| 82511. |
- Kraff, Helena, 1983
(författare)
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Exploring pitfalls of participation - and ways towards just practices through a participatory design process in Kisumu, Kenya
- 2020
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Rapport (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- The dissertation builds on the belief that participatory development processes can lead to positive transformations for the people involved. However, it does at the same time recognize that participation is highly complex, and that this makes it vulnerable to unjust practices. The aim is to explore challenges that emerge in participatory processes, or as they are referred to in the thesis: pitfalls. The experience of being engaged as a Swedish researcher in a participatory design project in a Kenyan community, and critical reflections on this experience serve as the foundation for this exploration. A number of pitfalls are highlighted as problematic. These are connected to either simplistic conceptualizations of participants and their participation, or to an unjust role distribution in projects. The terms community, empowerment and ownership exemplify how the use of vague and elusive words can hide participant diversity or lead to overstatements regarding project benefits. It is also discussed how an unjust access to knowledge resources between stakeholders hinder co-production of knowledge. The thesis contributes with guidance regarding how researchers and practitioners can identify and work against the pitfalls that they come across in their practices, and towards achieving just participation.
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| 82512. |
- Kraff, Helena, 1983
(författare)
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Exploring pitfalls of participation and ways towards just practices through a participatory design project in Kisumu, Kenya
- 2018
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Doktorsavhandling (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- It is my belief that participatory processes can lead to positive transforma- tions for the people involved. However, I do at the same time recognize that participation is inherently ambiguous and complex, and that this makes it vulnerable to unjust practices. It is this view of participation that led me to a focus on challenges that can emerge in participatory processes, or as they will be referred to in this thesis: pitfalls. The purpose is to explore pitfalls of participation, especially regarding when, how and why participatory practices lead to unjust forms of partici- pation. My experience of being engaged as a Swedish researcher in a partici- patory design project in a Kenyan context, and critical reflections on this experience serve as the foundation for this exploration. The project concerns small-scale ecotourism development in a fishing village on the shores of Lake Victoria in Western Kenya, where I worked with the development of ecotour- ism related products and services in a participatory manner with a local guide group and residents, and with PhD student colleagues from Sweden and Kenya. A number of pitfalls are highlighted as particularly problematic, which are connected to either abstracted and simplistic conceptualizations of par- ticipants and their participation, or to an unjust role distribution in projects. The terms community, empowerment and ownership are used to exemplify how the use of vague and elusive words to describe participation tends to hide participant diversity or lead to overstatements regarding the benefits de- rived from the project. I discuss how an unjust access to knowledge resources between actors who are to collaborate closely together hinder co-production of knowledge, and I acknowledge how designers’ and design researchers’ prejudices and a cultural unawareness can lead to some groups not being recognized as important. The aim is to contribute with methodological guidance regarding how researchers and practitioners can identify and work against the pitfalls that they come across in their practice, and towards achieving just participation.
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| 82513. |
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| 82514. |
- Kraff, Helena, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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From disciplines to common ground and actions: reflections on a transdisciplinary project in Kisumu, Kenya
- 2014
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Ingår i: Design with the other 90%: Cumulus Johannesburg Conference Proceedings.. - : Greenside Design Center and the University of Johannesburg. - 9780620603737
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Konferensbidrag (refereegranskat)abstract
- Scholars have acknowledged that research staying within its own discipline tends to only investigate one level of reality, which hinders our understanding of the world we live in, and fails to address contemporary social issues. The concept of transdisciplinarity has emerged as an alternative approach that enables researchers to go beyond their discipline, reaching knowledge that risk to otherwise get lost in the gaps between fields and between academia and practice. The importance of working transdisciplinary is frequently mentioned in design, especially when dealing with participatory design and sustainable social advancement in developing countries. However, although seen as important, collaboration between disciplines is often only noted in passing. Other fields are acknowledged primarily by a definition of their discipline, or referred to as non-designers. Also, designers seem to mainly carry out the discussion in a design context, from a design perspective.This is relevant in order to evolve the disciplinary knowledge, however other fields tackle the same issues as designers, often in the same context. Transdisciplinary research also includes practitioners and the society. The involvement of these stakeholders is seen to be the core of participatory design, however there are few studies that incorporate their perceptions of the process. The paper aims to explore how it is possible to work with the challenge of moving beyond disciplinary boundaries in order to reach knowledge integration in transdisciplinary projects. This is done through a reflection on an ecotourism development project in Dunga Beach, Kisumu, Kenya, where the authors’ research areas of design and marketing and the collaboration with local stakeholders enabled the project to be set in the borderland between fields, as well as between research and practice. The findings indicate a need for support structures that allow stakeholders to find a common ground, and for focus to be placed on actions rather than disciplines.
