1. In the introduction [to E. C
In the introduction [to E. C. Pielou’s (1969) text on mathematical ecology] she noted that organisms come from a range of species; within any species they differ in age, sex, genetics, experience, and so on; and any particular individual changes over its lifetime. Any situation an ecologist might study is continually altered by births and deaths, by migratory exchanges with other places, and by seasons and climatic change. Even so, ecological regularities persist long enough for most people to recognize some order, such as, an oak-maple forest or the sequence of plants encountered as one moves inland from the seashore.
The processes could be simply described, yet the combination of them seemed theoretically challenging—how could ecologists account for order arising out of such complexity?

2. Reconstructing unruly ecological complexities

3. Reconstructing unruly ecological complexities

4. Reconstructing unruly ecological complexities

5. Reconstructing unruly ecological complexities

6. systems unruly complexity well-defined boundaries uniform units
(coherent internal dynamics & simply mediated relations with their external context)
uniform units
simple development or stable
unruly complexity
embeddedness (problematic boundaries)
heterogeneous components
ongoing restructuring

7. research in ecology & socio-environmental studies
interpretive studies of science
= today’s audience
facilitation of critical, reflective practice

8. acknowledge that audience already has insights1.
acknowledge that audience already has insights
about tension between unruly complexity and themes based on simpler dynamics

15. acknowledge that audience already has insights
about tension between unruly complexity and themes based on simpler dynamics

17. Guided (topic-based) freewriting
This writing/thinking practice is designed to allow ideas about an issue to begin to come to the surface.
In a freewriting exercise, you should not take your pen off the paper. Keep writing even if you find yourself stating over and over again, "I don't know what I'm expected to say." What you write won't be seen by anyone else, so don't go back to tidy up sentences, grammar, spelling. You will probably diverge from the topic, at least for a time while you acknowledge other preoccupations. That's OK—it's one of the purposes of the exercise. However, if you keep writing—don't stop—for seven-ten minutes, you should expose some thoughts about the topic that had been below the surface of your attention—that's another of the aims of the exercise.
Reference: Elbow, P Writing with Power. New York: Oxford U. P.
Continue for 5 minutes where this sentence leads off:
“In my own work (as a historian of science etc.) and in my field the tension between analyzing complex dynamics of change and conveying themes based on simpler, readily grasped processes is evident in…

18. 2.
research in ecology & socio-environmental studies
interpretive studies of science
facilitation of critical, reflective practice

19. 1970s
ecology-as-social action
ecology-the-science
critique of science
socially responsible or transformative science

20. Reconstructing unruly ecological complexities:
What social and scientific change are historians facilitating with their various interpretations ?

21. research in ecology & socio-environmental studies
realms are always, already connected, but concepts & practice are shaped to make the realms seem separate
interpretive studies of science
facilitation of critical, reflective practice

22. problematize boundaries
knowledge-making
heterogeneous construction
participatory restructuring

23. a. complexity-stability b. apparent interactions1.
theoretical ecology, 1980s
a. complexity-stability
b. apparent interactions

24. In the introduction [to E. C
In the introduction [to E. C. Pielou’s (1969) text on mathematical ecology] she noted that organisms come from a range of species; within any species they differ in age, sex, genetics, experience, and so on; and any particular individual changes over its lifetime. Any situation an ecologist might study is continually altered by births and deaths, by migratory exchanges with other places, and by seasons and climatic change. Even so, ecological regularities persist long enough for most people to recognize some order, such as, an oak-maple forest or the sequence of plants encountered as one moves inland from the seashore.
The processes could be simply described, yet the combination of them seemed theoretically challenging—how could ecologists account for order arising out of such complexity?
heterogeneous components
ongoing restructuring
embeddedness

25. a. complexity-stability b. apparent interactions1.
theoretical ecology, 1980s
a. complexity-stability
b. apparent interactions

27. "developmental" approach
"morphological" approach
explain complexity in terms of the stability and structure of the configuration currently observed
"developmental" approach
incorporate ongoing turnover of populations and other components -> history and embeddedness in a spatial context

28. systems unruly complexity well-defined boundaries uniform units
(coherent internal dynamics & simply mediated relations with their external context)
uniform units
simple development or stable
unruly complexity
embeddedness (problematic boundaries)
heterogeneous components
ongoing restructuring

29. principles proposed for simple sub-communities
e.g., the non-coexistence of species with similar requirements
confounded by dynamics of populations with which those sub-communities interact in naturally variable & complex ecological situations

30. 2. philosophy of modeling

31. sites of sociality

32. Sociality influences ecological knowledge
Opening Up/Out
Sociality influences ecological knowledge
Q: in idiosyncratic and transient ways or
producing systematic patterns?

