O doutorando Mateus Oka (Unicamp/Métis) apresenta o trabalho "Beyond "Participation": Local Knowledge and Scientific Research in the Northeastern Brazil", no Panel 26: Dialoguing Species: Dialoguing Disciplines, na 10th STS Italia Conference. O evento acontece entre os dias 11 e 13 de junho de 2025, no Politecnico di Milano, Milão, Itália.
Confira o resumo a seguir:
In various biological disciplines, particularly those related to conservation, integrating local communities into research has become an increasing concern. In a small rural area in northeastern Brazil, a group of primatologists from the University of São Paulo has been studying capuchin monkeys’ tool use for the past two decades. This place, known as Boa Vista, has been inhabited by small-scale farmers and cowherds for over a hundred years, according to oral histories. With the community’s authorization, the researchers built a field station in the area, and local residents began working with them—providing lodging and meals, as well as being hired as field assistants. Over time, this collaboration expanded to include photographers and filmmakers documenting the lives of these capuchin monkeys, which have been using stone tools for hundreds of years. My research reconstructs the history of this relationship between scientists, monkeys, and the local community while also examining, from an ethnographic perspective, the knowledge of the men who work as field assistants for the primatologists. This presentation explores the controversies surrounding this history, questioning what it truly means to achieve "better participation of local communities" in a context like Boa Vista—where, from the outset, it has been the local people who make scientific research possible. As in many field-based biological sciences, field assistants spend more time in the forest than the scientists themselves, collecting data alongside the animals under study. Consequently, they develop an intimate knowledge of the monkeys—predicting their movements, recognizing their habits, and identifying them individually. Despite their critical role, local field assistants are often acknowledged by scientists only in terms of "logistical support" or "auxiliary services," commonly described as people who "do everything." However, it is necessary to rethink what this "doing everything" truly entails, as it often falls under the vague category of mere "assistance." This presentation aims to highlight the history of scientific collaboration in Boa Vista, where negotiations between scientists and capuchin monkeys, the local community and capuchin monkeys, and scientists and the local community have been central to the production of knowledge that has gained significance in international primatology. More broadly, it challenges the idea of "improving community participation in science," given that, as the case of Boa Vista—and many others—demonstrates, local people have always been deeply involved in the research process.