<p>Diverse ways of knowing have been recognized by scholars in many disciplines to contribute creative perspectives and novel problem-solving approaches. In the environmental sciences, those dependent on natural resources and working daily with those resources are in one of the best positions to observe and learn from subtle changes in the environment. In the coastal marine and estuarine environment, these experiential knowledge holders are the fishers and their families. In North Carolina, these fishers live in historic villages and, with scientists and policymakers, serve as the downstream stakeholders in watershed management. These three stakeholder groups all have perspectives to contribute to research and management of water quality in the watershed. This dissertation starts by documenting definitions and perspectives of water quality from these three stakeholder groups, establishing the base of information from which future research and management takes place. It then specifically addresses the details of negotiating co-production of knowledge through an ethnographic account of a collaborative research project investigating water pollution. The process of information sharing was highlighted during this process by a facilitated workshop asking participants to reflect upon their collective understanding of water quality more broadly and to plan a research project resulting from a new shared, understanding. The third component of my investigation of different ways of knowing uses North Carolina's Fishery Resource Grant program, which funds collaborative research between fishers and scientists, as a case study of an institution supporting co-produced knowledge about water quality and how the structure of collaboration in funded projects affects the success of the program both scientifically and socially. Together, the three chapters tell a story about the diverse forms of knowledge regarding water quality and how they might work together to better understand the causes and effects of water quality as well as tailor solutions to fit this better understanding. Though the story is of one case, specific to water quality and the coastal communities that depend on it, the story is also one of few optimistic cases in environmental science.</p> / Dissertation

Non-fiction film shares a long and relatively uncharted history with the museum. Today, filmmaking is a widespread yet critically neglected area of modern museological practice. This practice-based PhD situates itself within these critical gaps to examine the knowledge producing potential of film archives and film practice at the Manchester Museum. Its primary historical sources are a group of taxidermy objects at the Manchester Museum, an archive of 16mm acetate films at the North West Film Archive and a collection of travel journals at Cheshire Archives and Local Studies. These diverse collections were generated by Maurice Egerton, the 4th Baron of Tatton in Cheshire during his travels in Africa in the first decades of the twentieth century. This thesis brings all three together for the first time since their moment of production. These collections recur throughout the thesis as I ask how film archives can complicate and enrich our understanding of collections and how filmmaking practice might continue to bring new types of knowledge into the museum and archive. Two research films are submitted with and discussed within the thesis. The first, 'Living Worlds at the Manchester Museum', adapts observational methods from visual anthropology to record objects and staff during the re-display of the mammal gallery at the Manchester Museum in 2011. The second, 'Articulating Archives' is the result of a creative collaboration in 2014 with Year 8 secondary school students and the institutions and archives named above. Within the production and analyses of these films I draw on diverse critical sources to suggest that film can illuminate properties of materiality, embodied knowledge and performed engagement that textual accounts fall short of capturing.

En 2005-6, le virus du chikungunya, transmis par les moustiques Aedes albopictus, touche 38% des habitants de La Réunion. Cette épidémie marque la fin de l'usage systématique des insecticides et la refonte des politiques de santé. Les pouvoirs publics enrôlent les citoyens et les moustiques dans l'élaboration de nouvelles frontières, matérielles et symboliques, entre les deux espèces. Cette thèse a pour objectif d'interroger les effets de ces changements de pratiques sur les rapports sociaux de pouvoir en contexte post-colonial, et sur les relations entre humains et moustiques. Pour saisir les dynamiques socio-naturelles à l'œuvre, une ethnographie combinatoire a permis d'observer les co-constructions de savoirs et de pratiques dans plusieurs espaces où s'organise la mise à distance des moustiques. Elle s'est appuyée sur le recueil de discours et l'observation de pratiques au sein du service de lutte contre les moustiques, au cœur d'une équipe de recherche sur la Technique de l'insecte stérile (visant à relâcher des moustiques stériles sur l'île) et auprès de non professionnels de la lutte. Une collecte d'articles de presse et d'archives a achevé de constituer le corpus de données. L'enjeu de cette thèse est de montrer que bien loin d'opérer une simple séparation entre humains et moustiques, les nouvelles pratiques de lutte ont intensifié leurs interactions. En parallèle, elle propose une réflexion sur les dynamiques