Geog Blog (it rhymes)

[kmgeog2260]

During this course we have looked at various aspects of human geographic research. In this write up I will address three things I know for certain about human geographical research, three things I am still confused by, three things I know about myself as a geographic researcher, and lastly three things I still need to work on as a geographical researcher.

The first thing I know for certain now about human geographical research is that although it does consist of mostly qualitative methods, there is still very many different styles and methods of collecting data and conducting research. Prior to this class I had seen qualitative and quantitative as very black and white, quantitative being solely numerical and qualitative being solely thoughts and ideas. Qualitative research is complex, and not only does it look at tangible aspects of humans and human interaction but also discourses, identities and most importantly place when it comes to human geographic research (Hay, 2005, Chapter 1). It also has a well-developed range of techniques such as ones we have looked at and ones I have used in my blogs. These include observational studies, interviews, case studies, oral histories, focus groups, literature reviews and many more.

Another thing I now know for certain is that human geographic research requires the consideration of ethics and self-reflection. There is a moral imperative to this research where the concern of welfare, respect for persons and justice needs to be incorporated (Hooykaas, Week 3, 2021). These ethical issues arise because of the social nature of human geographic research, in any of the methods listed above you are collecting and interpreting social information (Hay, 2005, Chapter 2), therefore ethical issues can arise before, during or after the research process. I know and understand now the importance of this.

Lastly, human geographic research requires a deep and well documented analysis to ensure rigour and the best possible answer/outcome to your research question. While conducting qualitative research it is not always the case like in quantitative research where the numbers speak for themselves, therefore we must ensure rigour, meaning we need to establish a high level of trustworthiness to our work. To ensure rigour, it requires careful research design and thoughtful planning which will ultimately create trustworthy and dependable research (Hay, 2005, Chapter 6). As the researcher I learned the importance of careful and well thought out design through the digital storytelling project.

The first thing I am still confused by in human geographical research is making informed choices about research design and development. I understand that there are many different styles and methods to geographic research, but I am still unsure of which is the best to use and when. Another thing I am still confused by is after the data has been collected how to filter which responses to use and which information is the best information. In other words, I am still confused on what happens next in research. Lastly, I am still unsure of how to critically assess the strengths of the sources to evaluate how much information is enough. I think that with time and more practice these aspects of human geographical research will make more sense to me.

As a human geographic researcher, I know for certain that I understand the importance of ethics in a research project. I was able to develop this skill throughout the blog posts and the storytelling assignment. Going forward if I were to conduct a research project, I would like to use collaborative research methods, which involves getting input from both insiders and outsiders of the problem being studied (Hay, 2005, Chapter 3). I think that coming from an outsider position in research has some major downfalls and effects to the research being done and raises ethical issues between the researcher and the participants.

This brings me to my next point, that I know for certain that I have and will bring with me an invisible backpack that comes from a place of privilege. To be critically reflexive is a process of self-conscious scrutiny as a research throughout the entirety of the project (Hay, 2005, Chapter 2). Being a white woman raised in Canada, I need to remind myself of the privilege that I come from before, during and after the research process. I will need to ask myself how and why I am doing whatever research I am involved in as well as constantly be looking at the social relations being enacted and influenced by the research I will conduct.

Lastly, I know that using the technique of coding while organizing my research is a good tool for me to use. Prior to this course while trying to find information from literature online I found it very hard to organize information and my thoughts. The knowledge of hierarchical vs. flat, and inductive vs. deductive coding, (Hay, 2005, Chapter 18), going forward will help me organize information and come to a better answer to my research questions.

Areas that I have learned about myself as a geographical researcher that I need more time developing are creating a grounded theory, removing myself from the research and writing/ presenting my qualitative research. Creating a grounded theory is an inductive method where the purpose is to generate information on the most important themes up front to gain a solid understanding of the topic, then looking at the specifics to help answer the research question (Hay , 2005, Chapter 18). I as a research tend to jump into my question too quickly and then end up with a lot of information and time spend in topics that don’t relate to my question. As a researcher I also find it difficult to remove myself from the research write up. Third person and nominalization create more formal research but often I try to add my own thoughts and ideas when they are not needed (Hooykaas, Week 9, 2021). Lastly, while putting my research together to present it I need time to develop better ways of presenting my work. I need to balance the use of objective and subjective knowledge, learn to write in a third-person narrative and reflect my positionality (Hay, 2005, Chapter 19).

Sources:

Hooykaas. (2021) Course Notes for GEOG2260- Applied Human Geography

Hay, I. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography(4th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780199010912/cfi/0!/4/[email protected]:0.242

[akgeog2260]

Hello Kaya!

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your work this semester, especially since you seem to have a knack similar to me of posting early in the week, so I really do appreciate that haha! This week’s post was rather insightful, and I agree with you largely on a lot of your points.

