Working With Marginalised Communities: Let’s talk about ethics

As researchers, members of NGOs, activists, and artists, we often work with marginalised communities. But how can we tell stories and work with people without putting them at risk

Developing rural tourism in South Africa: a case of women and technology in Kwazulu – natal

This paper contributes to a greater understanding of the linkages between women’s roles, responsibilities and the use of and access to technologies in marginalised rural communities in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. The ways in which poor rural women conceptualise technologies and the ways in which they use their knowledge and skills to develop, modify and adapt the techniques and technical processes are examined in relation to developing rural tourism in the areas. Research was undertaken in four marginalised communities in KwaZulu-Natal: Adams Mission, Platt Estate, KwaXimba and Makomoreng. The study examined the relationships between rural women, and their technological knowledge with a view to developing rural tourism. Emphasis on the data collection was on gender sensitivity and the ability to capture the complexities of the rural women’s real life activities. The aim of this contribution is to contribute to a greater understanding in terms of the recognition of the linkages between women’s roles, responsibilities, knowledge and their participation in rural economic and tourism development with more emphasis and focus on their use of modern technologies and indigenous knowledge.rural tourism in South Africa, women’s roles, marginalised rural communities in KwaZulu

The sustainability of sugarcane-ethanol systems in Guatemala: land, labour and law

Since 2010, Guatemala has been exporting ethanol, principally to European markets. This means that Guatemalan biofuel has been certified sustainable, although this is deeply contested with NGO reports drawing attention to the negative impacts of ‘agrofuels’, particularly for marginalised communities. Guatemala therefore provides an excellent case study for examining not only the impacts of increased global demand for biofuels, but also whether sustainability, as conceptualised by the European Union’s Renewable Energy Directive, can capture those issues that are salient to the Guatemalan context. Drawing on more than eighty qualitative, in-depth interviews, this paper finds that the bloc’s governance framework for biofuels fails to capture many of the issues that matter most to local people in Guatemala, namely land access, trade unions and compliance with the law. This paper argues that the current framework therefore runs the risk of exacerbating the plight of Guatemala’s already marginalised rural communities

How AI hype impacts the LGBTQ+ community

Hype around Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been a feature of this technology since its inception. However, the most recent wave of AI hype has been leveraged to encourage adoption of AI technologies that cause issues for marginalised communities. Hype is also a means to obfuscate real issues of bias, harm, and exploitation felt most sharply by marginalised communities when AI is implemented. This therefore raises the question of power imbalances as a feature of AI technologies as we currently know them. This paper will study the relationship of AI hype and marginalised communities, with particular emphasis on the LGBTQ + community, and look at the way that AI impacts on this community. This paper will pose two key questions: does hype affect marginalised communities, particularly hype around new technologies such as AI; and what impact does the LGBTQ + community experience as a result of hype. This paper will then move on to discuss areas that provide a focus for discourse of AI hype and the impact on the LGBTQ + community: policy and decision-making, the maintenance of the cisgender heteronormative (cishet) baseline, the ubiquity of a mythology of AI, and the role of market expansion

Dalit Art Forms and Tourism Promotion: Case Study of Theyyam Dance

Promotion of Dalit art forms  under  tourism can contribute to social and economic empowerment of marginalised communities in India. Modern tourism is a strong instrument to reduce the existing power inequalities and discriminations. Theyyam dances  in Kerala are now effective tools and weapons to resist and fight back against an unjust social system. Promotion of Dalit art forms  under  tourism can contribute to social and economic empowerment of these marginalised communities

Pride parades and prejudice: Visibility of Roma and LGBTI communities in post-socialist Europe

This article argues that public space is important for marginalised communities in order to ensure visibility and presence in public life. Often minority groups are excluded from democratic procedures which favour majority interests and preferences. This is not to say that minority interests are incompatible with those of the majority but some marginalised groups are not anchored in public space, can suffer discriminatory treatment and lack the ability to control dominant, usually negative, ascriptions of group identity. This article explores two cases of marginalised communities and access to public space in post-socialist Europe: Roma and the LGBTI communities. Both communities have attempted to ensure their presence in public space through ‘Pride’ parades across Central and Eastern European capitals. The purpose of pride parades is to demand rights as citizens, such as equality and respect, and to ensure visibility in public life. On the one hand, visibility is important for LGBTI communities who remain relatively hidden and fear ‘coming out’. On the other hand, for Roma, who are highly visible, pride offers an opportunity to harness this visibility to challenge prevailing negative stereotypes through an affirmation of group identity

The interaction between non-governmental organisations and marginalized communities to build self-sustaining capacity to transfer, absorb and use building technologies in indigenous housing

Different organisations outside the public and private sectors, such as non governmental organisations (NGOs), are involved in generating, introducing, and promoting capacity building and technology, particularly in marginal areas of less developed countries (Farrington and Biggs, 1990). Non-governmental organizations have become important players in the field of social development, with increased expectations shifting to NGOs as the “Magic bullet” to fix some of the on-going developmental problems of developing countries (Edwards and Fowler, 2002). NGOs use strategies such as capacity building to promote self-reliance. Capacity building is an important strategy for fostering sustainable social, political and economic development. Accordingly, grass root communities are said to be an important section of the community capable of transforming the state and society (Fisher, 1997). Hence, the reason many NGOs work with marginalised communities who have been marginalized by the either the market or deprived of social infrastructure. Previous research to date has tended to focus on NGOs activities in communities. However, little attention has been paid to how such strategies and organisation could fit with the community’s needs, especially in housing which is a major problem in developing countries. This paper proposes that many development initiatives by NGOs to build self-sustaining capacity to transfer, absorb and use building technologies in indigenous housing are hindered by inadequate interaction with the beneficiary communities. This paper gives a synthesis of literature review on the background of NGOs and capacity building as a strategy for self-reliance. The paper offers an in-depth understanding of this phenomenon, which will allow certain questions to be raised regarding the interaction with marginalised communities. This study is important because it adds to existing literature and opens up a whole new debate on NGO/ community interaction. This paper argues that capacity building ought to be incorporated with the needs and culture of the community and special attention paid to participatory process

New research programme: inequality and poverty in India

New research unit at LSE’s Department of Anthropology will investigate how and why poverty persists for marginalised communities in India

Cycles of Violence and Development in Caracas' Barrio Communities

Darina Stoyanova shows how ineffective development promjects in Caracas affect socioeconomic inequality and violence among the most marginalised communities

Equality Studies, the Academy and the Role of Research in Emancipatory Social Change

If people are structurally excluded from democratic engagement with research practice, they are precluded from assessing its validity in an informed manner. They are effectively disenfranchised from controlling the generation and dissemination of knowledge about themselves and/or the institutions within which they live and work. This issue is especially acute for marginalised groups and communities who are the subjects of so much social scientific research. Such research is frequently undertaken without the involvement of the groups or communities in question. The ownership of data gives researchers and policymakers power over the groups which may add to their marginalisation; there are now people who can claim to know you better than you know yourself. Without democratic engagement therefore, there is a real danger that research knowledge can be used for manipulation and control rather than challenging the injustices experienced. This paper analyses the role of research in relation to social change. It explores, in particular, the implications of utilising an emancipatory research methodology in the study of issues of equality and social justice. While recognising the difficulties involved in developing an emancipatory approach to research, it is argued that such an approach is analytically, politically, and ethically essential if research with marginalised and socially excluded groups is to have a transformative impact.