Place-based Knowledge Research Articles

Locale knowledge: Constructing place-based ways of knowing in complex disability service provision

The current study employed ethnographic methodology to explore the nature and use of knowledge by 26 disability support workers who supported older people with an intellectual disability living at three supported accommodation services in metropolitan south-east Queensland. This paper presents one vignette from the larger ethnography entitled “Katie’s story: The final voyage”. Katie’s story describes how, after a diagnosis of terminal cancer, Katie’s support team responded to her profound and intensifying need from within existing resources, developing an embedded, practitioner-constructed, place-based knowledge that enabled Katie to die-in-place with dignity. Findings from the ethnography identified that – in the face of multi-faceted dilemma, systems constraint, and continually shifting complexity – disability support workers accessed a range of knowledges which they synthesised and translated into a unique, dynamic, responsive, and actionable locale knowledge for the purpose of supporting the unique and changing needs of older people with an intellectual disability. Findings from the research challenge current understandings of disability support worker knowledge as deficient, instead identifying worker ways of knowing as highly targeted, person-centred, and constituting place-based responses to the everyday contingencies and dilemmas of support. Findings from the study have implications for the professional development of disability support workers in their efforts to optimise social inclusion with and for people with an intellectual disability.

Gifted Rural Writers Explore Place in Narrative Fiction Stories

Place-based writing practices can enrich a standardized curriculum while increasing student engagement and helping students improve essential writing skills. In particular, place, which includes both the geographic surroundings and the local community with whom one shares a common space, can be a point of access to the language arts curriculum for gifted rural students, especially because place-based literacy practices can demonstrate that students’ place-based knowledge and interests are valuable assets they bring to their learning experiences. This article examines narrative fiction stories written by 237 gifted rural fourth graders as the culminating project of a semester-length fiction unit of a place-based language arts enrichment curriculum to identify how gifted rural fourth graders describe setting in narrative fiction stories and how they reflect a sense of place in those descriptions. Students’ descriptions of settings were explicated to note how they represented spaces both similar to and different from the rural communities in which they lived. Thematic findings reveal rich descriptions of nature, depictions of close-knit rural communities, and feelings of displacement among story characters who find themselves in unfamiliar spaces.

Factors influencing perceptions of aquatic ecosystems.

While factors influencing perceptions of drinking water have been well studied, those of aquatic ecosystems have been to lesser extent. We conducted a review to improve awareness of these factors. Environmental factors found to influence public perceptions of aquatic ecosystems were presence/absence of water plants and algae, presence/absence of floating debris, the odor, movement (for flowing waters) and clarity/turbidity of the water, and the type, condition, setting, naturalness, and overall aesthetic appeal of the ecosystem. Sociocultural factors found to influence public perceptions of aquatic ecosystems included age, education, gender, and place-based knowledge. We provide perspectives of how managers can better meet the diverse social demands placed on aquatic ecosystems. The importance and benefits of considering these perspectives may be especially beneficial where significant multi-generational and culturally relevant place-based knowledge exist.

Community science: A typology and its implications for governance of social-ecological systems

There is an increasing recognition globally of the role to be played by community science –scientific research and monitoring driven and controlled by local communities, and characterized by place-based knowledge, social learning, collective action and empowerment. In particular, community science can support social-ecological system transformation, and help in achieving better ‘fit’ between ecological systems and governance, at local and higher levels of decision making. This paper draws on three examples of communities as central actors in the process of knowledge co-production to present a typology of community science, and to deduce a set of key principles/conditions for success. The typology involves three social learning models in which the community acquires scientific knowledge by (1) engaging with external bodies, (2) drawing on internal volunteer scientific expertise, and/or (3) hiring (or contracting) in-house professional scientific expertise. All of these models share the key characteristic that the local community decides with whom they wish to engage, and in each case, social learning is fundamental. Some conditions that facilitate community science include: community-driven and community-control; flexibility across leadership models; connection to place and collective values; empowerment, agency and collective action; credible trust; local knowledge; and links to governance. Community science is not a panacea for effecting change at the local level, and there is need for critical assessment of how it can help to fill governance gaps. Nevertheless, a considerable body of experience globally illustrates how local communities are drawing effectively on community science for better conservation and livelihood outcomes, in a manner compatible with broader trends toward ecosystem-based management and local stewardship.

