CRC TRR 228 Project B05

Science Futures

Between “intensification” and “conservation”discourses on African rural development

B05 Science Futures

Vision

To recognize the role that scientific and non-scientific knowledge systems play in the imagination and pursuit of rural futures in Africa, by considering the political economy and ecology of knowledge production, transfer and use, while actively pursuing epistemological breakthroughs crucial to sustainable development benefitting local populations.

Project Summary

The project “Science Futures” proposes to study the role of science in the design of and decisions about the futures of rural Africa, using the examples of development corridors in general and agricultural production technology therein. It recognizes that scientific and non-scientific modes of knowledge creation, transfer and use play a crucial role in imagining particular futures and in taking active steps towards their realization. Within the studied, largely remote rural spaces which the corridors link to broader national developments in the fields of agriculture, energy or tourism, science-enabled discourses of economic “intensification” through high-level use of resources such as land, water, external inputs and capital assets versus “conservation” and more ecological sustainability-oriented management practices shape societal negotiation processes aiming at diverse “rural futures”. Intensification and conservation discourses may both use scientific and non-scientific knowledge, so both kinds are taken into account while focusing on science. The empirical focus lies on territorially defined models of development (i.e. corridors) and the role of (a) spatial-planning-related knowledge systems in the genesis and current position of the corridor approach in Sub-Saharan Africa, as well as (b) agricultural scientific knowledge systems that shape the internal development dynamics and future-oriented contestation processes. Conceptually the project is inspired by Science and Technology Studies and Innovation System research, as well as discussions in the Sociology of Knowledge linked with Political Economy approaches. Methodologies include qualitative, ethnographic research and systematic quantitative (scientometric) analysis of scientific knowledge produced in the two topical areas, as well as a discourse and network analysis on genesis and actual shaping of the corridors through local policy-making. The project will conduct comparative research in and on all three CRC focus regions in Kenya, Tanzania, and Namibia in order to detect generalizable patterns of the role of science for spatial planning and agriculture in these different corridor/regional development concepts. They bear very different constellations of intensification versus conservation, strength of national science systems, role of agriculture versus other sectors, and involvement of private sector and external/international experts. In perspective, the assessment of the knowledge systems which determine how the pursued development models unfold lays the foundation for a knowledge communication, transfer, and diffusion strategy to be developed as part of the CRC’s third phase.

Research Regions: Tanzania, Kenya, Namibia

Problem Statement

The state of knowledge and knowledge systems shaping decisions regarding the futures of rural Africa is characterized by fragmentations, contestations, and hierarchies. Scientific and non-scientific modes of knowledge creation, transfer and use influence the impact of economic “intensification” discourses, and that of the more ecologically, sustainability-oriented “conservation” discourses. In growth corridors, these discourses are embedded in both spatial- planning-related knowledge systems and agricultural knowledge systems influencing internal development dynamics, negotiations and contestation processes of rural futures. In order to guarantee that knowledge benefits – rather than hinder – local livelihoods, detailed investigations into the political ecology of these knowledge systems, their related discourses and how they influence the futures of rural Africa is needed.

Key Questions

How are scientifically informed discourses, science-to-policy interfaces, and scientific/non-scientific knowledge systems contributing to future-making in rural Sub-Saharan Africa?

Methodology

Scientometric analysis and content analysis
Informant interviews with stakeholders
Quantitative survey of local household members
Social foresight methodology, framed as the ‘adults play, futures unfold’-approach
Tracer study of graduates of agricultural faculties and analysis of agricultural higher education reform needs, including quantative on-line survey, focus group discussions, expert interviews and literature/document review

