Suchergebnisse

The energy sector, the largest source of greenhouse gas emissions, is a major focus of government climate change mitigation policies. To this end, lower-carbon infrastructure (LCI) developments are likely to increase. However, oppositional local social networks regularly slow or halt LCI proposals during the public participation processes conducted during planning. Using social capital as a conceptual lens, an analytical framework is developed with the aim of improving current understanding of local resistance. Specifically, the framework analyses the lifecycle of social networks through two case studies that explore resistance to a wind farm and a gas-fired power plant. The analysis identifies reasons for the formation, operation, dissipation, and endurance of the social networks. The article is relevant to public participation processes in natural resource management and infrastructure proposals in the rural and outer urban fringe. 2015

This article describes a two-phased reflexive ethical process initiated when choosing digital cameras for the photovoice method in research with men living in low-income contexts. While this participatory method aims to flatten power asymmetries in researcher–researched relationships, debate is needed about how pragmatic technology choices may inadvertently underscore or even reinforce participants' situated experiences of disempowerment and constraint. Critically engaging with an ethics of care approach to decision-making, we unpick what superficially appears to be a straightforward problem of method and demonstrate how pragmatic decisions may confound researchers' efforts towards democratisation in research. We reflect on how such efforts may inadvertently obscure contextual processes shaping the potential for participants to engage in research. Our reflections demonstrate the need to take seriously all decision-making throughout the research process as integral to a wider politics of method and ethics.

This article describes a two-phased reflexive ethical process initiated when choosing digital cameras for the photovoice method in research with men living in low income contexts. While this participatory method aims to flatten power asymmetries in researcher-researched relationships, debate is needed about how pragmatic technology choices may inadvertently underscore or even reinforce participants' situated experiences of disempowerment and constraint. Critically engaging with an ethics of care approach to decision-making, we unpick what superficially appears to be a straightforward problem of method, and demonstrate how pragmatic decisions may confound researchers' efforts towards democratisation in research. We reflect on how such efforts may inadvertently obscure contextual processes shaping the potential for participants to engage in research. Our reflections demonstrate the need to take seriously all decision-making throughout the research process as integral to a wider politics of method and ethics.