Green infrastructure site selection in the Walnut Creek wetland community: A case study from southeast Raleigh, North Carolina

Recent findings have shown that minority communities are frequently underserved by green infrastructure developments relative to non-minority communities, as local installations of green infrastructure often follow patterns of gentrification. Antipathy from these communities toward existing environmental management efforts present further obstacles related to green infrastructure placement. While hydrologic modeling has been highly utilized in decision support for green infrastructure placement, this technique does not consider ownership, access concerns, or the importance of visibility. Alternatively, participatory geographic information systems (PPGIS) can provide a different perspective from hydrologic models, as they have the potential to forecast community perceptions of green infrastructure utility, rather than hydrological benefit. We use a mixed-methods approach to optimize green infrastructure site-selection that considers hydrologic vulnerabilities in the context of place-based knowledge and historical realities. Residents’ perceptions of the locations of nuisance flooding were reported via participatory mapping within a paper-based survey (n = 95) conducted in the communities surrounding Walnut Creek, a historically African-American community in Raleigh, North Carolina. Hotspot analysis was used to identify statistically significant clustering, which was related to a correspondence between participant-indicated nuisance flooding sites and high flow accumulation cells. Comparison of the participatory and hydrologic hotspot analyses show some geospatial overlap for potential green infrastructure placement. We propose that, when undertaken with community input, green infrastructure installation in these downstream areas may help offset localized flooding patterns while facilitating greater trust with stormwater and environmental practitioners.

Mayflowers and Sleeping Johnnies: Nature-Study, Local Knowledge, and A. H. MacKay’s Phenological Research in Rural Nova Scotia, 1892-1925

This article explores the social context of a crowd-sourced science experiment to record phenological data in early twentieth-century rural Nova Scotia, run through the provincial school system. It focuses in particular on the interaction between the project administrators and the rural people who participated, bringing non-traditional actors—young rural women and children—to the foreground of the history of science in Canada. These ongoing interactions reveal early twentieth-century efforts to consolidate scientific authority alongside efforts to standardize rural engagements with the natural world. However, participants challenged the project’s scientific ideals, asserting the relevance of local, place-based knowledge in rural Nova Scotia.

Systems approaches for localising the SDGs: co-production of place-based case studies

BackgroundLocalisation is a pervasive challenge in achieving sustainable development. Contextual particularities may render generalized strategies to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) unfeasible, impractical, or ineffective. Furthermore, many localities are resource- and data-poor, limiting applicability of the global SDG indicator framework. Tools to enable local actors to make sense of complex problems, communicate this understanding, and act accordingly hold promise in their ability to improve results.AimSystems approaches can help characterise local causal systems, identify useful leverage points, and foster participation needed to localise and catalyse development action. Critically, such efforts must be deeply rooted in place, involving local actors in mapping decision-processes and causation within local physical, social and policy environments. Given that each place has a unique geographical or spatial extent and therein lies its unique characters and problems, we term these activities “placially explicit.” We describe and reflect on a process used to develop placially explicit, systems-based (PESB) case studies on issues that intersect with and impact urban health and wellbeing, addressing the perspectives of various actors to produce place-based models and insights that are useful for SDG localisation.MethodsSeven case studies were co-produced by one or more Partners with place-based knowledge of the case study issue and a Systems Thinker. In each case, joint delineation of an appropriate framing was followed by iterative dialogue cycles to uncover key contextual factors, with attention to institutional and societal structures and paradigms and the motivations and constraints of other actors. Casual loop diagrams (CLDs) were iteratively developed to capture complex narratives in a simple visual way.ResultsCase study development facilitated transfer of local knowledge and development of systems thinking capacity. Partners reported new insights, including a shifting of problem frames and corresponding solution spaces to higher systems levels. Such changes led partners to re-evaluate their roles and goals, and thence to new actions and strategies. CLD-based narratives also proved useful in ongoing communications.ConclusionCo-production of PESB case studies are a useful component of transdisciplinary toolsets for local SDG implementation, building the capacity of local actors to explore complex problems, identify new solutions and indicators, and understand the systemic linkages inherent in SDG actions across sectors and scales.

