REFLECTIONS ON INDIGENOUS WOMEN'S ORGANISATIONS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA: A COMPARATIVE STUDY IN BRONG AHAFO REGION, GHANA

This paper explores the activities and problems of indigenous women's organisations in Ghana. The survey data that form the basis of the analysis were collected in 1998 from a sample of 66 women's organisations in the districts of Atebubu and Techiman of Brong Ahafo Region in Ghana. The results suggest that despite the debilitating impacts of patriarchy, poverty and illiteracy, the women in both districts have managed to use their grassroots organisations to improve the socioeconomic circumstances of their members in particular and their communities in general. Given the dearth of theoretical and empirical analyses on grassroots mobilisation of women in sub‐Saharan Africa, the results presented here are intended to stimulate further research and discussion on the subject.     

少数民族村寨社区居民对旅游增权感知的空间分异研究——以贵州西江千户苗寨为例

在文献综述的基础上,以贵州西江千户苗寨为样本地,借鉴雅克松关于旅游者空间划分的标准,将样本地划分为核心区、过渡区和外围区,分别发放居民对旅游增权感知的调查问卷,以此进行民族村寨旅游地社区增权的空间分异研究,并对其空间分异的形成原因进行探讨分析.研究表明:社区增权在旅游目的地的空间不平衡是社区参与旅游机会差异的表征,不同...     

Passive revolution: A church‐military partnership in the Philippines

In the Philippines, a Catholic social movement for local development and broad structural transformation, referred to as Basic Ecclesial Communities, offers a counter‐narrative to state development. Predicated on the power of networked local groups, the Diocese of San Carlos has taken the original concept and rescaled it, operating a variety of social‐action programmes at the diocese level. The focus of this paper is a unique partnership between the diocese and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, which has produced a number of measurable positive changes in under‐serviced areas. We remain uncertain, however, about the extent to which the church is cooperating with, or being co‐opted by, the military as it enters into partnership, and many members of the clergy share our scepticism. In this paper we draw upon Gramsci's concept of passive revolution (1971) as a means to conceptualize both the efforts of the church to reform society from within, and the reaffirmation of the hegemonic discourse that seems inevitable.     

Empowerment of an Aging Population and Rural Women Farmers: a Small Business Model-A Japanese Case Study

Using the combined approach of questionnaire and semi-structured interview, this study aims to examine the characteristics of a small agricultural business, and benefits perceived by the participants, and challenges. The “multi-industrial system” regional initiative for creating new high-value-added businesses project encourages rural residents to commercialize their surplus agricultural and forestry products, such as pickled or dried wild and cultivated plants. Knowledgeable older people, women farmers in particular, are motivated to market their vegetables directly to the urban market, and their home-processed wild plants to local restaurants and hotels. It found that the older people involved in the business considered that their health and economic situation had been improved through participating in vegetable cultivation and sales. Some lessons from this case study can be identified: the empowerment of older people and women farmers, through active interaction with the market and learning new technologies, including internet-based information search strategies.     

社区营造进程中的乡村地方性建构特征与机制 ——以台湾中和社区为例

以台湾中和社区为案例,采用访谈法与介入式观察法,通过社会建构与人文主义两种视角,关注宏观社会结构与个体行动者两种力量对地方性形成的影响,探讨了社区营造的地方性特征及其建构机制。研究表明：中和社区营造的地方性表现在都市近郊的区位、社区营造实践地点及活动、参与者与观光者的地方感3个方面;中和地方性建构过程则经历3个阶段：首先,弱地方性引起了社区营造参与者与广大社会的反身性;其次,在社区营造政策的推动下,社区营造参与者在日常生活中推动社区营造,促进地方性的生产与再生产;最后,地方性的营造结果吸引了社会资本与人力资本的再投入,强化了地方性的持续生产,并创造了进步的地方性,也间接强化了乡村自治能力。     

Finding meaningful participation in volunteer geographic information and citizen science: a case comparison in environmental application

ABSTRACT

Volunteer geographic information (VGI) and citizen science (CS) have been used as a way to promote a form of democratization of knowledge. Crowdsourcing facilitates the massive collection of data through nonexpert volunteers. This study compares 57 VGI and CS projects through a cross-case comparison method to explore the level of involvement of participants, based on three main analytic dimensions (project rationale, actor interaction, and data flow) and 12 sub-variables. The primary goal of this research is to analyze the purpose and the role of technology in VGI and CS projects, using three matrices to explore emerging trade-offs. Finally, we synthesized the workflow of VGI and CS project and compared based on project purposes. At the end of this study, five main purposes were found among the selected projects, uncovering that data collection is the most common purpose. A general workflow can be conceptualized, but detail implementation will involve various trade-offs, especially between local involvement and large-area expert-oriented protocol implementations. By exploring diverse relationships among selected variables of analysis in VGI and CS projects, this study pretends to build a foundation for larger, global meta-analysis that can bring some transparency in the epistemic interactions between experts and nonexperts.     

