Translocal resource governance, social relations and aspirations: Linking translocality and feminist political ecology to explore farmer-managed irrigation systems and migration in Nepal

Widespread male out-migration presents major challenges to the sustainability of existing collective irrigation systems. However, the effects of socio-spatial changes on collective resource governance systems remain unknown. This paper addresses this gap by building a synthesis of translocality and Feminist Political Ecology (FPE). Translocality examines the socio-spatial interconnectedness of rural societies in the context of out-migration. FPE explores how changing gender and social relations shape resource governance. A translocal Feminist Political Ecology framework (tFPE) contextualizes resource governance within translocal social flows, and captures (i) translocal resource governance, (ii) translocal social relations, and (iii) translocal aspirations. Drawing from qualitative interviews and participatory methods on two farmer-managed irrigation systems in Far Western Nepal, I illustrate the complexity, intersectionality and ambiguity of translocal social relations in collective resource governance. Translocal resource governance is shaped by changing household and labor relations marked by remittances, and translocal flows of social and human resources, ideas and knowledge, e.g. migrants’ advice via phone on when and how to irrigate. Translocal social relations entail marginalized groups, i. e., women and elderly people, providing increased labor contributions and possibly receiving migrants’ support in the form of advice and networks. However, authority and power relations are sustained in resource governance by mostly upper caste men. Translocal aspirations to the home village by both migrants and non-migrants is ambivalent and leads them to hope for frequent visits home, while aspirations and shame turn them away from agriculture towards earning higher incomes through migration. The tFPE framework emphasizes important but understudied translocal social relations and aspirations in collective resource governance, water, irrigation and migration research. By linking translocality and FPE, I show how translocal resource governance, social relations and aspirations change everyday practices and gender, caste and labor relations in irrigation, and how we may understand the water-migration nexus

Women?s empowerment and the will to change: Evidence from Nepal

A static and apolitical framing of women's empowerment has dominated the development sector. In contrast, we assess the pertinence of considering a new variable, the will to change, to reintroduce dynamic and political processes into the way empowerment is framed and measured. This article uses a household survey based on the Women's Empowerment in Agriculture Index (WEAI) and qualitative data collected in Nepal to analyze how critical consciousness influences women's will to change the status quo and the role of visible agency, social structures, and individual determinants in those processes. A circular process emerges: women with higher visible agency and higher critical consciousness are more willing to gain agency in some, but not all, of the WEAI empowerment domains. This analysis advances current conceptualizations of empowerment processes: the will to change offers valuable insights into the dynamic, relational and political nature of women's empowerment. These findings support the design of development programs aiming at increasing visible agency and raising gender critical consciousness and argue for improving the internal validity of women's empowerment measurement tools

Zugang zur Gesundheitsversorgung für Kinder in Mumbai, Indien

Die sozioökonomische Polarisierung der Megastadt Mumbai, in der mehr als die Hälfte der Bevölkerung in Slums wohnt, hat gravierende Auswirkungen auf die Gesundheit. Kinder sind besonders verwundbar und tragen die Last vieler Krankheiten. Mit Hilfe des theoretischen Ansatzes „Five Dimensions of Access to Health Care Services“ von PENCHANSKY und THOMAS (1981) werden die Barrieren zur Gesundheitsversorgung für Kinder in der Megastadt Mumbai in einer Fallstudie untersucht. Während eines sechswöchigen Aufenthalts in Mumbai wurden Experteninterviews geführt sowie in zwei Stadtteilen Mumbais die fünf Dimensionen Verfügbarkeit, Zugänglichkeit, Finanzierbarkeit, Ausstattung und Akzeptanz der Gesundheitsversorgung untersucht. Durch den Vergleich des Day Care Centres (DCC) in einem Slum in Turbhe und der Privatschule Avalon Heights International School (AHIS) in Vashi werden die konkreten Barrieren, die den Zugang zur Gesundheitsversorgung begrenzen, herausgearbeitet. Das Aufzeigen der Barrieren schafft die Grundlage dafür, Strategien zu entwickeln, die den Zugang zur Versorgung im indischen Gesundheitssystem verbessern können

Pedagogic Practice and the Transformative Potential of Education for Sustainable Development. Argumentation on Water Conflicts in Geography Teaching in Pune, India