Ordering Space in a Changing Climate: A Relational Analysis of Planning Practices in Bohol, Philippines

ABSTRACTApproaches to planning for climate change often deal primarily with physical planning mechanisms. Less emphasis is given to the social planning processes that lead to inclusive (or exclusive) actions on climate change. Within this paper, we draw upon the analytical lens of modes of ordering to trace the network of relationships taking place in the preparation and implementation of municipal land use plans within the coastal municipalities of Bohol, Philippines. Results highlight how planning’s dominant mode of ordering tends to address disaster risk areas by focusing primarily upon the physical characteristics of space and hazard-mitigating infrastructures, selectively drawing in some human actors from its surrounding context while excluding those viewed as less knowledgeable for addressing climate-related risks. Within some networks, however, climate agency and notions of participation that recognize place-based knowledge from the most vulnerable communities are given a higher profile. Drawing upon this emergent mode of ordering, evidence of some amendments to planning processes are provided, so that approaches integrating the agency of both human and non-human actors can be brought effectively into planning frameworks.

Enhancing Smallholder Resilience: Organic Transition, Place-based Knowledge, and Local Resource Generation

Rice systems are of particular significance to build­ing climate resilience in the Philippines. This research brief summarizes a case study that com­paratively measures differences in climate resilience between organic and conventional rice systems in four neighboring villages in Negros Occidental Province, as well as explores features of smallhold­er rice sys­tems that are significant to building resili­ence. Data were collected through surveys, inter­views, focus groups, and participant observation. A participa­tory approach was applied to account for socio­ecological context and to identify targeted inter­ventions for enhancing climate resilience based on local conditions and farmer experiences. The results indicate that (a) of the participating rice systems, organic systems exhibit greater resilience than their conventional counterparts; (b) the cur­rent institutional arrangement prevents smallhold­ers from transitioning to organic; and (c) a poly­centric food sovereignty development approach helps Philippine smallholders overcome these institutional barriers, as well as builds small­holder capacities for resilience by supporting place-based knowledge and resource generation. More effort is needed to explore, analyze, and strengthen such polycentric food sovereignty interventions for climate change. See the press release for this article.

The Indigenization Controversy: For Whom and By Whom?

Efforts to decolonize and Indigenize education are occurring throughout Canada, and to a lesser degree in the United States. Although initially about addressing the historical and continuing oppression of Indigenous peoples, I expand the goals to include the survival of all humans and our non-human relatives. In light of our global crises, we must move more forcefully toward truth, reconciliation and Indigenous sovereignty, while at the same time decolonizing and bringing Indigenous worldview and local Indigenous knowledge into and across the curriculum for the benefit of all students. Unfortunately, resistance from both Indigenous and non-Indigenous critics of this mandate continue. A main concern relates to who should be allowed to implement such education and who should have access to it. I offer a rationale for engaging all people in this enterprise in spite of the complexity and risks that are outweighed by the profound potential for bringing our world back into balance. Pointing out the important difference between pan-Indigenousism and local place-based knowledge and why both are needed, conclude with specific suggestions for how all educators can help with decolonizing and Indigenizing schooling immediately.

The reciprocal development of the object of common space and the emergence of the collective agency in residents' workshops

This paper contributes to the study of agency by addressing the reciprocal development of collective agency and the object of common space. The aim is to investigate residents' collective agency in urban development from the perspective of cultural-historical activity theory (CHAT) with the help of applied ethnography. Residents' workshops focusing on the capacity to act together collectively provided a space for the residents to share their needs for a common space. The development of the collective agency of the residents began by expressing their individual needs in the development of their neighborhood. The collective elaboration of the fragmented needs in the residents' workshops enabled the formation of a joint object with the aid of cultural means and tools and with expansions of the object. In this study we provide an overview of the reciprocal development of residents' collective agency and the object of ‘space’. Our findings call attention to 1) the significance of the joint object in coordinating the fragmented needs of the residents, 2) new participatory practices which enable the long process of transitions in the formation of the joint object, and 3) guidance and support that allowed the residents' local place-based knowledge to emerge and promote their participation.

