Paper short abstract:

The paper examines the role of anthropology in interdisciplinary applied research on drought. Due to its hybrid position between various types of knowledge, its institutionally recognised expertise and reflexivity, anthropology can stimulate deliberation and community climate futures co-production.

Paper long abstract:

Climate futures depend on effective climate change policies. At a global level, system change is needed. At the local level, citizen involvement is essential. The ability and willingness of the public to respond to the climate crisis can be strengthened through the fostering of deliberative democracy (Willis, Curato, Smith 2022), which can help to increase the resilience of complex socio-natural systems, enhance conditions for socio-ecological transition and generate more-than-human solidarities.

The paper discusses how anthropology - as the study “with“ people - can contribute to promoting sustainability and societal transformation by encouraging stakeholders to participate in deliberative decision-making. It draws on the results of an interdisciplinary applied research project Stories of Drought, aimed at strengthening the citizens' involvement in landscape planning and management in drought-prone rural regions of the Czech Republic, showing a high level of distrust in the state and its institutions. The paper introduces a novel interdisciplinary mixed-method approach to future landscape scenario development, combining research-driven and participatory approaches and integrating qualitative ethnographic inquiry and imaginary with quantitative future projections of climatology and geography.

I argue, that anthropology, due to its hybrid position between different types of knowledge (scientific/local), its institutionally recognised expertise, and its inherent reflexivity, which enables the ethnographer to establish herself as a trustworthy ally through her transparent and humble presence in the field, has the potential to help overcome distrust, reduce asymmetries in power and knowledge, and stimulate public deliberation and community co-production of climate futures.