Citizen Science: a conceptual discussion based on experience with the Bororo indigenous community

Abstract

Objetive. Discuss the concept and foundations that Citizen Science demands observed in the relationship of shared knowledge production between academia and the Bororo indigenous community, self-named Boe, located in Meruri in the municipality of General Carneiro in the State of Mato Grosso, Brazil. Method. This is a mode of research in which there are no single models and normative uses as the method was built on immersion in the field. We understand the Bororo community as subjects of sharing. Inclusion in the field was carried out to experience the culture, involve them in the research and, based on the established relationship, discover clues about the foundations and concepts that provide the basis for what we call Citizen Science. In the research, we seek to experience culture through dialogues in three ways: a) Welcoming the community - establishing trust and understanding of the culture between them; b) Sharing knowledge on-site based on the objectives - presentation of the research and discussions with indigenous people about the feasibility and importance of including them in the discussions; c) Data evaluation - return of the analyzes that the data generated and evaluation by the indigenous community of what was produced by the researcher. These stages were the foundations of the research during fourteen months between 2021 and 2023. During these stages we held long individual conversations with fourteen indigenous people. We call these conversations "testimony", a broad narrative that considers a person as the bearer of the dimension of their collective. Results. The data allowed us to understand some fundamental foundations for what we call Citizen Science. Among these foundations we realize that there is an invitation to experience. This invitation from the indigenous community is like a strategy to show that the production of knowledge can be guided by other values that overcome the dichotomies and hierarchies typical of Modern Science and, not because of this, it becomes less valid or true, but because it has its local importance. In this sense, we present experience as the basis for Citizen Science, made up of the following foundations: Ethics of encounter; Way of existing between identity and everyday life; Activist and political practice; Time of experience; Collective governance and data return. Conclusion. In Citizen Science, citizenship establishes collective action in favor of the common good. It then manifests itself in the recognition of oneself and others so that there is cognitive justice and the full exercise of citizenship in the scientific field, which for the Boe means having the autonomy to talk about oneself without the supervision of anyone. Being a citizen means being a subject and not an object of research, it is producing and having your data recognized in the debate and in society's major development strategies — in the economic, technological, political or social fields.