Natural resource conflicts are major societal challenges. Transnational educational policies such as Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) stress the role of education for critical environmental consciousness, sustainable environmental action, and societal participation. Approaches such as the promotion of critical thinking and argumentation skill development on controversial human-environment relations are relevant to participate in decision-making on sustainable development. The transformative potential of ESD is based on these approaches. This thesis empirically examines the following research question: “Which challenges exist for the translation of the transnational educational policy Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in pedagogic practice in geography teaching at English-medium secondary schools in Pune, India?” This study investigates pedagogic practice and the transformative potential of ESD within the setting of India’s heterogeneous educational system. The analysis at five English-medium secondary schools in the emerging megacity of Pune focuses on the institutional regulations, power relations and cultural values that structure Indian geography education on the topic of water. To analyze the challenges that exist for the implementation of ESD in pedagogic practice, the study follows a theoretically anchored and didactically oriented analysis. At the conceptual level, this study pursues an interdisciplinary synthesis with elements of geographical developmental research, geographical education research, and sociology of education research. The theoretical framework for transformative pedagogic practice links concepts of BASIL BERNSTEIN’s Sociological Theory of Education (1975-1990), PAOLO FREIRE’s Critical Pedagogy (1996) and the didactic approach of argumentation skill development (BUDKE 2010, 2012). This conceptual approach offers an integrative multi-level analysis, which reflects the status quo of pedagogic relations and shows opportunities to prepare and encourage students to become vanguards for social and environmental transformation. The study is based on nine months of fieldwork at five English-medium secondary schools in Pune between 2011 and 2013. The methodological framework combines qualitative social science methods such as qualitative interviews, document analyses and classroom observations with an intervention study in geography lessons. The analysis of transformative pedagogic practice is differentiated into three interrelated levels: document analyses, field work and action research. Firstly, the thematic and methodological analysis of educational policies, curricula, syllabi and geography textbooks examines how institutional regulations for formal school education in India relate to the principles of ESD. In contrast to the National Curriculum Framework (2005), which promotes pedagogic principles similar to ESD, the contents and methods in geography syllabi and textbooks display a fragmented, fact-oriented and definition-oriented approach to the topic of water. The resource of water is presented as a fixed commodity, and the access to water is not depicted as socially constructed. The controversy of differing perspectives on water access in the students’ urban environment is not presented. This contradicts ESD principles, which favor an integrated, skill-oriented and problem-based approach to topics at the human-environment interface. Secondly, the study examines how power relations and cultural values of teaching and learning shape pedagogic practice, and how these link to ESD principles. Teaching methodology in observed geography lessons depicts students as reproducers of knowledge, as they are expected to repeat teaching contents spelled out by the teacher and in textbooks. Strong framing and classification of classroom communication shape the teacher-student interaction. Current pedagogic practice in India transmits norms and values of respect and authority, rather than promoting questioning and critical thinking. The textbook governs classroom interaction, as the role of the teacher is to transmit a pre-structured selection of knowledge as depicted in the textbooks. The prescriptions in syllabi and textbooks barely leave enough time and space for students to develop skills in geography lessons, and constrain teacher’s agency and control over the selection, sequence, pacing and evaluation of knowledge and skills. These norms represent a performance mode of pedagogy, which contrasts with the competence mode of pedagogic practice in ESD. As a democratizing teaching approach, ESD principles are in strong juxtaposition to the traditional hierarchical structures that occur and are reproduced in the country’s myriad of educational contexts. Lastly, an intervention study identifies institutional, structural, and socio-cultural challenges and opportunities to translate ESD principles into geography teaching in India. To examine how ESD principles can be interpreted through argumentation on urban water conflicts, three ESD teaching modules “Visual Network”, “Position Bar” (MAYENFELS & LÜCKE 2012), and “Rainbow Discussion” (KREUZBERGER 2012) were adapted to the topic and context of this study. The implementation process demonstrates how strong classification and strong framing in Indian geography education can be weakened. While the use of classroom space and teaching resources is changing and students actively participate, the focus on presentation, sequence and formal teacher-student interaction is sustained. The latter shapes teachers and students’ re-interpretation of the ESD teaching modules. This implies that ESD and the promotion of argumentation skills only partly intervene in prevalent principles of pedagogic practice. The results demonstrate how the educational discourse of ESD fundamentally challenges the reproductive mode of pedagogic practice in the case of geography education in India, as it subverts cultural values, norms and constructions of teaching and learning. Despite this, ESD as a transformative pedagogic practice can contribute to gradually revising current geography teaching contents and methods towards promoting learner-centered teaching, critical thinking, and argumentation skill development. A contextualized understanding of how power relations shape and are reproduced in pedagogic practice can better link educational reforms to social reality. The study emphasizes the need for researchers and policy makers to demonstrate how principles of schooling can be altered for empowering students to obtain skills and gain knowledge to participate in decision-making, for example, concerning water resource conflicts, and to espouse sustainable development as conscious and critical citizens

Experiments in farmers' collectives in Eastern India and Nepal: Process, benefits, and challenges

