The power problematic: exploring the uncertain terrains of political ecology and the resilience framework

Ingalls, Micah; Stedman, Richard C.

doi:10.5751/es-08124-210106

Cited by 81 publications

(75 citation statements)

References 61 publications

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“…As places are partially socially constructed, their meanings can be socially contested and renegotiated (Pred 1984, Zukin 1991, Lyon 2014, Ingalls and Stedman 2016. Therefore, sense of place brings potential new tools and language for SES and resilience research to engage further with issues of "power to and power over" (Boonstra 2016) in collective action and negotiations of stewardship in SES.…”

Section: Whose Meanings Are Included and Favored And Why And Implicamentioning

confidence: 99%

The contribution of sense of place to social-ecological systems research: a review and research agenda

Masterson¹,

Stedman²,

Enqvist³

et al. 2017

E&S

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273

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ABSTRACT. To develop and apply goals for future sustainability, we must consider what people care about and what motivates them to engage in solving sustainability issues. Sense of place theory and methods provide a rich source of insights that, like the socialecological systems perspective, assume an interconnected social and biophysical reality. However, these fields of research are only recently beginning to converge, and we see great potential for further engagement. Here, we present an approach and conceptual tools for how the sense of place perspective can contribute to social-ecological systems research. A brief review focuses on two areas where relation to place is particularly relevant: stewardship of ecosystem services, and responses to change in social-ecological systems. Based on the review, we synthesize specific ways in which sense of place may be applied by social-ecological systems researchers to analyze individual and social behaviors. We emphasize the importance of descriptive place meanings and evaluative place attachment as tools to study the patterned variation of sense of place within or among populations or types of places and the implications for resilience and transformative capacity. We conclude by setting out an agenda for future research that takes into account the concerns of resilience thinking such as the effects of dynamic ecology, interactions between temporal and spatial scales, and the interplay of rapid and incremental change on sense of place and place-related behaviors. This future research agenda also includes concerns from the broader sense of place literature such as the importance of structural power relationships on the creation of place meanings and how scaling up a sense of place may influence pro-environmental behavior.

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Section: Whose Meanings Are Included and Favored And Why And Implicamentioning

confidence: 99%

The contribution of sense of place to social-ecological systems research: a review and research agenda

Masterson¹,

Stedman²,

Enqvist³

et al. 2017

E&S

Self Cite

306

273

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…There is a greater need to study the diverse influences of barriers on different social groups, stratified by wealth status, gender, ethnicity or other demographic factors. Power imbalances and conflicts in interests among social actors are likely to influence the processes and outcomes of social-ecological change, thus, creating winners and losers (Ingalls and Stedman 2016). As such, it is necessary to understand the trade-offs involved, particularly identifying the impacts of adaptation strategies undertaken by one group on the adaptive capacity of another (Shackleton et al 2015).…”

Section: Electronic Supplementary Materialsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Differential livelihood adaptation to social-ecological change in coastal Bangladesh

2017

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Social-ecological changes, brought about by the rapid growth of the aquaculture industry and the increased occurrence of climatic stressors, have significantly affected the livelihoods of coastal communities in Asian mega-deltas. This paper explores the livelihood adaptation responses of households of different wealth classes, the heterogeneous adaptation opportunities, barriers and limits (OBLs) faced by these households and the dynamic ways in which these factors interact to enhance or impede adaptive capacities. A mixed methods approach was used to collect empirical evidence from two villages in coastal Bangladesh. Findings reveal that households' adaptive capacities largely depend on their wealth status, which not only determine their availability of productive resources, but also empower them to navigate social-ecological change in desirable ways. Households operate within a shared response space, which is shaped by the broader socio-economic and political landscape, as well as their previous decisions that can lock them in to particular pathways. While an adaptive response may be effective for one social group, it may cause negative externalities that can undermine the adaptation options and outcomes of another group. Adaptation OBLs interact in complex ways; the extent to which these OBLs affect different households depend on the specific livelihood activities being considered and the differential values and interests they hold. To ensure more equitable and environmentally sustainable livelihoods in future, policies and programs should aim to expand households' adaptation space by accounting for the heterogeneous needs and complex interdependencies between response processes of different groups.

