| 1. |
- Otto, Opira
(författare)
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Trust, identity and beer : institutional arrangements for agricultural labour in Isunga village in Kiryandongo district, midwestern Uganda
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores the role and influence of institutions on agricultural labour transactions in Isunga village in Kiryandongo District, Midwestern Uganda. It primarily focuses on how farmers structure, maintain and enforce their labour relationships during crop farming. The study is based on semi-structured interviews of twenty households and unstructured interviews with representatives of farmers associations. These interviews show that other than household labour, the other common labour arrangements in the village include farm work sharing, labour exchanges and casual wage labour. Farm work sharing and labour exchanges involve farmers temporarily pooling their labour into work groups to complete tasks such as planting, weeding or harvesting crops on members' farms in succession. This is done under strict rules and rewarded with 'good' beer and food. Against this background, the study asks what institutions really are, why they matter and what we can learn about them. Literature suggests that institutions influence labour transactions by their effects on transaction costs and the protection of contractual rights. However, literature does not suggest which institutions are best for agricultural labour transactions. Taking institutions to be the 'rules of the game', with farmers as 'players' who strategically use these rules to their advantage, the study focused on the interaction between institutions and farmers. The major findings of the study are: (a) farmers' choices of institutions are influenced by the characteristics of transactions, the costs of using institutions for handling labour dealings, the fairness and predictability of the outcome of contract enforcement mechanisms, and socio-cultural factors such as kin/ethnic status, morality and affection, (b) formal institutions in Isunga are either weak, ineffective or absent. So, farmers rely heavily on institutions embedded in social norms and networks to structure their transactional relationships, to ensure the performance of the respective parties, and to settle disputes if they arise. The study concludes that agricultural labour transactions in Isunga involve judgements of personal characteristics and social roles expressed as reputation and trustworthiness.
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| 2. |
- Eriksson, Camilla
(författare)
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Fäboden som politiskt rum : att vara fäbodbrukare i den gemensamma jordbrukspolitiken
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- EU:s jordbrukspolitik har omvandlats under det senaste decenniet. Nya målsättningar om att skydda "höga natur- och kulturvärden" samt "traditionella landskap" har satt fokus på andra typer av lantbruk än de jordbrukspolitiken tidigare har gynnat. Ett exempel är det svenska fäbodbruket som nu för första gången får särskilda jordbrukspolitiska stöd. Idag finns ett par hundra fäbodbrukare i norra Svealand och nedre Norrland som håller kor, får och getter, ofta lantraser, på fritt utmarksbete. Djuren betar på skogsmark eller i fjällmiljö och kommer självmant hem på nätterna för att stallas och i förekommande fall mjölkas. Utmarken delas med björnar och vargar, dock inte utan konflikter. I avhandlingen kombineras textanalys och etnografiskt fältarbete i en policyantropologisk analys av vad som händer när fäbodarna inkluderas i politiken. Jordbruksverkets utformning av EU-stöd till fäbodar påverkar hur fäbodar brukas. Stödens utformning visar dock på motsättningar mellan förvaltningsapparaten som har makt att definiera vad traditionella fäbodar och höga natur- och kulturvärden på fäbodar är, och de fäbodbrukare som ska förverkliga intentionerna. Dessa motsättningar har gett upphov till en strid om tolkningsföreträde och en ständigt pågående förhandlingsprocess om vilka praktiker som har högst värde, vilket i avhandlingen benämns fäbodens politiska rum. Där ingår inte enbart de frågor som är aktuella idag utan också de historiska institutionella arrangemang som påverkar aktörernas möjlighet att göra sin röst hörd. Det är inte enbart Jordbruksverkets föreskrifter som avgör vad den nya jordbrukspolitiken kommer att resultera i. Länsstyrelsernas uttolkning av föreskrifterna, avgör i praktiken hur politiken genomförs. Fäbodbrukarna är dock inte intentionslösa brickor i det här spelet, utan har egen agens och möjligheter att handla utifrån egna intentioner och problemdefinitioner. Fäbodföreningar och andra organisationer spelar en viktig roll som förmedlare av och uttolkare av såväl myndigheternas anvisningar som brukarnas egna handlingsvägar. De ständigt pågående förhandlingsprocesserna kommer att avgöra hur framtidens fäbodbruk, och i förlängningen även hur framtidens lantbruk, kommer att bedrivas.