民族村寨旅游地居民满意度影响机理模型与实证——以社区、政府和企业力量导向模式的比较研究

突破以往研究旅游地居民“感知—态度—行为”的传统思路,直接从关系、付出、回报、期望和公正知觉等满意度发生逻辑的核心要素角度并结合深度访谈内容,运用语义网络分析和结构方程构建形成过程的内在机理视角下民族村寨旅游地居民满意度影响因素概念模型和结构模型,通过多（跨）样本可靠性和区别有效性检验,并以贵州上郎德苗寨、西江苗寨和天龙屯堡为不同力量导向模式进行实证分析。结果表明：① “社区认知—发展期望—社区参与—增（去）权感知—满意态度—支持行为”是民族村寨旅游地居民满意度的发生逻辑路径,之间的作用动力主要有“认知驱动”、“获益驱动”、“行为驱动”和“中介感知”。② 居民地方依恋、居民民族认同、居民发展期望、居民社区参与对社区、政府和企业核心力量导向模式的居民满意度产生直接或未直接影响效应;社区核心力量的居民社区增权感知对4个影响因素产生部分中介影响效应,而居民社区去权感知未对其产生中介影响效应;政府和企业核心力量均不同程度地受居民社区增权感知与居民社区去权感知的中介效应影响,其中前者的去权感知影响效应稍强于增权感知效应,后者则反之。③ 根据概念模型的逻辑路径,结合影响因素的关联效应及其程度性二维因素差异,综合分析社区、政府和企业核心力量导向模式的民族村寨旅游地居民满意度影响机理存在差异。     

Janus-Faced Linkages: Understanding External Actors in Community-Based Natural Resource Management in Southern Thailand

In community-based natural resource management, there is an emerging body of research on the work of external actors and their influence in community–resource interrelationships and community management decisions. Contributing to this research, this study examined the work of external actors using findings from semistructured interviews and participant observations conducted in Klong Prasong subdistrict, Krabi Province, Thailand, in mid-2014. The external actors, through Janus-faced linkages, are able to influence community–resource interrelationships and management approaches both positively and negatively. This case study also revealed university researchers, ecotourists, and private investors as non-conventional external actors. By influencing decision-making structures and environmental stewardship, external actors impact on the governance of a community natural resource.     

Mapping as a Means of Farmworker Education and Empowerment

Abstract

Mapping is a simple activity that can be effectively linked to popular education of non-students. Mapping exercises have the potential to contribute to profound shifts in thought because the activity simultaneously draws on and challenges deep-seated experiential knowledge. The transformative potential of mapping is illustrated with health-promoter workshops for Latino migrant farmworkers in Benson, North Carolina, that took place in 1998 and 1999. The workshops are part of a larger project designed to reduce pesticide exposure by using community participatory research to develop and disseminate culturally appropriate teaching materials among Latino workers.     

Separated by common ground? Bringing (post)development and (post)colonialism together

The relationship between mainstream development policy (and perhaps also development studies) and postcolonial theorists has often been characterized as a dialogue of the deaf. Rather like in the old 'debates' between adherents of modernization and neo-Marxist theories, the protagonists are often thought to be talking at or past one another, rather than with each other. This paper reassesses some firmly held views on both sides of the schism. On the one hand, many official development agencies appear to promote business as usual (often quite literally, as a recent War on Want report attests in the case of the UK's DFID using its aid budget to promote profitable opportunities for British corporations). On the other hand, some postcolonial purists rely on surprisingly modernist, totalizing discursive techniques while claiming post-structural credentials, or baulk at the prospects of practical engagement. Discrepancies between theory, discourse, policy and practice are not the preserve of one side. However, the middle ground is firmer and better trodden than most believe. Considerable progress has been made and the paper assesses examples of productive engagement and concludes with suggestions for carrying forward the challenges.