Key Findings from Phase II

The study of agricultural development in corridors confirmed the existence of fragmentations, contestations, and hierarchies in the use of scientific and other sources of knowledge. A scientometric analysis highlights the underexplored roles of globalization, climate change, and environmentalism in shaping development corridors in general, while also noting the influence of power imbalances in global science and publishing networks in favour of non-african sources. The dominance of particular funding institutions and organisations is repeatedly criticised but not systematically analysed. At the level of an individual corridor like SAGCOT, we find that it is driven by political will at the highest level and show how shifting visions led to ‘implementation hiccups’ and a volatile cycle of hype, almost abandonment to a ‘ghost project’ and resurrection. Within the corridor, scientific knowledge and planning expertise play a crucial role in the negotiation of land ownership and tenure in the corridor, inducing dynamic changes across gender, generation and class divides. Further down the corridor hierarchy, individual targeted economic activities such as the avocado value chain are shaped by political regimes and particularly by private sector knowledge. Finally, outside such new development hubs smallholder farmers continuously assess and compare traditional practices with modern methods a far as these are available, leading to hybrid forms of knowledge. Indigenous knowledge and practices proved to be fairly resilient to both colonial and post-colonial modernisation influences, often due to their better adaptation to local and economic realities. However, under changing conditions and objectives of production 'epistemic voids' are observed where such local knowledge systems lack sufficient support from external agricultural expertise. Overall, the findings call for a rethinking of the relationship between scientific and other forms of knowledge (local, business), a more inclusive terminology of knowledge that avoids normative judgements, and a focus on the dynamics of hybridisation and reciprocal learning processes that yield locally adapted solutions and forms of expertise matching local ‘windows of opportunity to innovate’.

Relation to the CRC

Negotiations and contestations involving multiple visions, interests and power struggles are shaping the futures of rural Africa. An analysis of the political economy and ecology of knowledge systems focusing on scientific and non-scientific knowledge production, transfer, and use allows to confront the epistemological dynamics at the center of future-making. With reference to spatial-planning-related knowledge systems and agricultural scientific knowledge systems, Science Futures puts the spotlight on the epistemic struggles (and possibly breakthroughs) of future-making in rural Africa.

Publications

Akman, M.S., Botti, F., Brandi, C.; Brüntrup, M., Dietrich, M., Espa, I., Freytag, A., Koopman, R., Mildner, S.-A., Rudloff, B. 2022, Sustainable and Resilient Agricultural Value Chains: Addressing Multiple Vulnerabilities with a New Partnership Approach, Think7 Policy Brief. Link

Brüntrup, M. 2025. Another setback for multilateral environmental and resource protection. Rural 21 01/2025.

Brüntrup, M. 2020. ‘Agricultural growth corridors in sub-Saharan Africa – new hope for agricultural transformation and rural development? The case of the Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania’, in R Sikor, ER Terry, LG Vlek Paul & J Chitja (eds), Transforming agriculture in Southern Africa, Routledge, New York, pp. 258-270.

Brüntrup, M. 2019. Agricultural growth corridors in sub-Saharan Africa, in: Sikor, R., Terry, E. R., Vlek. P. L. G., Chitja, J. (eds.), Transforming agriculture in Southern Africa, New York: Routledge, 258–270.

Brüntrup, M., Schwarz, F., Absmayr, T., Dylla, J., Eckhard, F., Remke, K., & Sternisko, K. 2018.‘Nucleus-outgrower schemes as an alternative to traditional smallholder agriculture in Tanzania–strengths, weaknesses and policy requirements’, Food Security, vol. 10, no. 4,pp. 807-826.

Chan, S., Bauer, S., et al., Hornidge, A.-K., et al., Pettorelli, N. 2023. The global biodiversity framework needs a robust action agenda. Nature Ecology & Evolution, 7, 172–173. DOI

Follmann, A., Dannenberg, P., Baur, N., Braun, B., Walther, G., Bernzen, A., Börner, J. Brüntrup, M., Franz, M., Götz, L., Hornidge, A-K., Hulke, C., Jamali Jaghdani, T., Krishnan, A., Kulke, E., Labucay, I., Nduru, G. M., Neise, T., Priyadarshini, P., Revilla Diez, J., Rütt, J., Scheller, C., Spengler, T., Sulle, E. 2024. Conceptualizing Sustainability and Resilience in Value Chains in Times of Multiple Crises—Notes on Agri-Food Chains. DIE ERDE

Hornidge, A.-K. 2019. Konstruierte Ortsungebundenheit und Körperlichkeit in Orten der Wissenschaft, in: Reichertz, J. (ed.) Grenzen der Kommunikation, Velbrück, 165-175

Hornidge, A.-K. 2014, ‘Wissensdiskurse: Normativ, Faktisch, Hegemonia’, Soziale Welt, vol. 65, pp. 7-24.

Hornidge , A.-K., McDonald-Baertl, A. J., Pieterse, E. 2023. Science and Digitalization for a Better Future, Issue Paper Think7 Advisory Process (Japan).