liées à la coexistence de plusieurs systèmes interprétatifs, permettant d'appréhender – ou non – collectivement la prise en charge du risque épidémique. C'est l’occasion de réfléchir aux relations entre l'État, les scientifiques et les citoyens. / In 2005-6, the chikungunya virus, transmitted by the Aedes albopictus mosquito, affects 38% of the inhabitants of Reunion Island. This outbreak marks the end of the systematic use of insecticides and the consolidation of health policies. Public authorities enlist citizens and mosquitoes in the development of new frontiers, material and symbolic, between the two species. This thesis aims to examine the effects of these changes in practices on the social relations of power in post-colonial context, and the relationship between humans and mosquitoes.To apprehend the socio-natural dynamics at work, a combinatorial ethnography allowed to observe the co-construction of knowledge and practices in several areas where the distancing mosquitoes gets organized. It was based on the collection of speeches and observing practices in the vector control service, in the heart of a research team on the Sterile insect technique (to release sterile mosquitoes on the island) and from non-control professionals. A collection of articles and archives finalized to constitute the body of data.The aim of this thesis is to show that far from making a simple separation between humans and mosquitoes, new management practices have intensified their interactions. In parallel, it proposes a reflection on the dynamics associated with the coexistence of several interpretive systems, allowing to understand - or not - the collective management of epidemic risk. This is an opportunity to reflect on the relationship between the state, scientists and citizens

This research explores how community-centered solutions facilitate the success and ownership of the response actions to deal with a public health emergency, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. When an outbreak or a hazard impacts a group of people, there is a strong need for communication in order to be able to access to the right information that takes people to make the correct decision and thus to take a protective action to be safe. This approach, known as Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE)[1], allows the co-production of knowledge needed for a group of people to remain safe. For this approach, social listening tools, such as media monitoring and community feedback collection are critical understand communities’ needs. Its analysis allows to tailor a RCCE strategy that is able to substantially reduce the threat that a public health emergency poses to human lives[2].  Communities need solutions that are adapted to their needs in order to be able to deal with any emergency, including the Covid-19 pandemic. The RCCE approach empowers communities and provides them with the tools to amplify their voices. This participatory approach allows them to co-produce knowledge and get full ownership of the solutions.  Nevertheless, in an environment with excess of information, it may not be easy to discern the truth from the false. Unverified information and rumors are frequent and social media channels facilitate their rapid dissemination without borders. ‘Infodemic’ refers to an excessive amount of information concerning a problem such that the solution is made more difficult. (WHO, 2020)[3]  Some rumors may encourage people to take wrong decisions and perform actions that exacerbate risks during an emergency. The RCCE approach helps to promote real-time exchange of information to avoid that rumors and disinformation flourish. (WHO, 2018)[4]. It also allows to identify and implement community-centered solutions to communities’ problems.  RCCE needs data to monitor and evaluate its activities and reach effectively populations in risk to encourage them to observe the health preventive measures. Lives at risk depends on the right information conveyed through the right channel at the right time. To be able to supply tailored and accurate information to those communities and engage them, evidence-based RCCE strategies are needed, respecting the socio-anthropological and cultural context of the community. This research is based on the findings from five African countries -Cabo Verde, Cameroon, the Gambia, Mozambique and Niger-, all of them seriously affected by current Covid-19 pandemic. Its conclusions help to understand the critical role that RCCE plays in health emergencies resilient recovery.   [1] World Health Organization (WHO) (‎2020)‎. Risk communication and community engagement (‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎RCCE)‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎ readiness and response to the 2019 novel coronaviruses (‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎2019-‎‎nCoV)‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎‎: interim guidance, 26 January 2020. Geneva: WHO. [2] Risk Communication is one of the eight core functions of the International Health Regulations (2005) [3] World Health Organization (WHO) (‎2020)‎. Infodemic management: a key component of the COVID-19 global response. Weekly Epidemiological Record 95 (‎16)‎, 145 - 148. World Health Organization.  [4] World Health Organization (WHO) (2018). Communicating Risk in Public Health Emergencies - A WHO Guideline for Emergency Risk Communication (ERC) policy and practice. Geneva: World Health Organization.

