Mobilising Uncertainties in Air Pollution Science in Copenhagen

In this short article we discuss three different ways of measuring air pollution in Copenhagen, Denmark, in relation to the potential for using technoscientific tools and expertise to influence public policymaking meant to curb pollution. Based upon a mix of data ranging from scientific literature and public reports to interviews with scientific and lay stakeholders, we outline how the introduction of Google’s Project Air View, in combination with an increase in citizen engagement in air pollution, has come to play a key role in the re-invigoration of local concerns over air pollution. Previously, expertise on the city’s air pollution has been the domain of established scientists operating fixed monitoring stations, but this recently stable relation between science and policy is currently being replaced by an assemblage of contrasting views on air pollutants. Our analysis suggests that the measurements of emerging pollutants by Google’s project and by citizens themselves have impelled policymakers in Copenhagen to accept, to engage with and act upon new scientific uncertainties. We see this as giving rise to a degree of humility where emerging modes of knowing air pollution are treated as complementary with established ones

Revendiquer sa culture : nouvelles définitions et propriété des pratiques culturelles dans la Province de Manus (Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée)

En 1993, le gouvernement de la Province de Manus a rédigé un projet de loi sur la Culture à Manus, qui devait protéger et défendre la culture traditionnelle de Manus, en Papouasie Nouvelle-Guinée. Le fait d’utiliser la législation était une nouvelle façon de définir et de revendiquer la propriété des pratiques culturelles à Manus. Des pratiques spécialisées, comme la construction de pirogues et de garamut (tambours à fente traditionnels), ou l’exécution de rythmes traditionnels et de pas de danse étaient autrefois la propriété de groupes de descendance patrilinéaire. Aujourd’hui, des processus d’objectivation des traditions à Manus ont généré de nouvelles identifications culturelles et redéfini les façons dont elles sont perçues en tant que ressources et peuvent être revendiquées en tant que propriété. Cet article retrace le développement des notions de tradition et de culture à Manus, et les analyses à la lumière des données empiriques obtenues dans le contexte d’une exposition ethnographique sur Manus. J’essaie de déterminer comment les mécanismes de validation de la connaissance et aussi de construction d’une province et d’une nation sont des aspects importants à prendre en compte lorsqu’on étudie la propriété.In 1993 the Manus Provincial Government produced a draft for the Manus Culture Act, which was meant to protect and advocate the traditional culture of Manus, Papua New Guinea. Using legislation was a new way to define and claim ownership of cultural practices in Manus. Specialised practices, such as the construction of canoes and garamut (traditional slit-drums) or the performance of traditional rhythms and dance-steps, were the property of patrilineal descent groups in the past. Today processes of objectification of traditions in Manus have generated new cultural identifications and redefined the ways these are perceived as resources and can be claimed as property. This article traces the development of notions of tradition and culture in Manus and discusses these in the light of empirical material obtained in connection with an ethnographic exhibition on Manus. I assess how mechanisms of validating knowledge as well as ‘province’ and nation-building are important aspects to be taken into account when studying ownership

Holger Jebens: Pathways to Heaven. Contesting Mainline and Fundamentalist Christianity in Papua New Guinea

Anmeldes af Steffen Dalsgaard &nbsp