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| 3. |
- Khatri Bahadur, Dil
(författare)
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Climate and development at the third pole : dynamics of power and knowledge reshaping community forest governance in Nepal
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Given the international climate objectives of adaptation and REDD+ being adopted in many developing countries there are growing concerns about their effects. This thesis seeks to investigate the implications of implementing climate objectives for community forestry governance. The thesis deals with the questions of how community forest management and uses are (re)shaped by the influence of governmental and non-governmental interventions and what effects the changing community forestry objectives may have on the interests of people reliant on forest resources. The thesis draws on extensive field studies and the author’s long-term engagement in development interventions and policy processes in Nepal. The analysis is primarily concerned about the dynamic of knowledge and power in (re)shaping local resource governance agenda and examines the way certain forms of knowledge and discourses get translated into interventions, transforming rules and practices in community forest management. The analysis conceptualizes power, where knowledge is a product as well as an influence. The analysis also pays attention to how knowledge and discourses are mobilized by actors towards certain ends. Findings shows that the community forestry objectives and priorities have shifted over time prioritizing certain resources such as timber as a source of revenue and undermining local needs of livelihoods and food security. Such shifts were found to have been influenced by a combination of factors, including broader socio-economic changes shifting the role of forest in peoples’ lives, scientific expertise and governmental and non-governmental interventions. I argue that the climate policy objectives that are superimposed on the established community forestry institutions can bring new forces that fuel the ongoing changes in forest management objectives and enhance the technical and bureaucratic influence on community forests management. The technical and bureaucratic nature of interventions under donor funded projects on climate change have reinforced the way forests are valued for monetary benefits. The projects studied appear to have limited effects in delivering the promise of supporting local livelihoods; instead the interventions, such as in REDD+ piloting, risk curtailing local rights and benefits. There is a risk that local interests in managing community forests will be subsumed to the technocratic logic of climate interventions. The development of climate-related policy and interventions need to pay greater attention to the dynamics of knowledge and power and safeguard local interests against those of local elites, experts and external organizations.
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| 4. |
- Wallin, Ida
(författare)
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Forest management and governance in Sweden : a phronetic analysis of social practices
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The transition to a sustainable society requires improved knowledge about what determines forest management and the relationship to governance and policies. This thesis constitutes a phronetic analysis of social practices in forest management at the local level and of how social practices materialise and influence forest governance and ultimately, forest management more broadly. Social practices are used as the object of study in the synthesising analysis of empirical findings in Papers I-IV. In doing so, tension-points have been identified and problematized. The research has applied a case study approach from local to national and European levels. Identified social practices, relevant for determining actual forest management are mainly: personal relationships and trust towards professional forest advisors and purchasers; upholding and respecting local social values through discussing forest management with neighbours; intergenerational socialisation in relation to one’s own forest creating emotional bonds with the forest and across generations; and a rural life-style including hard work and diverse businesses. The identified tension-points include: i) two partially competing logics of practice: the traditional versus the professional logic where the latter is perceived by the former as a threat to local social values and, ii) a tendency of local social practices to streamline rather than to diversify forest management. From a policy-making perspective, trying to balance the different services from the forest, ways to address both logics of practice and the diversification of social practices should be explored. Especially, trusted advisors are a major factor determining forest management and policy outcomes. Current evolving practices of outreach strategies towards forest owners that decrease personal contact run the risk of eroding valuable social capital. Participatory and collaborative forest governance efforts could build on the strong social capital and willingness to cooperate found at the local level. Power structures embedded between governance levels and among local stakeholders should, however, not be underestimated and more research into the pre-conditions for collaboration is needed. Social practices as the object of study provides a promising path for future studies in order to find effective policy solutions.
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| 5. |
- Yang, Fengping
(författare)
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Rethinking lawns as prevalent elements of urban green spaces : exploring sustainable lawn alternatives in Chinese mega-cities from social-cultural and ecological perspectives
- 2019
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The lawn is one of the most visible elements of urban green spaces and Western landscape styles. China has seen a dramatic increase in planted lawn areas. However, there is an urgent need for sustainable lawn alternatives (SLTs) in China due to serious threats to the urban environment from intensive lawn maintenance and cultural inadequacy of lawns. This thesis attempts to examine the reasons behind the historical context and current situation of lawns in China and offers suggestions for SLTs via a case study of Xi’an using transdisciplinary research framework from social-cultural and ecological perspectives. A historical study was performed on reasons of lawn development in Chinese cities and modern European and Chinese examples of lawn alternatives by reviewing literature and through field observation. Face-to-face interviews, questionnaires and observations were conducted to evaluate how stakeholders and park visitors perceive lawns and how this affects their decisions in designing, managing and using lawns and lawn alternatives. To identify how the design and management shape plant and pollinator diversity, biodiversity inventories were conducted. Finally, results from the three studies were analysed following a framework based on theories in landscape sustainability and ecosystem services. The results suggested that the Chinese people’s paradigm of lawns is influenced by westernisation and globalisation after the 1840s. Lawns evolve from changes in the relation-ship between humans and the environment. In classical Chinese gardens, groundcover species were used according to their ecological characteristics and suitability to site conditions. Lawns in Xi’an have the same core grass species as lawns used in geographically distant regions, contributing to lawn plant species homogenisation worldwide. Intensive maintenance negatively affected plant species diversity and native plant species, while in more planned green spaces, older and larger lawns harbour diverse plant species and native plant species. The aesthetic value and regulating services of lawns are mostly recognised by park visitors and stakeholders although lawns impair the provision of some regulating services for the intensive maintenance. Lawns fail to provide some culture services because of their limited accessibility and symbolism of Western culture. Pollination services can be provided if certain spontaneous native plant species are allowed to flower. Concrete suggestions for SLTs in China were proposed, although challenges that impinge the transition to SLTs were identified. Meanwhile, current social-cultural, environmental and economic conditions in China encourage their implementation. The thesis contributes to knowledge that addresses the mismatch between perceived and actual ecosystem services provided by lawns. The results can be used as references for design and management of SLTs in practice.
