80 research outputs found
Challenging hierarchical research relations and improving research trustworthiness: the use of member checking
This contribution discusses the use of member checking in Tot, Kenya and Engaruka, Tanzania as enriching practices for both the researched and the researcher. By utilising a series of pamphlets produced in local languages, participants are able to see the result of their contribution to the research and give them a chance to have a second say by adding or rectifying what they would have reported earlier. In this way, member checking enables a researcher to realise any erroneous understanding of community practices under examination. Member checking is indeed far from perfect, but its employment improved the trustworthiness, transferability and confirmability of the study, writes Martina Angela Caretta
Feminist participatory methodologies in geography: creating spaces of inclusion
This introduction prefaces a special issue on the topic of feminist participatory methodologies in geography. Drawing upon the experiences of the contributors in developing new tools and methods to facilitate interaction with participants and working with groups that tend to be forgotten, subordinated and/or alienated, we argue for the methodological significance of instating a feminist perspective to participatory research. Although much theoretical debate has taken place among feminist and post-colonial scholars on unequal research relationships between âresearchersâ and âresearch subjectsâ, the literature on how to operationalize greater equality remains quite limited. We attempt to fill this research gap by bringing together scholars working in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres in order to illuminate the multifaceted ways in which these methods can be used not only to debunk hierarchical research relationships, but also to produce new scientific insights with greater validity
Household Water Security: An Analysis of Water Affect in the Context of Hydraulic Fracturing in West Virginia, Appalachia
Hydraulic fracturing has been booming in the last decade in the United States. While natural gas extraction and production has improved the national energy security, it has raised questions around the water security of those communities where extraction is taking place. Both scientists and residents are concerned about hydraulic fracturingâs impacts on surface- and groundwater, especially regarding how hydraulic fracturing impacts residentsâ access to safe household well water. In the past decade, the Marcellus Shale has been developed in Northwestern West Virginia, yet the human geography dimensions of oil and gas extraction in West Virginia remain to be investigated. This article, based on 30 in-depth interviews, explores household groundwater insecurity due to hydraulic fracturing experienced by residents (i.e., mineral owners, surface owners, and concerned citizens) in Northwestern West Virginia. The concept of water affect is used to attend to the emotional and subjective dimensions of water security by unveiling the power, emotional struggles, and mental stress inherent in water testing practices and environmental regulation around hydraulic fracturing. Water testing is typically conducted by contractors hired by oil and gas companies, but it is mired in delayed test results and incorrect testing procedures, triggering residentsâ negative feelings toward oil and gas companies. This article furthers the understanding of water security, commonly defined in terms of individual access to adequate water quality and quantity, by studying Appalachian residentsâ anxieties about well water contamination and uncertainty around the long-term water impacts of hydraulic fracturing. By investigating the uneven power relations around groundwater in West Virginia, the emotional experiences and responses are articulated to further the notion of water affect as impacting household groundwater security
Arsenic Poisoning in Rural Bangladesh-An intersectional analysis of impact in women
Based on a qualitative case study in six arsenic acute villages in southwest Bangladesh, this paper presents the intersectional impact of the arsenic poisoning crisis in rural Bangladesh. Findings indicate that the arsenic poisoning crisis is aggravating existing gender inequalities as well as gender roles and responsibilities. The gender inequalities related to arsenicosis are manifested in the access to health care and in the degree of social stigma: women are the biggest victims, unmarried women in particular. The study shows that multiple axis of oppression as class, disability and age are crucial in determining the magnitude of the arsenic poisoning impacts in rural Bangladesh. Understanding the gendered dynamics in the arsenic poisoning crisis and, in particular its intersectional impact on women informs the debate on disaster management. Consequently, by expanding current knowledge, this case study lays the ground for more comprehensive and gender inclusive policy making in the context of hazardous waterscapes
Migration and Its Interdependencies with Water Scarcity, Gender and Youth Employment
Evidence shows that growing climatic variability has severe impacts on water availability and quality, which in turn jeopardizes social stability and jobs for the younger generations. This is particularly true in arid and semi-arid regions, where often migration is both the result of and a way to adapt to climate-induced environmental stresses and its social and economic impacts. This paper explores the interdependencies between water scarcity induced by climate change, youth unemployment and migration, and provides an overview of migration hotspots, in particular in originating and transit countries in the African, Mediterranean, Middle Eastern, and South and East Asian regions
âWomen in groups can help each and learn from each otherâ: The role of homosocial practices within womenâs social networks in building local gender contracts
Feminist scholars struggle to articulate gender relations in different contexts. Using the concept of local gender contract - a place specific agreement of gender relations, we explore how womenâs networks challenge or shift gender contracts in their communities. Based on two empirical case studies of womenÂŽs groups from Eastern Africa and Thai migrants in Sweden, we show gender contracts are challenged through womenâs homosocial activities. We highlight tensions between gender contracts and the womenâs goals revealing a complicated process of assent and resistance. This study expands gender contract theoretically and provides a way to understand vulnerable womenâs activities
Situated knowledge in cross-cultural, cross-language research: a collaborative reflexive analysis of researcher, assistant and participant subjectivities
Managing variability and scarcity. An analysis of Engaruka: A Maasai smallholder irrigation farming community
- âŠ