Planning for Persistent Environmental Contamination: Public Health, Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, and Technoscience in Canada

Situated at the intersection of science and technology studies, communication studies, and critical race studies, my research investigates the public circulation of scientific knowledge about racialization, health inequalities, and environmental contamination. My current research project, “Planning for Persistent Environmental Contamination: Public Health, Indigenous Traditional Knowledge, and Technoscience in Canada,” examines methodologies employed by citizen science projects to gather evidence of environmental contamination in a settler colonial context where this evidence is itself contested. Scientists have long relied upon the labor of “lay” or “amateur” data collectors whose situated knowledge of localities, access to data collection sites, and ability to devote their time and labor have provided context and direction in the production of scientific knowledge. In considering how evidence of harm is produced, I analyze contested practices of measurement and negotiations between First Nations actors, toxicologists, industry, and government policymakers over what counts as evidence.