Introduction

Abstract

As researchers, we are often in a position of explaining the usefulness of the knowledge we generate. One month into a postdoctoral fellowship at an interdisciplinary research organisation, I was sitting across from a senior research scientist doing just that. I was introduced to him as an anthropologist with a background in critical development studies: the latest recruit in the Environment and Development team. He was a biophysical scientist, working in a different team but around similar issues such as food security and climate change. He had had previous experience of working with a researcher ‘like me’. It had ended poorly, with the researcher writing a critique of the knowledge practices of a particular project. ‘Are you going to write a critique’? he asked. No, I assured him, I am using the analytical tools and methods at my disposal to produce knowledge for development, not critiques about development. I spent the rest of the conversation answering his question as to what I could contribute to the organisation.