‘Learning for resilience’: Developing community capital through flood action groups in urban flood risk settings with lower social capital

© 2017 Elsevier Ltd The role of civil agency in preparing and adapting to changing risk is an increasingly critical element within devolved local flood risk management. However, effective civil agency for flood resilience needs to draw on, and if necessary develop, community capital. Community Action Groups form one model for local resilience building for flood risk, and one actively supported by some governments. This research evaluates the participatory model of flood group development involving horizontal support rather than top-down or bottom-up generation. The process involved nascent groups working with an NGO facilitator in the implementation of a set of processes framed in the context of ‘learning for resilience’ that supported flood group development in a situation of challenged social capital (lower socio-economic status; health issues, lack of previous flood experience) in the UK. The methodology involved repeat semi-structured interviews with flood group members and flood risk management (FRM) agencies who worked with them through the process, as well as observation of flood group meetings. Results outline how groups emerge from transient and disconnected communities, the value of local knowledge, evolving communication skills and agency, normalisation of group members within participatory processes, frustrations within these processes, group sustainability and FRM agency perspectives. Discussion then critiques the co-working/partnership model and assesses its implications for social ‘learning for resilience’ within challenged flood groups with variable social capital. The authors propose a framework (’The 6Ss’) for anticipating concerns or barriers within such participatory processes as a guide to future local urban DRR practice

Changing narratives: colonised peoples, criminology and social work

Abstract: There is growing recognition in criminology and social work of the importance of Indigenous knowledges and methodologies. Yet to date there have been limited attempts (particularly in criminology and criminal justice social work) to consider the theoretical and practice implications of Indigenous understandings and approaches to these disciplines. Both disciplines have also been slow to recognise the importance of understanding the way in which colonial effects are perpetuated through knowledge control, particularly in the operation of criminal justice systems. Our paper thus begins by examining the historical and institutional factors that have contributed to the continuing subjugation of Indigenous knowledges and methodologies. A discussion of the connections between the hegemony of Western science, the construction of race, and the colonial project follows. While herein Western and Indigenous approaches are conceptualised broadly, the dangers of over-simplifying these categories is also acknowledged. The paper proceeds by examining the distinctive character of each approach through a consideration of their ontological, epistemological, axiological, and methodological differences. Whilst acknowledging the considerable challenges which arise in any attempt to develop connections between these differing worldviews, a pathway forward for understanding both theoretically and methodologically the relationship between Western and Indigenous approaches is proposed

Feminism, women’s movements and women in movement

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Editorial: Feminism, women’s movements and women in movement

Introduction to Special Issue that engages with the increasingly important, separate yet interrelated themes of feminism, women’s movements and women in movement in the context of global neoliberalism

Indigenous Peoples and Climate Scientists: Assessing Knowledge, Power, and Practices in Collaborative Climate Change Networks

