Michael and Stefan spoke with Jessica Cockburn, a Lecturer in Environmental Science at Rhodes University, in Grahamstown, South Africa. Jessica identifies as a “pracademic” who often works with local partners to explore how actors across a variety of contexts interact to address sustainability challenges. Her work is highly collaborative. Among the groups she engages with is the Programme on Ecosystem Change and Society (PECS): https://pecs-science.org/.
Topics of the interview include:
The use of “critical realist” philosophy as a basis for engaged research.
The challenge of “pracademics”: practical and ethical demands of conducting transdisciplinary research with local partners.
Empirical analysis of “patchy” watershed-scale governance among heterogeneous actor groups.
Jessica’s personal website: https://sites.google.com/view/jesscockburn/home
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jess_cockburn
Jessica’s paper that Michael mentioned:
Cockburn, Jessica, Georgina Cundill, Sheona Shackleton, Mathieu Rouget, Marijn Zwinkels, Susanna (ancia) Cornelius, Liz Metcalfe, and Dieter van den Broeck. 2019. “Collaborative Stewardship in Multifunctional Landscapes: Toward Relational, Pluralistic Approaches.” Ecology and Society 24 (4). https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-11085-240432.
Tiny book title: A story of hope from a patchy place.