Cette thèse est une réflexion d’épistémologie sociale sur la construction des savoirs professionnels et expérientiels portant sur les problèmes de santé mentale ainsi qu’une exploration de leurs rapports à partir d’un projet de recherche montréalais. Ce projet fédéral de recherche et de démonstration visait à évaluer l’impact de l’approche Logement d’abord auprès de personnes avec des problèmes de santé mentale en situation d’itinérance. À Montréal, des pairs, avec une expérience vécue des réalités de la santé mentale et de l’itinérance, ont été impliqués dans le projet de recherche aux côtés d’intervenants, de gestionnaires et de chercheurs. Au fil des mois, leur présence a eu des effets contrastés, contribuant parfois à renforcer les barrières entre les savoirs et les hiérarchies professionnelles en présence dans le projet, et, à d’autres occasions, à les surmonter et entrer dans un processus de co-production de nouveaux savoirs et pratiques. L’analyse des rapports entre les savoirs en présence dans le projet souligne leur caractère complémentaire dans l’intervention publique dans le domaine des services sociaux et de la santé et les forces de l’approche expérimentale mise en oeuvre. La thèse offre également une contribution à la littérature sur la participation citoyenne en proposant une réflexion sur la capacité des citoyens à transformer les institutions publiques. Les données analysées sont issues d’un terrain de deux ans mêlant observations de la participation des pairs et une cinquantaine d’entretiens individuels et collectifs réalisés auprès de pairs aidants, intervenants, chefs d’équipe, psychiatres, gestionnaires et chercheurs. / This thesis is a contribution of social epistemology on the construction and nature of professional and experiential knowledge of mental health issues and an exploration of their relationship rooted in a research projet in Montreal. This federal research and demonstration project aims to assess the impact of the Housing First approach for homeless people with mental health problems. In Montreal, people with a lived experience of the realities of mental health and homelessness have been involved in the research project. Over the months, the presence of these peers had mixed effects, contributing sometimes to build up barriers between different types of knowledge and existing professional hierarchies, and allowing, on other occasions, to overcome them and get into a process of co-production of new knowledge and practices. The analysis underlines the complementary nature of professional and experiential knowledge in the field of health and social services and the strength of the experimental approach mobilized in the project. This thesis also provides a contribution to the literature on citizen participation by offering a look on the capacity of the citizens to transform the state institutions. The qualitative data was collected both throughout observation during a PhD field work and fifty individual and group interviews conducted between 2012 and 2013 with 25 peer support workers, clinical staff (nurses, social workers, and psychologists), program managers and psychiatrists. / Esta tesis presenta una reflexión en epistemología social respecto a la construcción de saberes profesionales y experienciales sobre problemas de salud mental, así como una exploración de las relaciones entre estos saberes a partir de un proyecto de investigación montrealés. Este proyecto federal de investigación y de demostración tenía como objetivo evaluar el impacto del enfoque Housing First con personas con problemas de salud mental y en situación de calle. Personas que tenían una experiencia vivida de las realidades de la salud mental y de la situación de calle, participaron en el proyecto de investigación en Montreal junto con trabajadores sociales, personal de gestión e investigadores. Con el paso de los meses, la presencia de estos pares tuvo efectos disímiles: en algunos casos contribuyó a reforzar las barreras entre los saberes y las jerarquías profesionales presentes en el proyecto y, en otros casos, contribuyó a superarlos y a iniciar un proceso de coproducción de nuevos saberes y prácticas. El análisis de las relaciones entre los saberes presentes en el proyecto destaca su carácter complementario en la intervención pública en el marco de servicios sociales y de salud, así como las fuerzas del enfoque experimental implementado. Asimismo, la tesis ofrece una contribución a la literatura sobre la participación ciudadana, proponiendo una reflexión sobre la capacidad de los ciudadanos de transformar las instituciones públicas. Los datos analizados provienen de un trabajo de terreno de dos años, que incluyó observaciones de la participación de estos pares facilitadores, así como cincuenta entrevistas individuales y colectivas realizadas con los pares, trabajadores sociales, jefes de equipo, psiquiatras, personal de gestión e investigadores.