Imaginaries of Climate Change Science in the Americas: A Case Study of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research

Abstract

Climate change is as much an issue of power as it is an environmental one. A critical geopolitical analysis of climate change illuminates the relationship between power and climate change. This thesis explores how climate change is an epistemological issue, and brings geopolitics into conversation with science and technology studies by merging subaltern geopolitics and sociotechnical imaginaries frameworks. Through a case study of the Inter-American Institute for Global Change Research (IAI), the goal is to explore imaginaries of climate change science outside of dominant climate change narratives; and to develop an understanding of how power is experienced, mediated, and contested through scientific organizations. Findings from this thesis reveal: how the IAI leverages reconfigures geopolitical tensions between the United States and Cuba; and practices utilized to address issues of knowledge validity, credibility, and representation. Overall an examination of the IAI reveals how power is exercised and renegotiated in climate change science.