Abstract

This paper introduces the notion of ‘data gatekeepers’ to add an interactional strand to Allan’s (2017) theorization on the co-production between science and the state in the production of climate knowledge. ‘Data gatekeepers’ lets us understand in a more dynamic perspective how climate science happens in action, and how some actors come to be in positions of gatekeeping ‘raw’ climate data. By exploring the case of glaciology, more specifically ice core science in Greenland, the paper makes two contributions. First, with its broad conceptualization of what data gatekeepers might look like and how they exercise control over data, it shows that the role of science and scientist in co-production is not merely in “assembling” epistemic objects (Allan 2017, 140). Ice core scientists have created a scientific order ‘inside’ their scientific project which in many ways mimics key principles and institutions in international politics. Second, ‘data gatekeepers’ is more attentive to change in the actors that do the data gatekeeping and how they do so, while it still pays attention to the longer historical trajectories that have led some actors to be in gatekeeping positions. The paper is based on participant observation and semi-structured interviews conducted during multi-cited fieldwork in key locations across Greenland, Germany, and Denmark. Overall, the paper shows and argues that International Relations needs to pay more attention to how climate science happens in action, not only in retrospect, as this stage of co-production involves a number of important data gatekeepers with a number of political priorities that they infuse into climate science, ultimately affecting what we know about climate change.