Landscape concepts and approaches foster learning about ecosystem services

The ecosystem services framework aims to encourage ecological sustainability through political-economic decisions. However, it fails to capture the complexity of social–ecological interactions. This is an obstacle for coping with current grand challenges through integrative knowledge production and collaborative learning. Landscape concepts and approaches, which emphasize human–environment interactions, governance and stewardship, can help overcome this obstacle. In particular, landscape concepts and approaches can help resolve the integrative and operational gaps encountered in the ecosystem services framework as a means of communicating evidence-based knowledge about the state and trends of ecosystems. The goal of this Special Issue is to address how different interpretations of landscape can support knowledge production about ES, and how applying landscape approaches on the ground can encourage more collaborative and sustainable land management alternatives. The effectiveness of the ecosystem services framework can be improved by (1) the use of landscape concepts to build bridges to different disciplines, arts and practice, as well as to build SMART sustainability indicators, and (2) the application of holistic landscape approaches for place-based knowledge co-production and collaborative learning across multiple governance levels. This forms the base for a research infrastructure integrating methods from the natural and social sciences through macroecology, comparative politics, and regional studies. While place-based research using landscape concepts can help develop more sustainable alternatives for land management, scaling up landscape approach initiatives towards landscape stewardship and fostering collaborations among initiatives are paramount challenges.

Field-Based Inquiry as a Signature Pedagogy for Geography in Singapore

For school geography in Singapore, geographical inquiry is identified as a “signature pedagogy” (Shulman 2005a) that can socialize students into the distinctive practices, concepts, and values of the discipline of geography. This article explores how field-based inquiry is applied across four secondary schools in Singapore to develop an understanding of teachers’ knowledge and practices of disciplined inquiry. We outline the practical challenges and opportunities involved in adopting inquiry as a signature pedagogy for school geography. The results suggest a need to develop teachers’ place-based knowledge and relevant scientific content knowledge to support the design of field-based learning experiences for students.

Cangleska Wakan: The ecology of the sacred circle and the role of tribal colleges and universities

Indigenous education and philosophy are rooted in the concept of relationality – the relatedness of all things – within the framework of place-based experiences and knowledge. This article focuses on tribal colleges and universities (TCUs) in the United States – in particular, on their dedication to land use and preservation, sustainability and tribal ecological knowledge within their missions of cultural preservation, academic and career development, and community engagement. TCUs are post-secondary institutions chartered by their respective tribal governments to serve as the higher education institutions of the Tribe. In the TCU environment, tribal identities emerge from an understanding of how all things are related. Evidence includes creation stories, tribal languages and place-based knowledge. The circular relationship among place, engagement and identity is often manifested in how land and its resources are preserved, managed and expanded through education, outreach and research. In 1994, the Equity in Educational Land-Grant Status Act was passed, granting TCUs endowments for facilities and institutional capacity building in place of land. This article explores the time periods of 1968–1993 and 1994 to today in the context of the development of TCUs, first as place-based institutions preserving tribal identity and later as land-grant institutions preserving tribal environmental and ecological knowledge and resources. The authors provide a number of examples which demonstrate that TCUs exercise the inherent sovereignty of Tribes to provide quality education to their people by incorporating their language and Indigenous knowledge and values.

Factors influencing social demands of aquatic ecosystems.

Aquatic ecosystems provide services essential to human health and economies. Therefore, resource management programs aim to ensure the sustainable flow of these services. Stakeholder engagement is often a critical tool in learning what services are of priority to the public and may be integral to the success of aquatic ecosystem management because public participation in planning and decision making can generate broader support, e.g., financial, intellectual, and labor, for the management plan. The collection of such information may even be statutorily mandated, such as in the Clean Water Act of the United States, which requires that water bodies be classified for the beneficial uses, e.g., fisheries, drinking water, or recreation, they provide. Past evaluations of stakeholder engagement with aquatic ecosystems have considered a wide range of factors influencing engagement. We conducted a critical review of the literature on characteristics of stakeholders and characteristics of the environment that influence stakeholder engagement and participation with aquatic ecosystems. Our objective was to identify factors that should be considered in the creation of surveys to help encourage the inclusion of ecological and social beneficial uses data in large-scale water monitoring programs. Factors identified in our review were, extent and influence of place-based knowledge; proximity to, and frequency of visitation of the resource(s) being considered; basic demographics such as age, gender, education, and income; home community type; aesthetic appeal of the resource; and primary reason for engagement with the resource. We propose these factors, with subfactors, as a template for survey development.

