Bringing 'disciplinary diversity' to Western-dominated research

UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — A Penn State researcher was part of a team that helped create an all-Indigenous researcher edition of an international journal. This is the first time an issue of “Malagasy Nature” focused solely on work led by Indigenous researchers.

A special issue, titled “The way of the future: New paleosciences research led by Malagasy scientists,” was co-edited by Kristina Douglass, an assistant professor of anthropology and African studies. It brings “disciplinary diversity” to the existing Western-dominated research, Douglass said.

“The researchers approached these research questions with diversity in terms of their understanding of the Malagasy landscape as Malagasy people,” Douglass said. “They brought a completely fresh theoretical perspective that could completely blow open all of the thinking that has been built over decades.”

It is that intellectual diversity that comes from greater representation of scientists with different perspectives and backgrounds that Douglass said is crucial in research. Historically, it is a diversity that has been absent.

Douglass explained that, for hundreds of years starting in the 17th century, European travelers, naturalists and colonial administrators almost exclusively penned publications on early exploration and discoveries. These publications often portrayed Indigenous people as poor land stewards who directly or indirectly had a hand in the decline of their environment. In the case of Madagascar, these publications “strategically framed the land-use practices of Indigenous communities as unproductive at best and destructive at worst” in order to “delegitimize Malagasy land-use,” wrote Douglass and her co-editors in the introduction of the special edition.

According to Douglass, these original publications frame much of today’s thinking and consensus about the lands of Indigenous people and the people themselves. It is this framing that the research in the current special issue of “Malagasy Nature” is challenging. For example, one of the published papers from this  issue theorizes a vastly different cause of megafauna extinction in Madagascar than the currently accepted theories.

“One of the leading theories of the extinction of megafauna on Madagascar plays on this idea that when people arrived, people changed the vegetation in such a way that they basically killed the habitat of all these endemic animals,” Douglass said.

The paper is significant to Douglass because the authors, Tanjona Ramiadantsoa and Cédrique Solofondranohatra, theorize that the landscape change on the island of Madagascar could be explained by interactions among different vegetation types. The authors suggest that different vegetation types interact with one another and compete with one another. Under different climatic conditions, some vegetation thrives and takes over, which leads to the decline of other habitats.

“Nobody would ever have thought of that had this Malagasy team with interdisciplinary training in mathematics, modeling and theoretical ecology not taken up this question,” she said. “That is why it's significant to increase the number of people and the voices who are contributing to this story.”

Tanambelo Rasolondrainy is a Malagasy postdoctoral researcher at Penn State in Douglass’ lab. He said Indigenous researchers, especially those in social and life sciences, have the advantage of being trained in scientific methods and understanding the scientific worldview while being familiar with Indigenous knowledge and worldview, which is not always accessible to foreign researchers.

“Many times, governmental and non-governmental policymakers failed just because of their misunderstanding of Indigenous knowledge,” Rasolondrainy said. “Indigenous scholars try to remediate this problem by bridging the gap between policymakers and Indigenous communities. A research journal focused on the work of Indigenous researchers is therefore a platform of mediation where voices of Indigenous community and policymakers are heard.”

Research for all

Many people in the scientific community are thinking about how to make research more inclusive. Douglass said supporting the publication of work that is led by Indigenous scientists is a tangible way to broaden research agendas that include diverse interests and ideas.

“If we're talking about making science more robust, ethical and inclusive, we can do this in concrete ways,” said Douglass, a cofunded faculty member in the Institutes of Energy and the Environment. “But it means that we all have to invest and pitch in where we can. Especially if you are an established scientist or have access to resources or institutional support, then you should use that for good. That's a responsibility. It's up to all of us if we want to see science become this idealized vision that we have.”

The editor-in-chief of “Malagasy Nature,” Steve Goodman, said one of the mandates of the journal is to help advance Malagasy scientists, including students and more advanced researchers.

“In a historic sense, but unfortunately this continues today, the participation of Malagasy researchers in scientific research and associated publications has been limited or under the shadows of foreign collaborators,” Goodman said. “By showcasing work under the direction of Malagasy students and scientists, as in the special issue or in general in the different volumes of ‘Malagasy Nature,’ national researchers are able to take their rightful places in the national and international scientific communities.”

One of the journal’s co-editors, Laurie Godfrey, is a professor emerita from the Department of Anthropology at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. She began working in Madagascar in the early 1970s when she was a graduate student.

“Maybe the legacy of colonial narratives is disappearing,” Godfrey said, “but the process is slow, and we have a long way to go. Having now worked in Madagascar for five decades, I am eager to be a part of that process.”

Godfrey said young scholars in a country like Madagascar face challenges that young scholars in wealthy countries do not.

“The first and most important is a colonial bias that tends to dismiss the importance of research done by Indigenous scholars and the knowledge of local people unaffiliated with universities. This in turn affects the way articles and grant proposals are reviewed by scientific peers,” she said. “The second is the uneven distribution of wealth in science, so that scholars in places like Madagascar cannot get access to funds or resources, such as library books or laboratory equipment, that would empower them to organize their own research.”

Creating the special issue

As valuable as this effort was, the process that brought this special issue to fruition was challenging, said Douglass. It was a wake-up call for her.

“There are so many disparities in the sciences in terms of research support, research funding, histories of who has led the research, and therefore, who has been trained and given opportunities to build up skill sets as principal investigators and lead authors,” she said.

It was a big undertaking for Douglass, Godfrey and David Burney, of the National Tropical Botanical Garden, who was the third co-editor.

“To support all these young scholars, the co-editors, had to take additional steps that you might not normally take,” Douglass said.

Two Malagasy researchers, Estelle Razanatsoa, a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Cape Town, South Africa; and Ny Riavo Voarintsoa, an assistant professor at the University of Houston, were also lead authors on papers in the special issue.

“I saw the special issue as an opportunity to receive direct mentorship and network with experts (the editors) in the field of paleosciences working in Madagascar that I have always admired since I started doing my Ph.D. in palaeoecology,” Razanatsoa said. “As an early-career researcher, the mentoring I had received from the editors (Kristina Douglass) was crucial in understanding the peer-review process.”

“I personally developed new friendships and grew my scholarly network. This is what I valued most about my experience during this time,” Voarintsoa said. “This is also the first solo author paper I've published, which received a very minor revisions from the reviewer, so I am proud for achieving that independence.”

Razanatsoa and Voarintsoa both said the journal is an excellent way to broaden the reach of science to and for Indigenous people.

“The main advantage of ‘Malagasy Nature’ is that it is gold open access, and there are no article-processing charges. Hence, it is 100% accessible to people from low-income countries, as there is not barrier in the cost of publishing, and the published papers are fully accessible by anyone worldwide,” Voarintsoa said.

“In the light of the current socio-ecological challenges linked to biodiversity loss and climate change, scientists need to be able to collaborate and provide applied science to decisionmakers and stakeholders,” Razanatsoa said. “One way to do this would be by valuing and supporting local and Indigenous researchers who understand and have direct ties with local issues and challenges.”