Paper short abstract:

While climate change is presented by science as a global phenomenon, climate change scientists and their models also generate knowledge and imaginations on the nation and the local – we explore this by drawing from ethnographic examples in Brazil, among Brazilian scientists and climate models.

Paper long abstract:

Climate change is presented as a global phenomenon by scientific narratives - and according to them, in order to be mitigated or adapted to, climate change must be discussed and solved through international scientific networks and political forums. However, there are contributions from Science and Technology Studies that show a co-production of climate change knowledge by networks of scientists and Nation-States - such as in Brazil (LAHSEN 2004, 2009; MIGUEL & MONTEIRO, 2015) and India (MAHONY, 2013), for example. As in the case of other scientific disciplines that require heavy investments, there are strong alliances between Science and State in the generation of knowledge on climate change, which also generates knowledge on territory, spatiality and the modern nation. If to think about the climate and the weather meant to think about the nation and its territory during the formation of meteorology in the 19th and 20th centuries, it is possible to draw a parallel with knowledge and imagination concerning climate change and the symbolic, epistemic and political management of national territories - beyond, but not excluding, the narratives concerning the global. The aim of this paper is to discuss these matters drawing from ethnographic examples in Brazil among climate change scientists, focusing on the development and generation of regional and global climate models. While most of the co-production debate focuses on alliances and disputes between scientists and State actors, we focus on how scientists themselves also produce these local and national imaginations by producing climate change knowledge.