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Video-mediated dialogue for promoting equity in protected area conservation
- Jayalaxshmi Mistry, Deirdre Jafferally, Sean Mendonca, Rebecca Xavier, Grace Albert, Bernie Robertson, Ena George, Ryan Benjamin, Lisa Ingwall-King
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Improving equity in the context of protected areas conservation cannot be achieved in situations where people have different capabilities to participate. Participatory video has the potential to uncover hidden perspectives and worldviews and to build trustworthy, transparent and accountable relationships between marginalized communities and external agencies. We present findings from video-mediated dialogues between Indigenous peoples and decision makers involved in the management of three protected areas in Guyana. Participatory films created by Indigenous researchers in their communities were screened and discussed with protected area managers. We recorded their responses and presented them back to the communities. We show how the video-mediated process provided a rich and contextualized understanding of equity issues. It enabled recognition and respect by protected area managers for Indigenous lived experiences and the contribution of their values and knowledge. For Indigenous peoples, the participatory video process built confidence and critical reflection on their own activities and responsibilities whilst allowing them to challenge decision makers on issues of transparency, communication and accountability. We show that equity is an evolving process and that different protected areas with their differing histories and relationships with Indigenous communities produce distinct outcomes over time. Thus, promoting equity in protected areas and conservation must be a long-term process, enabling participation and producing the conditions for regular, transparent and honest communications. Standardized indicators of protected areas equity could be useful for reporting on international targets, but video-mediated dialogue can facilitate deeper understanding, greater representation and a recognition of rights.
Five - Using visual approaches with Indigenous communities
- Edited by Sue Oreszczyn, The Open University, Andy Lane, The Open University
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- Book:
- Mapping Environmental Sustainability
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- Bristol University Press
- Published online:
- 05 April 2022
- Print publication:
- 06 September 2017, pp 103-128
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Summary
Editors’ introduction
In this chapter we are told the story of longstanding and ongoing research on natural resource management working with Indigenous forest communities in South America. The authors included here represent the range of people that Andrea Berardi and Jay Mistry, as lead authors, have worked with over the years. Their biographies can be found at the front of this book and reading these is considered by the lead authors to be important for a full understanding of their research story. The authors consider their experiences, their challenges and the ethics involved in what they did. Like the other examples in this book, their research drew heavily from systems theories and, as with previous chapters, the authors describe the way that their research processes evolved over time. In this case, moving away from their quantitative origins and becoming increasingly more visual and inclusive over time. This chapter places diagramming within the wider context of visual approaches more generally. Going beyond diagramming, the authors explain how they developed visual techniques relevant for their particular context, including (and combining) video, drawings and photo stories as well as diagramming. Here they explain the way that their approach and use of visual techniques helped to strengthen the capabilities of marginalised people.
Introduction
For over 15 years, the authors of this chapter have been engaged with the Indigenous communities of the North Rupununi, Guyana, in working through complex natural resource management dilemmas. Over time, we have developed a critically reflective approach to collaborative research with Indigenous community members in order to evaluate the type of research methods and techniques we apply, to reposition power relationships in the research processes, and analyse the immediate and long-term impact of the research intervention on participants. Why do researchers and participants engage in the use of visual methods? What are their differential motivations and how does this affect decision making during the research process? Who participates in and benefits from this research? What is the role of technology? How are Indigenous people's rights and knowledges taken into account and advanced? How do visual methods contribute to transformative change and social justice? With what limits?