Indigenous peoples concerned about climate change have sought collaborative partnerships to address disproportionate impacts, and support their adaptations to environmental change. One emerging approach involves collaborative networks formed directly with climate scientists. Collaborations are often assumed to bring benefits, yet they also carry challenges and risks. There is a need to better understand how these environmental networks address issues of concern to Indigenous peoples. Employing a framework from Indigenous environmental justice studies and a mixed-methods social network approach, this dissertation analyzes dynamics of collaboration in US climate change boundary organizations along three lines of inquiry. The first paper assesses not only knowledge transfers frequently found in climate change networks, but also integrated decision-making, policy, and place-based climate adaptation partnerships in a national scale case study organization formed specifically to bring together Indigenous peoples and climate scientists. Through measurements of relational ties and network structures, results indicate the network supported climate knowledge transfers. Types of collaboration well attuned to transfers of power such as joint decision-making and advocacy were minimally present. Though critical to strengthen Indigenous peoples’ climate change capabilities, place-based climate adaptation partnerships between participants in the network were scarce. The second paper asks: how do central actors in the cross-cultural organization represent intersections of race, ethnicity, indigeneity, gender, and age? Climate change collaborations run the risk of reproducing some forms of inequality while challenging others due to interconnections between colonialism, racism, and patriarchy. This study analyzes central actors based on relational ties between participants and organizational leadership. In both cases, Indigenous women and youth were underrepresented in central roles. White women and elder Indigenous men held most central positions. However, Indigenous women consistently served as bridges between otherwise unconnected participants, and provided less visible labor to support the network. These did not translate to decision-making roles. The third paper investigates how bringing together Indigenous peoples’ and climate scientists’ knowledges and practices carry benefits and risks for Indigenous collectives. It analyzes participant perspectives in the case study network, and organizational practices of eight climate change boundary organizations. A majority of collaboration members identified simultaneous high benefits and high risks to Indigenous peoples when sharing their knowledges with climate scientists. A noted minority was less convinced of the benefits involved. This paper reveals a wide range of approaches by boundary organizations at the intersection of multiple knowledge and practice systems. It found greater benefits and reduced risks when Indigenous peoples were among core governance positions in collaborative endeavors. Overall, this research demonstrates how climate change boundary organizations variously resisted and reproduced socio-ecological injustices. The dissertation contributes to debates about how to assess environmental collaborations, and broadens conceptions that bring together climate science, climate justice, and adaptation to environmental change. Key recommendations call for climate change boundary organizations to deepen advocacy and place-based climate adaptation actions that benefit Indigenous peoples, and to ensure Indigenous participants—including diverse members such as Indigenous women and youth—are among central governance roles.PHDNatural Resources & EnvironmentUniversity of Michigan, Horace H. Rackham School of Graduate Studieshttps://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/146120/1/carlamay_1.pd

Interdisciplinary progress in approaches to address social-ecological and ecocultural systems

SUMMARYThe emergent human cultures have shaped, and in turn been shaped by, local ecosystems. Yet humanity's intense modification of the environment has resulted in dramatic worldwide declines in natural and cultural capital. Social-ecological systems are becoming more vulnerable through the disruption of livelihoods, governance, institutions, resources and cultural traditions. This paper reviews the environmental sub-disciplines that have emerged to seek solutions for conservation and maintenance of the resilience of social-ecological systems. It shows that a central component is engagement with the knowledges of people within their contexts. Local knowledges of nature (traditional, indigenous, local ecological knowledge and ecoliteracy) are used by place-based cultures to guide actions towards nature. The importance of new engagements between different knowledges is now becoming more widely recognized by scientific institutions. Yet there still exist many false dualisms (for example local knowledge versus science) which tend to emphasize a superiority of one over the other. Ecocultures retain or strive to regain their connections with the environment, and thus improve their own resilience. Revitalization projects offer ways to connect knowledge with action to produce optimal outcomes for both nature and culture, suggesting that systems can be redesigned by emphasis on incorporation of local and traditional knowledge systems.</jats:p