36. 3. Social-Personal-Scientific correlations
In the origins of systems ecology
H. T. Odum theorized ecological complexity in terms of energy circuits with feedback
1950s & 60s “technocratic optimism” =>
he was able able to act as if ecological complexity were systems and circuits

37. Odum = a person who wanted the overlapping realms he inhabited—
the social, personal, & scientific—
to reinforce each other,
so that
efforts made and directions pursued in one realm
did not undermine those made in the others.

38. Reconstructing unruly ecological complexities:
What social and scientific change are historians facilitating with their various interpretations ?

41. 4. Construction from heterogeneous resources
diverse interconnections in practice among "technical" tasks of scientists & "social" considerations that influence how scientists perform these tasks
-> Q: How difficult is it in practice to modify what is established as knowledge?

42. 4. Construction from heterogeneous resources
probing difficulty of change exposes webs of heterogeneous resources that scientists mobilize in their work
=> scientists' agency is distributed beyond their persons, not concentrated mentally inside them

44. systems unruly complexity well-defined boundaries uniform units
(coherent internal dynamics & simply mediated relations with their external context)
uniform units
simple development or stable
unruly complexity
embeddedness (problematic boundaries)
heterogeneous components
ongoing restructuring

45. Opening Up/Out
Q: how to feed heterogeneous construction analysis back into research practice?
het. constr. => multiplicity of specific sites at which researchers (& other agents) could engage differently in scientific practice and try to modify its outcomes

46. 5. Mapping workshops
from interpreter of science conveying the full complexity of the researchers’ resources
to researchers reflecting explicitly on their own sociality and how it affects their work

49. 6. Framework to keep tensions active
challenge of teaching non-specialist interdisciplinary classes
-> approach accessible to a wide range of students
-> cases & themes that are simple to convey,
but point to
greater complexity of particular cases & further work needed to study them

50. Angles on practice of researchers
A. “dialogue” with situation studied
B. interactions with other social agents to establish what counts as knowledge
C. affecting social change through attention to the complexities of both the situations studied and the researchers’ own social situatedness

51. Angles on practice of researchers
A. “dialogue” with situation studied
B. interactions with other social agents to establish what counts as knowledge
C. affecting social change through attention to the complexities of both the situations studied and the researchers’ own social situatedness
Formulations
1. simple, well-bounded systems 2.
3. work based on dynamics among particular entities/agents whose actions implicate or span a range of realms, which develop over time

52. Angles on practice of researchers
A. “dialogue” with situation studied
B. interactions with other social agents to establish what counts as knowledge
C. affecting social change through attention to the complexities of both the situations studied and the researchers’ own social situatedness
Formulations
1. simple, well-bounded systems
2. simple scenarios -> greater complexity & further work
needed in particular cases
3. work based on dynamics among particular entities/agents whose actions implicate or span a range of realms, which develop over time

53. Opening Up/Out
=> C3. challenge of “contributing to a culture of
participatory restructuring
of the distributed conditions of knowledge-making and social change”

56. Opening Up/Out
=> C3. challenge of “contributing to a culture of
participatory restructuring
of the distributed conditions of knowledge-making and social change”

57. always already “C3” expose by examining dynamics backgrounded
homogenization (w/in discipline)
system-ization

58. principles proposed for separated realms
e.g., reliable scientific knowledge is context-invariant
e.g., the significance of scientific results is settled by locally organized, embodied practices
confounded by dynamics with which those realms interact in naturally variable & complex situations

59. Reconstructing unruly ecological complexities:
What social and scientific change are historians facilitating with their various interpretations ?

60. systems unruly complexity well-defined boundaries uniform units
(coherent internal dynamics & simply mediated relations with their external context)
uniform units
simple development or stable
unruly complexity
embeddedness (problematic boundaries)
heterogeneous components
ongoing restructuring

61. to respond to the sub-title question theme question exemplar
use notecard
to respond to the sub-title question
theme or
question
exemplar

62. problematize boundaries
knowledge-making
heterogeneous construction
participatory restructuring

63. that needs to be undertaken to deal with particular cases…
...I am especially interested in conceptual moves that open up issues about addressing complexity, but do so in ways that
point to further work
that needs to be undertaken to
deal with particular cases…
system -> u.c.
but not on my own
in practice, not only conceptually