Do farmers' collectives, which pool land, labour, capital, and skills to create medium-sized production units, offer a more viable model of farming for resource-constrained smallholders than individual family farms? A participatory action research project in Eastern India and Nepal provides notable answers. Groups of marginal and tenant farmers, catalysed by the project, evolved into four different collective models with varying levels of cooperation, gender composition, and land ownership/tenancy status. Based on 3 years of action research, this paper examines how the models evolved and their differential outcomes. All groups have gained from cultivating contiguous plots in their efficiency of labour and machine use for land preparation and irrigation, and from economies in input purchase. Several collectives of tenant farmers have also enhanced their bargaining power vis-a-vis an entrenched landlord class and thus been able to negotiate lower rents and refuse long-standing feudal obligations. However, the models differ in their extent of economic gain and their ability to handle gender inequalities and conflicts over labour sharing. The paper explores the historical, regional, and cultural factors that could explain such differences across the models. It thus offers unique insights into the processes, benefits, and challenges of farmers' collectives and provides pointers for replication and further research

Ambivalences of collective farming:feminist political ecologies from the Eastern Gangetic Plains

Collective farming has been suggested as a potentially useful approach for reducing inequality and transforming peasant agriculture. In collectives, farmers pool land, labor, irrigation infrastructure, agricultural inputs and harvest to overcome resource constraints and to increase their bargaining power. Employing a feminist political ecology lens, we reflect on the extent to which collective farming enables marginalized groups to engage in smallholder agriculture. We examine the establishment of 18 farmer collectives by an action research project in the Eastern Gangetic Plains, a region characterised by fragmented and small landholdings and a high rate of marginalised and landless farmers. We analyze ambivalances of collective farming practices with regard to (1) social relations across scales, (2) intersectionality and (3) emotional attachment. Our results in Saptari/ Eastern Terai in Nepal, Madhubani/Bihar, and Cooch Behar/West Bengal in India demonstrate how intra-household, group and community relations and emotional attachments to the family and neighbors mediate the redistribution of labor, land, produce and capital. We find that unequal gender relations, intersected by class, age, ethnicity and caste, are reproduced in collective action, land tenure and water management, and argue that a critical feminist perspective can support a more reflective and relational understanding of collective farming processes. Our analysis demonstrates that feminist political ecology can complement commons studies by providing meaningful insights on ambivalences around approaches such as collective farming

Critical Reflexivity in Political Ecology Research: How can the Covid-19 Pandemic Transform us Into Better Researchers?

It is not just the world but our ways of producing knowledge that are in crisis. The Covid-19 pandemic has exposed our interconnected vulnerabilities in ways never seen before while underscoring the need for emancipation in particular from the hegemonic knowledge politics that underpin “business-as-usual” academic research that have both contributed to and failed to address the systemic challenges laid bare by the pandemic. Political ecologists tasked with knowledge generation on vulnerabilities and their underlying power processes are particularly well placed to envision such emancipatory processes. While pausing physically due to travel restrictions, as researchers in political ecology and rural development at the same university department, we want to make a stop to radically rethink our intellectual engagements. In this article, we aim to uncover “sanitized” aspects of research encounters, and theorize on the basis of anecdotes, feelings and informal discussions—“data” that is often left behind in fieldwork notes and personal diaries of researchers—, the ways in which our own research practices hamper or can be conducive to emancipation in times of multiple interconnected health, political, social, and environmental crises. We do so through affective autoethnography and resonances on our research encounters during the pandemic: with people living in Swedish Sapmi, with African students in our own “Global North” university department and with research partners in Nepal. We use a threefold focus on interconnectedness, uncertainty and challenging hegemonic knowledge politics as our analytical framework. We argue that acknowledging the roles of emotions and affect can 1) help embrace interconnectedness in research encounters; 2) enable us to work with uncertainty rather than “hard facts” in knowledge production processes; and 3) contribute to challenging hegemonic knowledge production. Opening up for emotions in research helps us to embrace the relational character of vulnerability as a pathway to democratizing power relations and to move away from its oppressive and colonial modes still present in universities and research centers. Our aim is to contribute to envisioning post-Covid-19 political ecology and rural development research that is critically reflexive and that contributes to the emergence of a new ethics of producing knowledge. Historically, pandemics have forced humans to break with the past and imagine their world anew. This one is no different. It is a portal, a gateway between one world and the next. We can choose to walk through it, dragging the carcasses of our prejudice and hatred, our avarice, our data banks and dead ideas, our dead rivers and smoky skies behind us. Or we can walk through lightly, with little luggage, ready to imagine another world. And ready to fight for it. (Roy, 2020

Examining the generalizability of research findings from archival data

This initiative examined systematically the extent to which a large set of archival research findings generalizes across contexts. We repeated the key analyses for 29 original strategic management effects in the same context (direct reproduction) as well as in 52 novel time periods and geographies; 45% of the reproductions returned results matching the original reports together with 55% of tests in different spans of years and 40% of tests in novel geographies. Some original findings were associated with multiple new tests. Reproducibility was the best predictor of generalizability—for the findings that proved directly reproducible, 84% emerged in other available time periods and 57% emerged in other geographies. Overall, only limited empirical evidence emerged for context sensitivity. In a forecasting survey, independent scientists were able to anticipate which effects would find support in tests in new samples