ABSTRACT
International scientific associations and conferences are commonly assumed to play a decisive role in the transnational circulation of academic knowledge. Associations themselves justify their own relevance by the extent to which they contribute to structuring a global profession and fostering international scientific exchanges. Conferences provide important spaces for such exchanges, impacting research trajectories of individuals and disciplines alike. However, a closer look at who is involved in such international venues reveals that they are often less “global” and “international” than proclaimed, and representation is highly skewed. This chapter considers international scientific associations and conferences as agents of knowledge circulation that are structured by and constitutive of multiple inequalities. It examines these inequalities and their epistemic effects by relying on literature review and our own empirical studies focusing on social sciences and the interdisciplinary field of forest research.
