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Practicing the science of sustainability: the challenges of transdisciplinarity in a developing world context

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  • The Reality of Transdisciplinary Processes
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Abstract

Questions related to how we practice sustainability science remain salient in the face of the failure to achieve broad-scale sustainability objectives. Transdisciplinarity is an essential part of sustainability science. Transdisciplinary conceptual scholarship has been more prevalent than empirical scholarship or applications, especially in developing world contexts. In a single case study of a multiyear project addressing water security issues in HaMakuya, South Africa, we used a framework for assessing transdisciplinary objectives to facilitate more systematic learning for those who practice sustainability science. We found that defining the problem and assembling our team were easier than the co-creation of solution-oriented knowledge and the reintegration and application of this new knowledge. Our singular case study speaks to the potential challenges related to building relationships and co-creating knowledge in an epistemologically diverse setting. Other case studies appear to have negotiated these issues in developing country contexts, and this leaves room further investigation for how to practice transdisciplinarity under these conditions.

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Notes

  1. We take our definition from the National Academies report (2004:2) on Facilitating Interdisciplinary Research: “Interdisciplinary research is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the scope of a single discipline or area of research practice”.

  2. We adopt here the Zurich 2000 definition which was derived from a conference of over 500 researchers and 300 practitioners: “transdisciplinary aspires to the efficient use of knowledge by relating different epistemics (i.e. ways of knowing) when dealing with a complex, societally relevant real-world problem” Scholz and Steiner 2015a: Scholz and Steiner (2015a) in this issue include a more extensive history of this definition.

  3. Boundary objects are concrete or abstract tools that facilitate the translation, sharing and use of knowledge across disciplinary and organizational cultures (Star and Griesemer 1989; Guston 2001; Crona and Parker 2012). They facilitate knowledge co-production and use in community, research, and policy settings.

  4. This included surface waters, borehole to tap, municipal storage to tap, and individual hand pumps (borehole).

  5. Symbols and colors were derived through collaboration among the research partners so equivalent scales of ‘goodness’ or ‘badness’ of the data could be produced. Green circles in column 2 indicate that safe quality and quantities of water were found using laboratory testing. Yellow triangles mean caution is needed in the interpretation because of data deficiencies. Yellow diamonds mean a poor quality or quantity finding such as the presence of E Coli. Red squares mean serious quality or quantity issues are present. For columns 3–7, green circles were used when more than half of participants at each site indicated positive perceptions of having knowledge of the NWA, water meeting household needs, consistent water supply, and a positive outlook for the future. Yellow diamonds mean 20–50 % of the sample perceived those findings. Red squares mean that more than half of the sample had negative perceptions of water safety, reliability, or quality, or less than 20 % of the sample had knowledge of the NWA.

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Acknowledgments

We would like to thank the HaMakuya Community and the Tshulu Trust for their openness and willingness to participate in this project. Students and faculty in the Organization of Tropical Studies, South Africa, assisted in the collection of perceptions data. Support for the IMAGINE program was provided by the National Science Foundation (NSF) award OISE 1137426, North Carolina State University, the University of the Witwatersrand, the University of Pretoria and University of Saskatchewan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Environment and Sustainability, University of Saskatchewan, 329 Kirk Hall, 117 Science Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5C8, Canada

    Toddi Steelman

  2. Department of Forest and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, 2800 Faucette Drive, Box 8006, Raleigh, NC, 27695, USA

    Elizabeth Guthrie Nichols

  3. Department of Geography, Nipissing University, 100 College Drive, North Bay, ON, P1B 8L7, Canada

    April James

  4. School of Public Health, University of Saskatchewan, 104 Clinic Place, Saskatoon, SK, S7N 5E5, Canada

    Lori Bradford

  5. Department of Educational Psychology, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa

    Liesel Ebersöhn & Funke Omidire

  6. Department of Psychology of Education, University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa

    Vanessa Scherman

  7. Knowledge Hub for Rural Development, Wits Rural Facility, University of the Witwatersrand, Orpen Road, Acornhoek, 1360, South Africa

    David N. Bunn

  8. School of Animal, Plant and Environmental Sciences, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Witwatersrand, 2050, South Africa

    Wayne Twine

  9. Department of Forestry and Environmental Resources, North Carolina State University, Campus Box 8008, Raleigh, NC, 27695-8008, USA

    Melissa R. McHale

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  1. Toddi Steelman
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Correspondence to Toddi Steelman.

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Handled by Roland W. Scholz, Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB), Germany and University of Zurich, Switzerland.

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Steelman, T., Nichols, E.G., James, A. et al. Practicing the science of sustainability: the challenges of transdisciplinarity in a developing world context. Sustain Sci 10, 581–599 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11625-015-0334-4

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