Guest Editor's Introduction to Special Issue on Wild Foods

Guest Editor's Introduction to Special Issue on Wild Foods Nancy K. O'Hare introduction and background Food networks in developed economies have largely shifted to industrialized production of plants and animals as the primary means of feeding people. Yet wild foods obtained through foraging, fishing, and hunting have remained critical to both food networks and local economies in the United States (US) through intersecting pathways. Foraging and hunting remain essential sources of supplemental food, nutrition or income. They also play strong roles in cultural traditions, reinforcing place-based knowledge, and promoting physical and mental well-being for people across the socio-economic spectrum (Watson, Christian, Emery, Hurley, McLain and Wilmsen 2018). Activities including community oyster roasts and collecting wild mushrooms or ramps with family reinforce the social fabric while providing important opportunities for nature-connection and physical activity. Wild foods have not received as much attention as other food movements— farm to table, locavore, slow foods—but this may be changing as people seek out non-industrial food, a trend tapped into by many chefs specializing in local foods. The 2018 James Beard Award for American cookbook was awarded to The Sioux Chef's Indigenous Kitchen (Sherman and Dooley 2017) which promotes the traditional Native American foods before European colonization and updates recipes to modern cooking methods. Another 2018 James Beard Award went to The Cooking Gene: A Journey Through African American Culinary History in the Old South (Twitty 2017) (see review by Passidomo, this issue). Michael Twitty documents his culinary journey as he explored his roots as a descendant predominantly of enslaved African Americans but also White slave-owners. Both award-winning authors recognize that wild foods no longer constitute a primary food source, but each seeks to reconnect with wild foods to reclaim cultural knowledge. In developed countries, members of the wealthier classes may dine in restaurants serving wild foraged delicacies (e.g. European truffles or ramps) or engage in trophy game hunting that transforms the procurement of meat as sustenance to hunting as sport—a sport in which some hunters know only the enjoyment of marksmanship rather than of culinary consumption. The engagement of wealthier people with wild foods may disconnect knowledge of how to procure from the wild, since money can buy access and the local knowledge of others (e.g. fishing charters, guided trophy hunts, private lands which may be fenced). [End Page 6] Modern day industrial foodways and urbanization may be reinforcing the socio-economic divide of access to types of wild foods. A recent study of urban foraging in the northeastern US found that those engaged in foraging tended to have either the highest annual income (>$100,000 per year) or the lowest (<$24,000) (Arrington, Diemont, Phillips and Welty 2017), aligning with motivations of recreation or sustenance, respectively. Similar motivations appear in popular news media coverage. Sachdeva, Emery and Hurley (2018) found that the motivational framing in news media was influenced by the broader economic mood, with greater reference to sustenance during the Great Recession in the late 2000s. Wild Foods as 'Tragedy of the Commons'? Wild foods, particularly plants, fungi and certain fisheries, are typically conceived of as open-access or common pool resources (Ostrom 2008, Ticktin and Shackleton 2011). Access to public, common resources can be regulated formally by laws or informally by cultural traditions or social enforcement. In a landmark paper, Hardin (1968) argued that once "tribal wars, poaching and disease" (page 1244) are replaced by the "long-desired goal of social stability" (page 1244), then human populations will exceed the carrying capacity of the natural environment. If unrestricted access to communal natural resources continues then individuals acting out of self-interest will inevitably degrade the environment—a tragedy of the commons. Hardin argued that it was necessary to "exorcize the spirit of Adam Smith" (page 1244) and the premise that "decisions reached individually will in fact be the best for the entire society" (page 1244). Consequently, Hardin proposed restrictions on access to natural resources as well as "the necessity in abandoning the commons in breeding" (page 1248) to limit human population growth which he framed as a key root to the tragedy of the commons. Hardin's...