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| 6. |
- Nagoli, Joseph
(författare)
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A lake without water : livelihood coping strategies during the Lake Chilwa water recessions in Malawi
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis explores the human-environment interaction within the climate-sensitive socio-ecological system of Lake Chilwa in Malawi. It uses the livelihoods framework to analyse various coping strategies to resource scarcity due to lake recessions. The main aim is to understand the processes by which decision-making takes place and the influence of various agents of change on coping with environmental shocks, i.e. water recessions. Lake Chilwa undergoes periodic water recessions with up to twelve incidents recorded between 1900 and 2012. While the lake and its wetland is an economic aquatic agriculture system in between recessions, it is unclear how households around the system survive during the periods of water recessions. Qualitative and quantitative studies were conducted between March 2012 and December 2013 on Chisi Island of Lake Chilwa to evaluate the coping strategies and their major drivers in responding to the periodic lake recessions. Using interpretive analysis, the findings show that people from the Lake Chilwa socio-ecological system have lived in anticipation of periodic environmental shocks due to their deep historical knowledge of the lake level and its fluctuations. This knowledge has been passed from generation to generation. Results further show that the main coping strategies that have stood the test of time for every recession are based on reciprocity and redistribution. These include sharing through kinship ties, hunting wild birds and farming. In many cases coping strategies for each specific recession are driven by political, social and economic factors prevailing at that particular period. Given these conditions, different agents (individuals or communities) make choices designed to maximise their own interests as they scramble to access scarce resources. Although natural resources in these systems are fundamental assets in rural livelihoods, accessing them in times of scarcity requires better governance systems that consider social, political and economic contexts.
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| 7. |
- Duveskog, Deborah
(författare)
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Farmer Field Schools as a transformative learning space in the rural African setting
- 2013
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The aims of this research was to understand how education in the rural African faming setting can contribute to development and well-being in a way that is empowering for the poor. The Farmer Field School (FFS) approach, provided an empirical frame for the research. By reflecting on experiences of FFS participants in East Africa, the research tried to answer how the FFS learning experience play out in the daily lives of participants and their families and the role that FFS play in assisting participants to take control over their own development and enhanced well-being. Conceptually the research was framed by constructivist line of thoughts, adult education and transformative learning theories. The research applied a mixed methods approach with a variety of qualitative and quantitative tools including participatory identification of indicators of empowerment, large scale household surveys with a total of 2000 farmers and in-depth interviews. Data analysis from the quantitative survey work indicated a relationship between farmer participation in FFS, empowerment and increased wellbeing in all three countries studied. The study thus argue for an empowerment route to well-being, triggered by group based learning. The research further indicate significant impact of FFS in terms of building the capacity of people to make choices and decisions that ultimately lead to increased uptake of agricultural innovations, access to services and markets as well as collective action. Qualitative data revealed significant social impacts of FFS in terms of changes in everyday life of participants, transformation of self-concept, change in gender roles and relations, customs and traditions, community relations and an increase in household economic development. A number of pedagogical tools applied in the FFS was found to be instrumental in facilitating transformative learning and empowerment. Major conclusions of the study are the need for investment in human capacity and the importance of an appropriate mix of technological and social advancement for development. The implications of the research are relevant within the fields of rural development, gender studies and for transformative learning and adult education theory. Further, the study contributes knowledge on how to measure empowerment in the poverty setting.
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| 8. |
- Petitt, Andrea, 1981-
(författare)
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Women's cattle ownership in Botswana : Rebranding gender relations?
