A Delicate Balancing Act: Negotiating with Gatekeepers for Ethical Research When Researching Minority Communities

Research and processes of knowledge production are often based on racialised and imperialistic frameworks that have led to either the exclusion or the pathologisation of minority groups. Researchers address issues of exclusion by adopting recruitment strategies that involve negotiating with gatekeepers to ensure the inclusion of minority or marginalised groups. This often involves in-depth scrutiny of gatekeepers and requires the researchers to negotiate deals and to make personal disclosures. However, there remains relatively little discussion on the pragmatic ethical issues facing researchers in the field as a result of these interactions. This article suggests that interactions with gatekeepers present ethical issues that can be effectively addressed and managed by researchers through the exercise of phronesis. Phronesis allows researchers to make critical ethical decisions based on the specific characteristics of the research sites and subjects, not least of which are those issues that emerge as a consequence of researcher positionality. Such decisions are not necessarily identified or accommodated through bureaucratic processes which govern research ethics. We advance the notion of research ethics as an ongoing process that requires researcher skills and engagement, rather than a one-off bureaucratic exercise

Rural Regeneration Policy and Practice. Rhetoric or reality?

This is a study of the rhetoric and reality of rural regeneration in the UK. The thesis considers the activities of practitioners and policyrnakers within the new forms of rural governance which have emerged over the past decade and are now having pronounced effects on the practice of rural development. Policy rhetoric is assigned meaning and interpreted by practitioners and eventually becomes a reality through development practice. This analysis uses the concepts of participation and partnership, in terms of their function as rhetoric framing contemporary policies that eventually become regeneration practice. Micro-politics are identified as crucial processes of rural development activity that affect this practice The research draws on the work of a rural development initiative in Suffolk, the Communities First-Suffolk project. Using this project an ethnographic study was conducted. A theoretical framework is set out for each of the three main concepts - partnership, participation and micro-politics. Empirical findings from the Case Study are then used to analyse the theory underpinning the research. A gap between rhetoric and reality was found to exist in both rural policy and within its practice. This consistso f a paradox of governancein terms of decentralisation,r ules of engagement, the role of lead agencies, participation and partnership structures. The role of the individual was found to be integral to these elements and indeed to broader rural development processes. This thesis calls for government policy to recognise the disparity between rural rhetoric and reality. It thus suggests that policymakers consider adopting mechanisms to evaluate and review governance processes in addition to the traditional approach of evaluating regeneration products. Unless the rhetoric-reality gap is closed, existing exclusions, barriers and problems will continue to prevail within rural development structures, hampering the progress and activity of rural development agents - policymakers and practitioners alike.EThOS - Electronic Theses Online ServiceGBUnited Kingdo

(Lifestyle) immigrant entrepreneurs in Spanish small villages: Rethinking international immigration in rural Alt Empordà, Catalonia

The article studies connections between local economics, entrepreneurship and lifestyle immigration in municipalities with fewer than 500 inhabitants in Alt Empordà, Spain. Using a qualitative methodology, it analyses the economic incorporation of immigrant entrepreneurs by considering in which ways they contribute to the local economies. It also studies to what extent immigrant businesses follow purely economic benefit logics (or rather they are set up in search of a better quality of life). The interviewed immigrant entrepreneurs usually fit themselves in distinctive niches in local labour markets (e.g. cultural-oriented services). Their success partially relies in their capacities for creating locally based social networks, which are not only key aspects for business development, but also a source of wellbeing. This is in line with most lifestyle immigration literature, which argues that immigration is not only triggered by professional success, but also represents the search for self-realization and a higher quality of life.L’article traite des liens entre les économies locales, l’entrepreneuriat et l’immigration mue par la recherche de qualité de vie dans les municipalités de moins de 500 habitants de l’Alt Empordà en Espagne. Avec une méthodologie qualitative, il analyse l’insertion économique des entrepreneurs immigrants, en examinant leurs contributions aux économies locales. Il examine également dans quelle mesure les entreprises immigrées poursuivent des logiques purement économiques ou sont aussi mises en place pour rechercher de meilleures qualités de vie. Les entrepreneurs immigrants interviewés s’inscrivent habituellement dans des niches spécifiques sur les marchés du travail locaux (par ex. les services culturels). Le succès de ces entreprises tient à leur capacité à créer des réseaux sociaux. Ces réseaux sont aussi une source de bien-être pour les personnes interrogées, outre qu’ils sont fondamentaux pour le succès de leurs affaires. Cela concorde avec la littérature sur les styles de vie, qui met en évidence que la migration n’est pas seulement déclenchée par la recherche d’une réussite professionnelle, mais qu’elle est aussi motivée par l’aspiration à la réalisation personnelle et à une meilleure qualité de vie

The COVID-19 Pandemic and Its Implications for Rural Economies

This paper presents a rapid assessment of current and likely future impacts of the COVID-19 outbreak on rural economies given their socio-economic characteristics. Drawing principally on current evidence for the UK, as well as lessons from the 2001 Foot and Mouth Disease outbreak and the 2007/8 financial crises, it outlines the likely key demand and supply effects, paying attention to the situation for agriculture as well as discussing the implications for rural communities. A distinction is made between the effects on businesses offering goods and services for out-of-home as opposed to in-home consumption. Gendered dimensions are also noted as likely business and household strategies for coping and adaptation. The paper concludes with a brief mapping of a research agenda for studying the longer-term effects of COVID-19 on rural economies