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| 82515. |
- Kraff, Helena, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Initial involvement of stakeholders in transdisciplinary projects - exploring issues of expectations, roles and inclusion
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Transdisciplinarity Conference 2019 - Joining forces for change, Gothenburg 10-13 September.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- This paper identifies complexities of transdisciplinary research, focusing on the initial involvement of stakeholders early on in the process, and the pressures that highly collaborative environments give rise to. The initiation and launch of a transdisciplinary project exploring the role of tourism in multicultural societies serves as an illustrative example of these pressures. The combination of two fields, tourism and migration studies, which are normally situated far apart from each other, implies a need for a highly diversified constellation of project actors. This, and the aim of transdisciplinary research to be transformative, raise expectations and create tensions between the involved public, private, civil and academic actors. The purpose of this paper is to identify central complexities and tensions in the initial stages of projects that hinder prosperous, functional and robust collaboration. Challenges in transdisciplinary projects are to a large extent closely connected the specificity of the particular context and actor constellation. However, previous research, the empirical example, and the authors experience of engaging in such projects in numerous settings, illustrate how issues of expectations, language, roles, inclusion and exclusion, agency and power dynamics tend to emerge, although in different forms, independent of project type. Participatory observations during the project launch of the empirical example, where 35 stakeholders participated, show how participants saw opportunities in experimenting with the intersection between tourism and multiculturalism and envisaged synergy effects. However, the multidimensional nature of both concepts presented challenges in finding a common understanding and drawing meaning. This therefore meant that expectations on the outcome of the project varied greatly, ranging from highly academic, which can influence a broader audience, to localized practical results, such as products, tools and methods for inclusion and successful development. The large number of stakeholders also meant that expectations exceeded the range of case studies, as well as organisations and individuals possible to involve and consider. Extreme efforts would need to be taken to keep contact with all proposed partners. This connects to the language barrier that derives in collaborative projects, where actors find it hard to understand each other’s disciplinary expressions. During the launch, issues of language also emerged in connection to its international and multicultural nature, which exemplified how language preludes notions of inclusion and exclusion. The launch was held in Swedish since all present public and private partners were Swedish. This did however exclude one of the international researchers in the project from most parts of the presentations and discussions. Also, concerns were raised that an important stakeholder group, newly arrived immigrants, whom may have difficulties with both Swedish and English, were fully excluded from the launch. Research is traditionally the responsibility of universities and hence, many stakeholders coming into transdisciplinary projects experience role confusion, where they are not clear on what they are expected to contribute with or deliver. Some stakeholders may also take passive roles and sit back, with expectations of a report once the project is finalized. To conclude, the multifaceted nature of transdisciplinary projects enables you to view issues from a multitude of perspectives, providing possibilities to reach desired outcomes relevant for all stakeholders. Having a project launch enables you to recognize the perspectives of stakeholders which often are overlooked. A launch is however not enough, and it is imperative to provide platforms to continue dialoguing on the pertinent issues and tensions that come to the surface during initial stages of a project.
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| 82516. |
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| 82517. |
- Kraff, Helena, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Multicultural food events: exploring opportunities for intercultural exchange and risks of stereotypification
- 2021
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Ingår i: 1st Tourism and Hospitality International Conference (THInC), 19-21 May: cultural diversity and tourism for community development.