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Cattle are often portrayed as a male affair in Botswana. However, venturing out into the Kalahari countryside to scratch the surface of this state of affairs, another picture emerges. There are in fact many women from different socioeconomic background who own, manage and work with cattle in different ways, and their farming is defined by both the connection to the EU beef market and interlinked local processes of power. Cattle are ever-present in Botswana and play a paramount role in the economy, in politics and in the rural landscape of the country, as well as in many people’s cultural identity, kinship relations and everyday routines.I study women’s involvement in cattle production in Ghanzi District to think about how peoples’ relations to certain livestock species produce, reproduce and challenge established patterns of material and social relations. More specifically I investigate how access and claims to livestock are defined by intersections of gender, ethnicity, race and class within broader contexts associated with the commercialisation of livestock production.The objective of this thesis is to explore how different women are able to benefit from their cattle ownership in terms of their social positions and material welfare in Botswana within the broader political, economic and sociocultural contexts associated with the commercial beef industry. Through ethnographic fieldwork and an intersectional analysis of gendered property relations to grazing land and cattle, I show how women do benefit from both subsistence products and monetary income from cattle sales. An increased need for cash together with the possibility to sell cattle stimulated by Botswana’s beef trade with the EU have motivated women to seek control over cattle. There are women who, encouraged by gender equality messages from the Ministry of Gender Affairs, make use of the government’s loans and grants designed to facilitate entrepreneurship to start up their own cattle operations and make claims to the cattle market. Many of these women, who have control over their cattle also benefit in terms of social status and a number of those women who engage in cattle production in ways seen as new and different speak of more equal gender relations.
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| 9. |
- Powell, Stina
(författare)
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Gender equality and meritocracy : contradictory discourses in the Academy
- 2016
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This thesis examines how gender equality measures and discourses are reconciled with notions of merit in academia. Gender equality is often defined as equal rights for women and men and has become a widely accepted political goal and vision. Meritocratic principles build on the assumption that everyone, regardless of gender, class, race and sexuality, has the same opportunities to advance provided they are sufficiently hardworking and intelligent. Meritocratic principles thus build on the assumption that objective evaluations are possible. Along these lines, inequalities in academia are a natural outcome and not the result of discrimination. However, feminist studies have shown that meritocratic practices fail to reach these objective evaluations and that gendered norms influence who is considered merited and not. This awareness of discrimination leads to academic organisations being required to act upon inequalities and ensure that gender equality measures are taken, despite the strong conviction that meritocracy is already in place. Thus, we have two contradictory discourses that have to be reconciled in order to co-exist in academia. Through which processes does this reconciliation take place? With a view to answering this, I examine a gender equality project at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, SLU. The material includes interviews, focus-group interviews, surveys, participant observations and literature reviews. The research methodology is based on action research and the analysis on relational and critical discourse analysis. The research finds that meritocracy and gender equality are reconciled through three processes 1) by creating the gender inequality discourse as a matter for the individual, not the organisation 2) through depoliticisation of gender equality where administration rather than inequalities are in focus and 3) through a process of decoupling where gender equality is separated from the permanent organisation. These processes make it possible for meritocracy and gender equality to co-exist as two important principles of academic practice, despite their contradicting values. However, this separation of discourses contributes to the persistence of inequality in academic organisations. Further, these three processes work to silence counter discourses on gender equality that have become visible in the Gender Equality Project.
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| 10. |
- Axelsson Linkowski, Weronika
(författare)
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Managing mountains, past and present conditions for traditional summer farming and Sami reindeer husbandry in northern Scandinavia
- 2017
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Traditional land use and conditions for maintenance of biodiversity are often interlinked. When land use changes and ecosystems change as a result, there is a risk to loose both the traditional ecological knowledge and the biodiversity connected to this land use. This thesis focuses on traditional land use, summer farming and Sami reindeer husbandry, in the mountain areas of northern Scandinavia (mainly Sweden), in a historical and contemporary perspective. The overall aim is to contribute to the understanding of the conditions for the traditional land use in the Scandinavian (mainly Swedish) mountains, using the concepts of traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) and a historical-ecological perspective. Both summer farming and reindeer husbandry are under strong external pressure and face large challenges today. Some of these challenges are shared and some differ between the two types of northern pastoralism. Scandinavian summer farmers experience that different views on their land use from different authorities affect them negatively. The increasing populations of large carnivores also worry the summer farmers. Recent depredation rates are in fact of the same level as historically (around 1900). Interviews showed that traditional knowledge about protective measures had eroded during years without carnivores, but also that farming practices have changed recently and that new knowledge developed. Sami plant use has been studied historically, but information about Sami plant management of Angelica archangelica was not documented. We argue that Sami ecological knowledge should be used to ensure sustainable harvest methods. Today traditional reindeer husbandry faces severe problems due to the reduction of winter grazing land by different encroachments, most importantly from modern forestry. The negative effects are even larger since increasingly difficult winter conditions create a need for a wider range of good grazing areas. Traditional knowledge is essential in the herders´ daily work, but the usability of the knowledge is severely constrained by recent changes. In the future planning of an ecologically and socially sustainable mountain management it is necessary to work with traditional land users and integrate their traditional knowledge.
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