[Reader-list] Local negotiations on Science: From the ‘Public Understanding of Science’ to the ‘Public Engagement with Science’

[Shiju Sam Varughese]

Local negotiations on Science: From the 'Public Understanding of
Science' to the 'Public Engagement with Science'.

Dear friends,
This is my sixth posting. Here I would like to make some preliminary
comments about the unusual geological phenomena that struck Kerala in
2001.

Along with a series of tremors, several unusual geological phenomena
started appearing in the region in 2001. The collapsing wells all over
the region were the major among them. The phenomenon started appearing
in the month of March. The regional press often named the event as
'well vanishing'. It was because the wells literally 'disappeared'
being filled with mud due to the collapse of its walls. According to
one report, more than 300 cases of well collapse occurred in the
region during the period. Since the month of July, well collapses
became more intense and the newspapers reported such cases from all
over the state. A major fear that was raised in the regional press was
the phenomenon's linkage with the Gujarat earthquake that occurred on
26 January 2001. In this context however the scientists from
institutions like the CESS kept on arguing that the phenomenon was
mainly due to the ground water pressure variations as it was the
monsoon season, and they denied any possible connection of the
phenomenon with the seismic activity in the Indian peninsula. This was
the axis of the tension between scientists and the public that
facilitated deliberations on the phenomenon in the regional press.

Several new unusual geological phenomena also have been reported along
with increasing number of well collapses. Cracks on the walls of
buildings, ground fissures, leaf fall, tunnel/well formation,
watercolour change as well as bubbling and boiling of water in wells,
ponds and paddy fields, coloured rains and so on have been widely
reported. At least 26 kinds of phenomena appeared in the region at
this juncture. None of the scientific institutions could provide a
satisfactory explanation to the phenomena. This inability from the
side of the scientific community deteriorated the public's trust in
the scientists and the legitimacy of the scientists and the scientific
institutions have been questioned in the regional press. The
unleashing of such a large spectrum of unusual geophysical incidents
in the region created new problems for the scientists, as the local
public demanded their visit to the locality where such incidents
occurred in order to give expert opinion. In several instances the
local public entered into heated arguments with the experts
challenging the scientific explanations being offered.

The fuming of a hill called Idinjimala at Irattayar, near Kattappana
in the Idukki district was a specific case that further revealed this
tension between the experts and the local public. The local people
observed fumes coming out from the top of the hill and the regional
press reported the incident. The local public became panic as the
phenomenon resembled the formation of a volcano, and they also doubted
its linkage with the increased seismic activity in the region.
Therefore the villagers demanded scientific investigations on the
matter and an expert team from the CESS visited the place. The expert
team explained that there was no such fuming. The local public alleged
that the scientists trivialised the issue when the district collector,
quoting the scientists, declared the phenomenon as nothing but 'mist'.
Reports in some newspapers also cited the scientists giving the same
explanation. The villagers challenged the scientific explanation
pointing out that there was no fuming of the hill when scientists were
there and that the scientific explanation was not based on any
detailed investigation of the phenomenon. The controversy between the
local public and the scientists was reported in the regional
newspapers and it further got amplified when this local incident was
situated and interpreted in connection with other geological incidents
in the region.

The case of unusual geological phenomena and the deliberations over it
in the regional press is thus giving a rare chance to understand the
public engagement with modern science in their daily lives in a new
light. Beyond the common allegations that the public misunderstand
science and the media distort science, such incidents help us examine
the complex process of negotiation between the scientists and the
public in the context of a scientific controversy. Such an
investigation leads to the portrayal of  the 'public understanding of
science' as a constructive political process of 'public engagement
with science', where the public emerge as a political category rather
than 'passive and ignorant masses', as usually branded in the science
popularisation discourse.

02.11.2007

-- 
shiju sam varughese
http://shijusam.blogspot.com/