The Ends of Research

“In this nuanced ethnographic study of the lives and work of two intertwined communities of professional researchers in British Columbia, Tom Özden-Schilling captures the researchers’ hopes, dreams, frustrations, and disappointments as they struggle to make a living and make their work matter to current and future generations. Extremely well written and tightly argued, The Ends of Research is an impressive and timely work of scholarship that makes important contributions to anthropology and science studies.” - Paul Nadasdy, author of Sovereignty’s Entailments: First Nation State Formation in the Yukon

“In this wonderful book Tom Özden-Schilling rightly challenges and nuances overly simplistic narratives that present contemporary resource governance processes as either simply an antipolitical form of rule by experts or a neoliberal regime of token gestures to regulation in the service of capital. Extending the dialogue between critical science and technology studies, northern and Indigenous studies, and scholarship on environmental conflicts, The Ends of Research is one of the best books I’ve read on Indigenous-settler relations in natural resource science.” - Tyler McCreary, author of Indigenous Legalities, Pipeline Viscosities: Colonial Extractivism and Wet’suwet’en Resistance

"The Ends of Research is a stimulating ethnography that productively lingers on the ambiguities of environmental research." - Gabriel Urlich Lennon, Anthropology Book Forum

"Engaging with both Indigenous and settler researchers and scientists who have made their lives as forest managers, digital mapping experts, and engaging in other modes of environmental science, Özden-Schilling traces the ways in which his interlocutors have navigated careers shaped by the so-called “War in the Woods” – the fierce opposition to and blockades against clear-cut logging led by First Nations activists in (and beyond) northern British Columbia in the 1980s and early 1990s – and the landmark Delgamuukw-Gisday’wa case that followed." - Joseph Weiss, BC Studies

"While it lacks the bullishness of more programmatic efforts to sustain societal investment in science, The Ends of Research does offer hope for lives and lines of research that manage to persist in unexpected forms, like new growth after a harrowing burn." - Marcel LaFlamme, Association of Research Libraries Views

"The Ends of Research offers a compelling analysis of the interplay among Indigenous knowledge systems, settler scientific practices, and environmental management. Özden-Schilling’s innovative approach to understanding research as a form of resistance and reimagination, coupled with rigorous historical and ethnographic detail, significantly contributes to our understanding of Indigenous research in postcolonial contexts." - Joel Nicholas Persaud, American Indian Culture and Research Journal

"A thought-provoking book that will make important contributions to discussions among scholars and students concerned with what it means to link knowledge with political commitments in times of perpetual change and uncertainty." - Maximilian Viatori, Journal of Anthropological Research

"A book with . . . broad applicability to anthropologists studying science, technology and settler colonialism." - Anne Spice, American Anthropologist