the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License.
#UbirajaraBelongstoBR: social media activism against (neo)colonial practices in palaeontology
Abstract. Social media has revolutionized the engagement between scientists and the public, offering platforms to challenge unethical practices and advocate for change. In December 2020, Brazilian paleontologists and supporters initiated the hashtag #UbirajaraBelongstoBR on Twitter (now X) to protest the alleged illicit acquisition and export of the dinosaur fossil Ubirajara jubatus from Brazil to Germany. This movement not only demanded the fossil's repatriation but also sparked global discussions on neo-colonial practices in paleontology.
In this study, we analyze 39,728 tweets containing the hashtag #UbirajaraBelongstoBR, collected between December 2020 and February 2023. Employing social network analysis and computational text analysis, we examine the dynamics of this online movement, identify key influencers, and assess its reach and impact. Our results reveal that the campaign transcended the paleontology community, engaging a diverse international audience including scientists, artists, activists, and the general public. Sentiment analysis indicates shifts corresponding to pivotal events, such as official statements and the eventual repatriation of the fossil.
Our findings demonstrate the power of social media in mobilizing grassroots movements and influencing scientific discourse and policy. The #UbirajaraBelongstoBR case illustrates how digital platforms can facilitate international advocacy against unethical scientific practices, highlighting social media's potential to effect change in scientific governance and promote ethical standards. This study contributes to the understanding of digital activism in science communication and underscores the evolving landscape of public engagement in scientific issues.
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Status: open (until 16 Mar 2025)
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CC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3826', Thomas Clements, 17 Jan 2025
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Great manuscript - I read it with great interest. I think it would be useful to mention in the intro the account that started the hashtag, and comment on the start of the movement. I think the context of the original tweet would be very useful to know. Otherwise, fantastic paper!
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3826-CC1 -
AC1: 'Reply on CC1', Chico Camargo, 21 Jan 2025
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Thank you! That's a very good point actually. We'll incorporate that into the text. Thanks for the suggestion!
Citation: https://doi.org/10.5194/egusphere-2024-3826-AC1
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AC1: 'Reply on CC1', Chico Camargo, 21 Jan 2025
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RC1: 'Comment on egusphere-2024-3826', Anonymous Referee #1, 08 Feb 2025
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This manuscript is absolutely necessary to the growing literature on decolonisation and neocolonial practices in palaeontology. It also provides a much-needed context for the aftermath of the campaign #UbirajaraBelongstoBR. It addresses a growing concern in the field: that most of these campaigns are negative, when in fact, some voices are negative, but most of the responses seem to be neutral (however, see comments). Furthermore, following the massive deregistration of scientists and artists from Twitter in the last couple of months, this paper is an important archival effort to document the protest at a time when the API is effectively no longer accessible, and many of the tweets are now gone.
I have some discussion elements that I think would improve the impact of this paper:
- It should be noted that the name 'Ubirajara' is no longer available as a taxonomic name after ZooBank removed it in November 2022 (https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5254.3.10). As such, it should be written not in italics to differentiate it from the other valid names in the paper.
- This paper also adds to the argument that fossils have a cultural value and are also cultural heritage (reinforced by the art put in Fig. 1 and the many communities it reached). In this sense, I would add that "Ubirajara" had a cultural significance. The name "lord of the spear" is from an ancient Tupi language. I remember some tweets or articles also pointing out that Ubirajara was the main protagonist of a 19th-century novel called "Ubirajara" by Jose de Alencar, whose protagonist was an indigenous warrior not corrupted by European culture. The analysis in this paper frames that thinking of fossils also as cultural heritage could help the community navigate its protection, as argued in the de Araújo-Júnior et al. (2024) (https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02397-6).
- It would also be important to highlight that this paper is also an effort to document and archive a social movement that is now obscured after many of the accounts left Twitter following the blocking of Twitter in Brazil in 2024 to encourage more of these types of analyses at a time where there is a conscientious effort to reshape the way scientific societies talk and engage.
- I do not think we need stricter rules (line 334). Rather, the current commitments of journals and scientific societies should be enforced. Chacon-Baca et al. (2023) highlighted that even though most journals adhere to the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE), most do not require specifications on legal or ethical requirements in their submission guides for authors.
- It would be helpful to contextualise the ebbs and flows in sentiment over time, including the first or very first tweets, and analyse their sentiment score.
- Finally, I wonder if it is possible to zoom in on the behaviour of the communities found in the network analysis and break down the sentiment analysis. Some interesting questions I have are: Is Community 1 (the top accounts being palaeontologists and scientists) mostly retweeting the top members and, therefore, amplifying the original sentiment of the tweets? Is Community 12 (also mostly scientific but more personal and sci-comm) more of a discussion that combines negative and positive responses? Since most of the campaign is retweeting, this would help contextualise the sentiment fluctuation. Also, it would help explain why some communities feel the discussion was mostly negative and others feel it was mostly positive.
Thank you for inviting me to review this paper. I congratulate the authors on their ideas and efforts to preserve and archive this important milestone in palaeontology, which the disintegration, disappearance or fragmentation of Twitter communities have eroded.
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