Rethinking ‘citizen’ and ‘science’ from the margins

Overview

This article presents a co-designed Citizen Science inquiry into everyday environmental risk in Dzaleka Refugee Camp, Malawi. Working with ten Citizen Scientists from diverse national and linguistic backgrounds and gender groups, the project used low-cost environmental monitoring, site-based observation, handbooks, WhatsApp documentation, focus group discussion, and closing reflection interviews to explore how displaced people understand and practice science under conditions of precarity and exclusion. Participants observed weather patterns, tested soil, identified drainage problems and flood-prone areas, shared warnings, and reflected on what counts as science and who can be recognised as a scientist. We argue that, in this setting, the work involved in Citizen Science can be understood as situated environmental labour: a set of practices through which environmental risk is noticed, discussed, communicated, and connected to care for self and others. We develop the concept of ‘science from below’ to name how camp residents negotiate the meaning and use of scientific knowledge while navigating gendered labour, language difference, limited resources, and uneven institutional authority. The article contributes to debates on participatory science, environmental care, and climate risk by showing both the possibilities and limits of Citizen Science in displacement settings, where refugee knowledge may be produced and shared while its wider recognition, circulation, and uptake remain uncertain.