Recognising and Resisting Injustice: Knowledge Practices and Politics Amongst Nepal’s Community Forestry Professionals

Staddon, Sam

doi:10.16993/rl.71

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 27 publications

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“…Our methods did not allow us to determine whether conservation is now having a reflexive turn, akin to that which has occurred in social anthropology and related disciplines. However, multiple recent articles call for greater reflexivity in conservation science (e.g., Beck et al., 2021; Bennett et al., 2017; Boyce et al., 2022; Brittain et al., 2020; Montana et al., 2020; Moon et al., 2019; Ramesh, 2020; Staddon, 2021; Staddon et al., 2021). Moreover, many of our examples from the peer‐reviewed and gray literature were published in the last few years.…”

Section: Reflexivity In Adaptive and Transformative Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In recent qualitative conservation social science literature, researchers are encouraged to evaluate and report how their attributes and outlooks influence their research (e.g., Beck et al., 2021; Bennett et al., 2017; Boyce et al., 2022; Brittain et al., 2020; Montana et al., 2020; Moon et al., 2019; Ramesh, 2020; Staddon, 2021; Staddon et al., 2021). For instance, researchers might examine how values affect their choice of research questions, how identities frame their interactions with others, or how their science affects the world (Beck et al., 2021).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Recognizing reflexivity among conservation practitioners

Pienkowski

Kiik

Catalano

et al. 2023

Conservation Biology

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When deciding how to conserve biodiversity, practitioners navigate diverse missions, sometimes conflicting approaches, and uncertain trade‐offs. These choices are based not only on evidence, funders’ priorities, stakeholders’ interests, and policies, but also on practitioners’ personal experiences, backgrounds, and values. Calls for greater reflexivity—an individual or group's ability to examine themselves in relation to their actions and interactions with others—have appeared in the conservation science literature. But what role does reflexivity play in conservation practice? We explored how self‐reflection can shape how individuals and groups conserve nature. To provide examples of reflexivity in conservation practice, we conducted a year‐long series of workshop discussions and online exchanges. During these, we examined cases from the peer‐reviewed and gray literature, our own experiences, and conversations with 10 experts. Reflexivity among practitioners spanned individual and collective levels and informal and formal settings. Reflexivity also encompassed diverse themes, including practitioners’ values, emotional struggles, social identities, training, cultural backgrounds, and experiences of success and failure. Reflexive processes also have limitations, dangers, and costs. Informal and institutionalized reflexivity requires allocation of limited time and resources, can be hard to put into practice, and alone cannot solve conservation challenges. Yet, when intentionally undertaken, reflexive processes might be integrated into adaptive management cycles at multiple points, helping conservation practitioners better reach their goals. Reflexivity could also play a more transformative role in conservation by motivating practitioners to reevaluate their goals and methods entirely. Reflexivity might help the conservation movement imagine and thus work toward a better world for wildlife, people, and the conservation sector itself.

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Section: Reflexivity In Adaptive and Transformative Conservationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Recognizing reflexivity among conservation practitioners

Pienkowski

Kiik

Catalano

et al. 2023

Conservation Biology

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“…To do this, we suggest ethnographers reduce their tendency to obscure research intentions and censorship of their often-critical research objectives, as it not only leads to distrust but loses the opportunity for solidarity with conservationists. Considering it is difficult for staff to openly articulate their desire for change or act upon their reflexive stances (Staddon, 2021), ethnographers, as temporary 'insiders' immune from being fired and other pressures of organisational culture, should take up the cause of critical practitioners and articulate constructive critique to those with power to affect change on their behalf.…”

Section: Organisational Ethnography Alongside Conservation Organisationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fieldwork in conservation organisations–A review of methodological challenges, opportunities and ethics

