Citizen science in Latin America and the global south, part 1

Abstract

‘Citizen science’ has become an umbrella term for a growing number of projects that introduce laypersons into the heartlands of science-making, and an extension of calls for increasing science ‘democratisation’ and ‘engagement.’ Engagement, and therefore citizen science, may be classified according to its varying degree of institutionalisation (Invernizzi 2020) Top-down approaches which strongly demarcate what laypersons may and should do within scientific projects (e.g. pre-framed data gathering and sorting). Cooperative or counter-hegemonic interactions in which laypersons-institution interaction occurs on more level epistemic terms (e.g. NGO-led science, patient-group data gathering) Science ‘on the margins’, where science and knowledge are created and live out independently from institutions. This special cluster aims to reflexively explore projects of citizen science in Latin America and the Global South, particularly in the first two modes, i.e. when layperson-institutional interaction is a critical component of engagement. We invite papers that include but are not limited to sociological, anthropological or historical case studies; philosophical reflections on epistemological, ontological, cultural, geopolitical and ethical questions raised by citizen science; and discussions on the role that citizen science can play in science policy—including the wide range of diversely-democratic and participatory conceptualisations of science-society relations found in the Global South. Project management and infrastructure-related articles that fully engage with STS topics are also encouraged.