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“…To understand the drivers and differential effects of social-ecological change, there is a need to account for the different perspectives and desired states of the people involved (Cote andNightingale 2012, Fabinyi et al 2014) and consider inequities in decision-making procedures and the distribution of costs and benefits resulting from change (Davoudi 2012). This has led to increased calls for bringing in insights from political ecology, which would enable resilience studies to engage sufficiently with power dynamics among social actors (Peterson 2000, Beymer-Farris et al 2012, Cote and Nightingale 2012, Turner 2013, Fabinyi et al 2014, Brown 2016, Ingalls and Stedman 2016.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Asymmetries in social power can shape social-ecological change in ways in which the interests of some actors are privileged over others, thus involving trade-offs and creating distributional inequities (Ingalls and Stedman 2016). Human well-being has emerged as an important concept within the literature on resilience and ecosystem services as a means to analyze the heterogeneous needs of different social groups and identify the winners and losers of change (Coulthard et al 2011, Daw et al 2011, 2015, Armitage et al 2012, Coulthard 2012, Hossain et al 2017.…”

Section: Literature Reviewmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Since the mid-2000s, resilience has emerged as an important concept in evaluating social-ecological change because it provides a dynamic approach to system analysis and management, with emphasis on nonlinearity and multiscalar feedback mechanisms (Ingalls and Stedman 2016). Resilience thinking, however, is criticized for its system-level bias that does not account for the role of power dynamics in navigating social-ecological change and the distribution of costs and benefits associated with change (Cote and Nightingale 2012, Fabinyi et al 2014, Brown 2016).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Resilience, political ecology, and well-being: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding social-ecological change in coastal Bangladesh

Hoque¹,

Quinn²,

Sallu³

2017

E&S

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ABSTRACT. The commodification of peasant livelihoods through export-oriented aquaculture has brought about significant socialecological changes in low-lying coastal areas in many parts of Asia. A better understanding of the underlying drivers and distributional effects of these changes requires integration of social and ecological approaches that often have different epistemological origins. Resilience thinking has gained increased traction in social-ecological systems research because it provides a dynamic analysis of the cross-scalar interactions between multiple conditions and processes. However, the system-oriented perspective inherent in resilience thinking fails to acknowledge the heterogeneous values, interests, and power of social actors and their roles in navigating social-ecological change. Incorporation of political ecology and well-being perspectives can provide an actor-oriented analysis of the trade-offs associated with change and help to determine which state is desirable for whom. However, empirical demonstrations of such interdisciplinary approaches remain scarce. Here, we explore the combined application of resilience, political ecology, and well-being in investigating the root causes of social-ecological change and identifying the winners and losers of system transformation through empirical analysis of the differential changes in farming systems in two villages in coastal Bangladesh. Using the adaptive cycle as a structuring model, we examine the evolution of the shrimp aquaculture system over the past few decades, particularly looking at the power dynamics between households of different wealth classes. We found that although asymmetric land ownership and political ties enabled the wealthier households to reach their desired farming system in one village, social resilience achieved through memory, leadership, and crisis empowered poorer households to exercise their agency in another village. Material dimensions such as improved living standards, food security, and cash incomes were evidently important; however, freedom to pursue desired livelihood activities, better environmental quality, mental peace, and cultural identities had significant implications for relational and subjective well-being.

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The power problematic: exploring the uncertain terrains of political ecology and the resilience framework

Cited by 81 publications

References 61 publications

The contribution of sense of place to social-ecological systems research: a review and research agenda

The contribution of sense of place to social-ecological systems research: a review and research agenda

Differential livelihood adaptation to social-ecological change in coastal Bangladesh

Resilience, political ecology, and well-being: an interdisciplinary approach to understanding social-ecological change in coastal Bangladesh

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