Hornidge, A.-K., Berger, A. 2023. Why ‘South’/‘North’ Framings Are Not Useful in a Shifting World Order. CEBRI-Journal 2(8), 217–237. DOI

Hornidge, A.-K. Partelow, S. Knopf, K. 2023. Knowing the ocean: epistemic inequalities in patterns of science collaboration, in: Partelow, S., Hadjimichael, M., Hornidge, A.K. (eds.) Ocean governance knowledge: systems, policy foundations and thematic analyses, Cham: Springer Nature, 25-45.

Hornidge, A.-K., Brüntrup, M. 2022. Afrikas anschwellende Hungerkrise: Was können G7 und G20 dagegen tun? Welternährung.

Hornidge, A.K., Herbeck, J., Siriwardane, R. & Flitner, M. 2020. ‘Epistemic Mobilities: Following Sea-level Change Adaptation Practices in Southeast Asian Cities’, American Behavioural Scientist, vol. 64, no. 10, DOI.

Ittner, I., Hornidge, A.-K. 2025. Stone Aggregations or Reefs? Knowledge Politics Around a Transboundary Seabed Complex. Ocean and Society, 2, Article 8893. DOI

Kareem, O.I., Rudloff, B., Botti, F., Lyer, L., Bruentrup, M., Timsina, J., Laborde, D., Timilsina, R.R. 2023. Food Security in Times of Crisis: An Action Plan for the G7, Think7 Policy Brief. Link

Keller, R. Hornidge, A.K. & Schünemann, W. (eds) 2018. ‘The Sociology of Knowledge Approach to Discourse. Investigating the Politics of Knowledge and Meaning-making’, Routledge, Oxon & New York.

Kraemer-Mbula, E., Jupesta, J., Mishra, B., Sadoff, C. 2023. Sustainable and Scalable Food, Water, and Land Systems through Technology, Innovation, and Inclusion, Think7 Policy Brief. Link

Leta, G., Kelboro, G., Van Assche, K., Stellmacher, T. & Hornidge A.K. 2019. ‘Rhetorics and realities of participation: The Ethiopian agricultural extension system and its participatory turns’, Critical Policy Studies, DOI: 10.1080/19460171.2019.1616212. Leta, G., Kelboro, G., Stellmacher, T., Van Assche, K. & Hornidge, A.K. 2018. ‘Nikinake: the mobilization of labour and skill development in rural Ethiopia’, Natural Resources Forum, vol. 42, no. 2, pp. 93-107.

Mielke, K. & Hornidge A.K. (eds) 2017, ‘Area Studies at the Crossroads: Knowledge Production after the Mobility Turn’, Palgrave MacMillan, New York.

Mudimu, G. T., Brüntrup, M., Hornidge. A.-K. 2025. Towards a better understanding of Growth Corridors in Africa: A Scientometric and Systematic analysis. Futures. DOI

Mudimu, G. T., Brüntrup, M., Mutabazi, K. D. (accepted). Some presumed ghosts live longer: The Hiccups and Renaissance of SAGCOT in a Shifting Political Context (part of Special Issue on Ghost Corridors, in Müller-Mahn, D. (2020). Envisioning African Futures: Development corridors as dreamscapes of modernity, Geoforum, 115, 156-159. DOI

Partelow, S., Hornidge A.K., Senff, P., Stäbler, M. & Schlüter, M. 2020. ‘Tropical Marine Sciences:Knowledge Prod. in a Web of Path Dependencies’, PLoS ONE, vol. 15, no. 2, article no.e0228613, DOI

Taylor, P., Hornidge, A.-K., Leach, M., MacGregor, H., Medi, A., Fung, M. L. 2022. Research, Evidence and Learning – the Need for Global Infrastructure, Think7 Policy Brief. Link

UNCCD 2024. Final report by the Intergovernmental Working Group on Drought. Link

UNESCO 2024. Education 2030 Framework for Action Benchmark Indicator. Link

Wagner, N., Hornidge, A.-K. 2025. Unlearning modernity? A critical examination of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). Climatic Change, 178(2), 32. DOI

Warnke, I. H, Hornidge, A.K., Schattenberg, S. (eds) 2021. ‘Kontradiktorische Diskurse und die Macht im Widerspruch’, Springer VS.