Introduction

Recent trends in science communication have demonstrated that there is an increasing need for scientific information as well as the ability to access it. This has been especially true during the COVID-19 pandemic, where the extent of misinformation and disinformation (Ahinkora et al, 2020) has been a source of concern, with information-sharing as a public prerogative no longer monopolised by scientists and science communicators. The complexity of the current communication ecology is exacerbated by the diversity of available sources of information and the ever-increasing need to be first, right, and credible in sharing information. This era thus requires reflective thinking about the contextualisation of science communication epistemologies.

There has been increased appreciation of the fact that many scientific and social innovations that have the potential to empower society and facilitate social transformation can only achieve that aim through inclusive engagement methodologies and approaches. For example, Chivers and Hargreaves (2018) note that inclusive public engagement and participation methodologies are instrumental in realising socio-technical transitions. In the Global South, scientists and science communicators are increasingly acknowledging the significance of socially inclusive methodologies and approaches that will enhance participation in knowledge creation, knowledge-brokering, and science communication systems (Covello, 2021). Their transformative efforts are however hampered by the reality that most of the epistemologies and science communication insights are Eurocentric and fall short of being contextualised to Global South contexts. This lack of contextualised approaches results in the unequal distribution of and access to opportunities for effective public engagement with the processes and outcomes of science in the Global South.

The continued marginalisation of local insights through Eurocentric approaches to science communication calls for evidence-based advocacy for the advancement of socially inclusive approaches to science communication. In as much as the deficit model is often defined as one-way communication from scientists to the public without acknowledging other knowledge forms (Wibeck, 2013), this chapter argues that in marginalising the Indigenous knowledge systems in the Global South as a knowledge and communication base, the Eurocentric dominance of science communication in these regions is also in effect a problematic manifestation of the deficit model in practice.

Drawing from practical examples of science communication in the Global South, this chapter provides insights into how Eurocentric approaches to science communication, applied in these regions of the world, miss out on the opportunity to harness Indigenous knowledge systems.