ABSTRACT
Chapter 8 examines ways to reconnect society and the age-old science of mapping, answering questions of human and natural geography and the effects of human activity. It also explores the lessons of Citizen Science, which now uses participatory mapping as a routine method for data collection in an impressive range of disciplines. The authors discuss the relationship between Citizen Science and PAR and illustrate applications of participatory mapping on issues of urban forestry in Canada and animal health surveillance in Indonesia. They also address the resistance of Citizen Science to using participatory mapping for immediate action, much of which is due to the tenets of empiricism and ‘fundamentalism’ still lingering in many corners of the natural sciences. The notion that ‘pure research’ lies mostly in gathering observational data with a view to formulating empirical generalizations (on species distribution, for instance) remains a major obstacle to doing science socially and with social ends in view. In a PAR perspective, understanding how events and life are distributed in space calls for the engagement of citizens in the pursuit of science. But it also calls on scientists to actively advance the interests of life on earth.
