Genetic Adaptations to Diving in Sea Nomads". Cell. 173 (3): 569–580.e15. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2018.03.054 . ISSN   0092-8674. PMID   29677510.
  31. ↑ Rochmyaningsih, Dyna (2018-07-26). "Did a study of Indonesian people who spend most of their days under water violate ethical rules?". Science | AAAS. Retrieved 2021-03-24.
  32. ↑ Minasny, Budiman; Fiantis, Dian (2018-08-29). "'Helicopter research': who benefits from international studies in Indonesia?". The Conversation . Archived from the original on 2021-01-16. Retrieved 2021-01-16.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.