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Konferensbidrag (övrigt vetenskapligt/konstnärligt)abstract
- Events offering food from various cultures are often promoted as multicultural. Guests may enjoy a mix of dishes from different food cultures tied together by a theme, food eaten at celebratory occasions, food connected to specific seasons or fusion alternatives. Events may be designed as a market or built around co-creative activities where guests and hosts prepare food together. They present opportunities for establishing initial insights to cultures other than one’s own, and the diverse range can be seen as reflections of contemporary multicultural societies. Furthermore, the events sometimes aim at creating opportunities for integration or at becoming springboards for recently immigrated food entrepreneurs. Such events connect to the reconceptualisation of inclusive tourism, which suggests that people, independent of their ethnicity, gender, class and other social characteristics, should be able to participate in the creation of tourism products, as well as be able to experience them (Scheyvens & Biddulph, 2018). Furthermore, inclusive tourism intends to be transformative and increase the understanding of minorities, thus challenging simplified representations. However, there are challenges embedded in the idea of inclusive tourism, which become visible in the creation and execution of food events. For instance, often having an underlying social agenda, and sometimes being free of charge, events risk undermining aims for labour market integration and the opportunities to create profitable enterprises (Kraff and Jernsand, 2020). The focus on cultural diversity also implies risks of exotification and ‘othering’ where individuals are made into carriers of their home culture or symbols of multiculturalism, rather than talented chefs or entrepreneurs. This connects to criticism of multiculturalism being interpreted as an enrichment by ethnic minorities that is there for the majority to enjoy (Hage, 2000). “Gastronomic multiculturalism”, for example, is claimed to be used by majority groups to illustrate that they are cosmopolitan and permissive (Grey & Newman, 2018, p 718). Scholars state that events promoted as multicultural tend to increase the gap between a we who value the multicultural offer, and a them who contribute to this value (Hage, 2000). Thus, it is problematic to simply state that food acts as a means for crossing cultural borders. Food events may lay foundations for intercultural exchange and learning, although there are also risks of reinforcing the norms and values that are claimed to be counteracted. There is a duality inherent in inclusive tourism, where the notions of inclusion and diversity signals a need to reflect critically on risks of exclusion and an over emphasis on difference. The purpose is to explore the meaning of diversity for the conceptualisation and practice of inclusive tourism. Two case studies, exploring Swedish events built on various food cultures, illustrate the complexity of diversity and the challenges involved in acting for inclusive tourism. Apart from observing the planning and execution, and interviewing concerned actors, the authors acted as co-creators of the events as action oriented researchers (Lewin, 1946). The findings implicate that if inclusive tourism is to become established as sustainable and just, tourism stakeholders need to: move beyond shallow interpretations of multiculturalism; recognise the risk of prejudice influencing product development; and acknowledge that everybody are included in the multicultural concept. References Grey, S. & Newman, L. (2918). Beyond Culinary Colonialism: Indigenous Food Sovereignty, Liberal Multiculturalism, and the Control of Gastronomic Capital. Agriculture & Human Values. 35(3), 717–730. Hage, G. (2000). White nation: fantasies of white supremacy in a multicultural society. New York: Routledge. Kraff, H. & Jernsand, E. M. (2020). The roles of social enterprises in a Swedish labour market integration programme – opportunities and challenges for social innovation. Social Enterprise Journal. Lewin, K. (1946). Action Research and Minority Problems. Journal of Social Issues. 2(4), 34-46. Scheyvens, R. & Biddulph, B. (2018). Inclusive tourism development, Tourism Geographies, 20(4), 589-609.
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| 82518. |
- Kraff, Helena, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Multicultural food events – opportunities for intercultural exchange and risks of stereotypification
- 2023
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Ingår i: Tourism Recreation Resarch. - : Informa UK Limited. - 0250-8281 .- 2320-0308. ; 48:3, s. 844-855
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Events based on food from various cultures are often promoted as multicultural and as opportunities for establishing insights into other cultures. They are also highlighted as springboards for recently immigrated food entrepreneurs and as spaces for labour market integration. However, with such events often having underlying social agendas and sometimes being free of charge, such aims risk being undermined. Generally being linked to minority cultures, food events also risk leading to exotification where individuals are made into symbols of multiculturalism, which consolidates the idea that cultural diversity is an offer for an ethnic majority to enjoy. This paper aims to open a critical debate on multicultural food events by exploring barriers to inclusion and the influence of prejudice. Criticism aimed at misuses of multiculturalism in relation to food events and tourism is used as a theoretical lens for the analysis of two types of food events. The findings illustrate how shallow interpretations of multiculturalism still influence tourism products and reinforce the norms they claim to counteract. Thus, tourism stakeholders need to gather critical insights about the influence of white hegemonies, whilst recognising the effect of their own bias.
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| 82519. |
- Kraff, Helena, 1983, et al.
(författare)
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Old habits die hard
- 2019
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Ingår i: Anatomy of a 21st century sustainability project: The untold stories. - Gothenburg : Mistra Urban Futures, Chalmers University of Technology. - 9789198416633 ; , s. 184-187
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Bokkapitel (refereegranskat)abstract
- The authors offer their views on an European Union funded project, their representation of the territory, productive experiences on new kinds of demands and needs, as well as forms of organization based on commitment.
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| 82520. |
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