Rethinking the relationship between technical and local knowledge: Toward a multi-type approach

Maya Negev; Naama Teschner

doi:10.1016/j.envsci.2012.10.011

Rethinking the relationship between technical and local knowledge: Toward a multi-type approach

Maya Negev, Naama Teschner

Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

Abstract

In the field of policy-making, technical knowledge is generally regarded as objective, true, and sufficient. It is typically positioned in contrast to local knowledge, which is considered subjective and irrelevant to policy-making. This paper follows a growing scholarly trend of re-examining the relationship between technical and local knowledge, in order to show that technical knowledge may be disputable, uncertain, and based on problematic presuppositions, while local knowledge often employs objective and systematic methods. The dichotomy between local and technical knowledge is thereby questioned, with the proposal that there exist multiple types of knowledge that are of relevance to policy-making. In addition, the paper shows that the boundary between individuals who hold different types of knowledge is blurry, and that, in fact, policy-making stakeholders simultaneously employ several types of knowledge. The empirical data for this study comes from a stakeholder participation process in Health Impact Assessment, which focused on land uses in the vicinity of a national hazardous industry and waste site.

Original language	English
Pages (from-to)	50-59
Number of pages	10
Journal	Environmental Science and Policy
Volume	30
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1016/j.envsci.2012.10.011
State	Published - Jun 2013
Externally published	Yes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
We thank the editors of this special edition, Karen Buchanan, Yola Georgiadou, Esther Turnhout, and especially Anna Wasselink, for their helpful and interesting comments, which helped improve this paper. We also thank two anonymous reviewers for their important suggestions. The first author thanks Prof. Nadav Davidovitch and the Center for Health Policy Research in the Negev at Ben Gurion University for supervision and partnership in conducting this HIA. This research was conducted as part of a doctoral fellowship of the first author, funded by the Environment and Health Fund, Israel , for which she is extremely grateful. Most importantly, our gratitude goes to the stakeholders who took part in the HIA, and agreed to be interviewed for the purpose of this research.

Keywords

Health
Interpretive policy analysis
Knowledge
Policy-making
Stakeholder participation

ASJC Scopus subject areas

Geography, Planning and Development
Management, Monitoring, Policy and Law

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

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10.1016/j.envsci.2012.10.011

Cite this

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abstract = "In the field of policy-making, technical knowledge is generally regarded as objective, true, and sufficient. It is typically positioned in contrast to local knowledge, which is considered subjective and irrelevant to policy-making. This paper follows a growing scholarly trend of re-examining the relationship between technical and local knowledge, in order to show that technical knowledge may be disputable, uncertain, and based on problematic presuppositions, while local knowledge often employs objective and systematic methods. The dichotomy between local and technical knowledge is thereby questioned, with the proposal that there exist multiple types of knowledge that are of relevance to policy-making. In addition, the paper shows that the boundary between individuals who hold different types of knowledge is blurry, and that, in fact, policy-making stakeholders simultaneously employ several types of knowledge. The empirical data for this study comes from a stakeholder participation process in Health Impact Assessment, which focused on land uses in the vicinity of a national hazardous industry and waste site.",

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N2 - In the field of policy-making, technical knowledge is generally regarded as objective, true, and sufficient. It is typically positioned in contrast to local knowledge, which is considered subjective and irrelevant to policy-making. This paper follows a growing scholarly trend of re-examining the relationship between technical and local knowledge, in order to show that technical knowledge may be disputable, uncertain, and based on problematic presuppositions, while local knowledge often employs objective and systematic methods. The dichotomy between local and technical knowledge is thereby questioned, with the proposal that there exist multiple types of knowledge that are of relevance to policy-making. In addition, the paper shows that the boundary between individuals who hold different types of knowledge is blurry, and that, in fact, policy-making stakeholders simultaneously employ several types of knowledge. The empirical data for this study comes from a stakeholder participation process in Health Impact Assessment, which focused on land uses in the vicinity of a national hazardous industry and waste site.

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Rethinking the relationship between technical and local knowledge: Toward a multi-type approach

Abstract

Bibliographical note

Keywords

ASJC Scopus subject areas

UN SDGs

Access to Document

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