Reconciling Taking the Indian out of the Nurse

Currently, we are faced with an important equity gap and opportunity for nursing in higher education related to Indigenous Peoples and health. While Westernized higher education often marginalizes Indigenous Peoples, there is an important opportunity to respectfully engage with Indigenous Knowledges. Furthermore, broadening perspectives beyond a dominant Westernized worldview has the potential to advance higher education for Indigenous and non-Indigenous learners alike. We are concerned that ongoing assimilation of Indigenous learners poses a profound risk of social injustice that is contrary to the aim of higher education. In our effort to reconcile nursing education in this context, we offer this discussion paper of scholarly and grey literature interwoven with story work by Indigenous nursing students regarding their undergraduate experiences in the academy. Two significant interrelated gaps/opportunities are revealed: enactment of cultural safety and respectful engagement with Indigenous Knowledges. Action strategies include heart-mind knowledge connection, contextual learning, and two-way teaching and learning. It is our hope that this discussion will inspire critical conversations and meaningful action for educators to reconcile higher education and address structural racism. While reconciliation may be viewed as a duty in higher education and society, we further recognize it as a natural fit within the caring ethos of nursing. Résumé Nous sommes confrontés à d’importantes inégalités relativement à la santé des Autochtones et aux possibilités d’enseignement supérieur en sciences infirmières pour eux. Alors que l’enseignement supérieur occidentalisé marginalise souvent les peuples autochtones, il a une occasion de faire respectueusement appel à leurs Connaissances. S’ouvrir aux perspectives au-delà de la vision du monde occidentalisée dominante pourrait faire progresser l’enseignement supérieur pour les étudiants autochtones et non autochtones. Nous craignons que l’assimilation en cours des étudiants autochtones constitue un signe important d’injustice sociale contraire à l’objectif de l’enseignement supérieur. Dans un esprit de conciliation de la formation en sciences infirmières, nous proposons ce texte de discussion appuyé de publications universitaires, de la littérature grise et de récits d’étudiantes autochtones en sciences infirmières sur leur parcours universitaire au premier cycle. Deux importantes lacunes/possibilités étroitement inter-reliées ont été mises au jour : la mise en œuvre de la sécurité culturelle et le recours respectueux aux Connaissances Autochtones. Les stratégies d’action préconisées portent notamment sur l’ouverture cœur/esprit aux connaissances, l’apprentissage contextuel ainsi que l’enseignement et l’apprentissage bidirectionnels. Nous espérons que cette discussion inspirera d’importantes conversations et des actions significatives chez les enseignants en vue de rapprocher l’enseignement supérieur et de lutter contre le racisme structurel. Bien que la réconciliation puisse être considérée comme un devoir dans le domaine de l’enseignement supérieur et dans la société, nous reconnaissons également qu’il s’agit d’une adéquation naturelle au sein de la philosophie du soin en sciences infirmières

(Dis)connected communities and sustainable place-making

Why, despite a recent surge in the UK in “sustainable communities” policy discourse, do so many community-led sustainability initiatives remain fragmented, marginal and disconnected from local government strategies? How can community- and government-led sustainability initiatives be better integrated such that they add significantly to a denser matrix and cluster of sustainable places? These questions, we argue, lie at the heart of current sustainable place-making debates. With particular reference to two spatial scales of analysis and action, the small town of Stroud, England and the city of Cardiff, Wales, we explore the twin processes of disconnection and connection between community sustainability activists and local state actors. We conclude that whilst there will always remain a need for community groups to protect the freedom which comes from acting independently, for community activists and policy-makers alike, there are nevertheless a series of mutual benefits to be had from co-production. However, in setting out these benefits we also emphasise the dual need for local government to play a much more nuanced, integrative and facilitatory role, in addition to, but separate from, its more traditional regulatory role

Bridge-building practices for holistic vision of agrarian-rural societies in India and Spain

Small-holder agriculture and rural societies are often presented as declining and deteriorating contexts in media as well as national and international policies. The solutions aimed at addressing this decline often is framed in terms of external (market and policy) interventions while simultaneously presenting agrarian-rural societies as static and impoverished. This essentialist view of agrarian-rural societies is based on a modernist knowledge politics that functions by creating asymmetries of power through the practices of definitions and categorizations of understanding and engaging with the world. Binary oppositional categories, such as the rural and the urban, knowledge and experience, and nature and culture, is one route through which this knowledge politics unfolds. Rather than providing sustainable solutions, approaches based on these binaries have often exacerbated the vulnerabilities and challenges of agrarian-rural societies in terms of resource depletion, loss of biodiversity and livelihoods, deterioration of social ties, and challenges to food, nutrition, and health. In this paper, we present a comparative study of two Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) from India and Spain, which are engaged in the constructive practices of building relational connections across these binaries in order to re-envision agrarian-rural societies beyond modernist knowledge politics. Additionally, the paper brings together the cases from India and Spain to reflect on the binary of global south and north to build relationality and solidarity.Universidade de Vigo/CISU