Understanding place-based adaptation of women in a post-cyclone context through place attachment

Abstract

This paper explores place-based adaptation by women in the coastal settlements of Gabura, Bangladesh through the lens of place attachment theory in the post-cyclone Aila context (after 2009). Place attachment refers to the relationship between people, place and processes in which place-based livelihood resources may be a central consideration. Place attachment is relevant because, unlike men, Gabura women are constrained by their socio-cultural context to remain in place following a natural disaster, in this case cyclone Aila, and therefore must rely on a limited range of local resources to support adaptation through the construction of place-based livelihoods. Drawing on a mixed method approach, we explore women's place-based adaptation (a set of livelihood outcomes) as resulting from multilevel social connections among ‘people’ (e.g. women and NGOs), the ‘place’ (i.e. Gabura, located adjacent to Sundarbans) and its natural resource endowments, and the ‘process’ of transformation of capital from one form (social and natural capital) into other forms (physical and financial) via knowledge sharing (human capital). This paper highlights women's place-based adaptation that reinforces their place attachment (through place dependency and identity) in a post-cyclone context. Rather than seeing the inability of women to leave a place after a disaster as a disadvantage, a place-attachment approach revealed the capacity of women to transform in place where the post-cyclone necessities and constraints were drivers for change.