Saif,

Staddon,

Keane

2023

Methods Ecol Evol

Self Cite

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Social science methodologies are increasingly used by conservation organisations to improve social‐ecological outcomes. However, ethnographic approaches seeking to understand organisations themselves and how organisational culture impacts biodiversity and social justice are rarely discussed. By exploring previous studies of the methodological considerations of organisational ethnography in conservation, we provide conservationists and ethnographers with an empirically grounded understanding of the opportunities, challenges and underlying ethical considerations of this approach. We conducted a scoping review of a disparate body of literature where ethnographers were embedded in conservation organisations and discussed their methodology, identifying 26 studies for analysis. We then extracted information on key themes relevant to methodological process and uptake. Our review found such research spanned the globe, with a broad range of methodological and ethical considerations related to how ethnographers and conservationists interact. For example, organisational ethnography was perceived as valuable by conservationists as it allowed tracking progress toward internal goals such as diversification of staff and providing moral and emotional support and valuable information for transforming organisational practices. However, conservationists also worried about ethnographers' presence in their organisations. A key methodological challenge we identify, corroborating with the literature, is how ethnographers can benefit organisations while supplying critique. Based on the results, we provide recommendations and areas of reflection for conservation organisations and ethnographers. Mainstreaming organisational ethnography through attention to certain methodological considerations can be beneficial for the future of conservation organisations and the biodiversity and people they impact.

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“…Further, a focus on women's descriptive rather than their substantive participation in community forestry decision-making raises the issue of whose agenda gender equality is perceived to be. Several Nepalese authors suggest that international development donors exercised strong influence when Nepal's national objective of enhancing women's participation in community forestry was formulated [57,96,97], but operated in the context of professionals who are not entirely prone to promoting knowledge practices that recognize and resist gender injustice [98].…”

Section: The Controversial Role Of the Statementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This incident confirms that forest authorities' overall intents in gender equality do not easily translate into a coherent behaviour towards women, cultural acceptance and, consequently, women's substantial participation, as indicated by Staddon. [98]. Researchers and experts, after many years of community forestry implementation, are still calling for a clearly defined mandate for local governments and forest bureaucracy to adopt more effective strategies for the promotion of women inclusion and participation, through the enforcement of affirmative policies in practice, adopting intersectional approaches to include the most excluded categories, and introducing facilitations to solve the daily constraints preventing women from the possibility to participate in the FUG's management [28].…”

Section: The Controversial Role Of the Statementioning

confidence: 99%

Affirmative Policy in Nepal’s Community Forestry: Does it Make a Difference in Terms of Social Sustainability?

Murer

Piccoli

2022

Sustainability

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Decentralized forest management is criticized for not involving women in decision-making. The study explores what the introduction of affirmative policy in community forestry committees means for the participation of women in decision making in four cases in the middle hills of Nepal. The qualitative analysis of interviews and observations draws on feminist political ecology, a women’s participation typology, the critical mass theory and gender justice. The findings centre on the importance of electoral procedures, the role of authorities, the role of the familial context and whether and how women internalized and contested patriarchal norms. The women’s quota was found to have had as yet little impact on substantive participation, yet the enhanced exposure of female committee members to the discrepancy between the gender equality discourse introduced in community forestry and the persistent male domination seemed to create, in a few women performing as critical actors, an enhanced awareness of male suppression; an awareness that is a prerequisite for contestation of those patriarchal norms denying women access to power over forest and, generally speaking, of gender injustice. This research reports examples of women, brought in the executive committees by the studied affirmative policies, successfully contesting traditional gender roles and gender injustice, negotiating for them and for the other women, a more effective and meaningful participation in the management of Community Forests.

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Recognising and Resisting Injustice: Knowledge Practices and Politics Amongst Nepal’s Community Forestry Professionals

Cited by 4 publications

References 27 publications

Recognizing reflexivity among conservation practitioners

Recognizing reflexivity among conservation practitioners

Fieldwork in conservation organisations–A review of methodological challenges, opportunities and ethics

Affirmative Policy in Nepal’s Community Forestry: Does it Make a Difference in Terms of Social Sustainability?

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