Making Room for Place-Based Knowledge in Rural Classrooms

Funded by the following: An American Fellowship from the American Association University Women, Stanford Center on Adolescence Youth Purpose Research Award supported by the John Templeton Foundation and the Thrive Foundation for Youth, and the Sustainable Rural Communities Initiative at Oregon State University.

A transdisciplinary framework proposal for surf break conservation and management: Bahía de Todos Santos World Surfing Reserve

This paper combines the Social-Ecological System (SES), the Driving Forces-Pressure-State-Impact-Response (DPSIR) and Adaptive Co-management frameworks to provide practical guidelines to address environmental issues facing surf breaks. We applied these frameworks to Bahía de Todos Santos World Surfing Reserve (BTSWSR), located in Ensenada, Baja California in northern Mexico. We gathered information through a literature review and a review of activities undertaken by the BTSWSR Local Stewardship Council (LSC) together with the local community (Ensenada town), regional and international environmental organizations, and government agencies. We also conducted participatory meetings with different stakeholders between 2014 and 2017. The SES framework provides the analytical perspective to have a better understanding of the multiple interactions among elements of the social and ecological systems to influence the opportunities for conservation strategies. DPSIR allows us to identify specific anthropogenic pressures threatening surf breaks within BTSWSR, their impact on the environment, and actual or possible responses to human activities, facilitating the development of an adaptive co-management plan. By combining these frameworks, we were able to describe the interactions between human and natural systems in BTSWSR, and we provide initial directions to improve the understanding of the anthropogenic activities affecting surf breaks, and targeted responses to address environmental impacts to the system. The surf break conservation and management framework presented in this paper is based on a transdisciplinary approach that emphases the need to address socio-environmental issues through openness to new forms of scientific and place-based knowledge.

The SOSIEL Platform: Knowledge-based, cognitive, and multi-agent

Abstract This article describes the open-source cognitive multi-agent knowledge-based SOSIEL (Self-Organizing Social & Inductive Evolutionary Learning) Platform, designed for building the social components of social-ecological decision support systems, consisting of agents empowered with a cognitive architecture. The platform can simulate the cross-generational progression of one or a large number of agents that can interact among themselves and/or with coupled natural and/or technical systems, learn from their and each other’s experience, create new practices, and make decisions about taking and then take (potentially collective) actions. The platform can also be used for conducting hypothetical experiments that are focused on studying the interactions among: (a) cross-generational population dynamics, (b) self-organizing multi-layered social network structures, (c) evolving place-based knowledge, (d) learning, (e) decision-making, (f) collective action and its potential, and (g) social and (when coupled) social-ecological outcomes. The article describes a simple model that was built with the SOSIEL Platform, which simulates the co-evolution of mental models among socially learning agents.

What’s in a name? A naming convention for geomorphic river types using the River Styles Framework

Meaningful iteration between place-based knowledge of rivers and generalised, theoretically-framed understandings is a significant challenge in river science and management. How can we communicate knowledge of the inherent complexity of river systems in light of managerial quests for simple, easy-to-apply frameworks that can be used by a wide range of practitioners, such that we can meaningfully transfer experiences in river science and management from one situation to another? Identification, definition, classification and naming are vital parts of this process. In a sense, a name is like a ‘brand’, for which a consistency of product is expected. The River Styles Framework is a flexible, open-ended approach to river science and management. The Framework applies a set of hierarchical principles to differentiate reaches, interpret their process-based behaviour and examine interactions between patterns of reaches at the catchment scale. Here we outline an evolution and tightening of the Framework to better communicate how to identify and name types of river at the reach scale. Like the River Styles Framework itself, the naming convention applies hierarchical procedures, starting at the valley setting scale, and incorporating analyses of river planform, channel and floodplain landforms (geomorphic units) and bed material texture. Using a series of examples from around the world, we show how this naming convention can be applied to name river reaches and can be adapted to particular purposes in a consistent, readily communicable manner. We outline various challenges that are faced in managing the use of such a naming convention.