I think the development of strong critical reflectivity skills is also essential in producing proper and ethical research (Hooykas, Week 3, 2021). Being able to be self-scrutinizing and conscious throughout the entirety of a research project is difficult, and I am scared we are thinking that it will be too easy. I’m excited to get into the field and see this in action, as I think it will be harder to stay self-aware throughout an entire months long research project than we might anticipate.

Furthermore, I think you hit the nail on the head when you spoke on choosing research styles and techniques. I believe that we have been taught which research techniques are compatible with which types of study, but I am scared that in the field the lines between study types will be much more blurred and less obvious than in textbook examples. I think likely these decisions will get easier with experience though!

Lastly, I totally agree with your take on qualitative/quantitative analysis. I too had come into this course without a proper understanding of how complicated qualitative research was. I had worked primarily with quantitative data, and although I obviously assumed that it went deep, I never throughout about things like inductive coding and coding frames which turn qualitative data into more manageable resources (Hooykaas, Week 8, 2021)!

Thank you for all the blogs this semester, I’ve enjoyed reading them and wish you good luck with the rest of your studies!

Bibliography:

Hooykaas. (2021) Course Notes for GEOG2260- Applied Human Geography

[krgeog2260-deactivated20241207]

My Final Blog Post!

For the final blog post, I went back and reacquainted myself with all of the course’s content from previous weeks to ensure I had a wide range of topics to include. Throughout this semester I have found GEOG*2260 to be very informative from a theoretical perspective. I’ve picked out some important course content that I can reflect on that also falls into the 4 sections given in the prompt.

Three things I know for certain about human geography research:

My first certainty within human geography research is the concept of ethics. Throughout times in the course, we were introduced to ethical research, ethics clearance and other types of welfare in the field (Hooykaas, Week 3, 2021). With the current world, we’re living in today, too many people are experiencing injustice and to say society is damaged would be an understatement. I paid extra attention to this aspect of the course because I want to make an active effort to help others (however that may be) throughout my life and career. Gaining this insight was important to me and I’m glad I have more resources than I did before starting 2260 “before beginning research that involves people” (Hay, 2005, Chapter 2).

After some time in the post-secondary realm, I’ve grown very confident with my ability to measure validity (Hay, 2005, Chapter 19). After working through week 5 content of “literature reviews”, I know the benchmarks that articles have to meet in order for me to include them in my university work, and what I look for when reviewing news or stories that help me decide if I believe what I’m reading. The inclusion of Brown’s criteria for evaluation (Hooykaas, Week 5, 2021) gave me a more detailed list than what I had before, which now include the paper’s purpose and scope, among others.

Lastly, for my list of certainties, I’d like to talk about the invisible backpack. This topic will be the number one thing I take from this course because I had never thought about perspective and experience in the way I did in this course. Using the invisible backpack that comes from my identity and experiences spilled over into my regular life, and allowed me to change my thinking towards judgment and perspectives/opinions of others because everyone engages in the world differently. The invisible backpack has taught me another analysis technique that helps me form strong academic points and research! (Hooykaas, Week 2, 2021).

Three things I am still confused by:

Grounded theory gave me trouble because I couldn’t quite connect its importance like I could for other concepts. I believe that I don’t fully grasp this theory because I haven’t had a field experience where I am sifting through pages of data having to identify theories within it. Grounded theory is “an exploratory and inductive way of forming an in-depth understanding of the entire case” (Hay, 2005, Chapter 7, pp;138).

The next thing I was confused by in the beginning was coding. While I could understand the significance and was able to make an attempt in doing my own, it seemed to me as if it were just another organizational style (Hooykaas, Week 8, 2021). Deductive coding seemed more my speed rather than inductive, which is why I picked that one for the activity. I see the appeal for rigour and analysis of data, which is why I don’t doubt its valuable role in the research process (Hay, 2005, Chapter 18). 

My last point of confusion were the bottom-up and top-down approaches that were talked about during week 3. Since it was more than a couple weeks ago, I can’t seem to connect these approaches to the rest of the research theories and data analysis. I also would like to find further writings about these approaches because our textbook didn’t include information on the topic (Hooykaas, Week 3, 2021).

Three things I know for certain about me as a human geographic researcher:

As I move on in my schooling and as a human geographer, I realize how much more I probably have to learn. But when it comes to what I’m certain about myself at this moment, I know my social skills will allow me to develop meaningful connections in research. I’m able to relate and empathize with people well. 

Another asset that I have that will benefit me is a hardworking attitude and ability to stay productive to finish long and complex projects. If I am passionate about something, for instance a research project, I would be a valuable asset to any research team.

 Lastly, I know that I’m in the right schooling avenue because I genuinely enjoy the content I’m learning about. I’m getting very excited about all of the opportunities I’ll have in the future after going through the rest of my undergraduate degree.

Three areas I need to spend time developing/learning in order to feel more confident in my skills:

I would like to spend more time on interviews and constructing productive questions. Since I have never experienced conducting a formal interview for research purposes, I want to revisit this concept as a whole when I have another opportunity to. It could be any of the types of interviews that we learnt about (over the phone, online, semi-structured, open etc.) (Hay, 2005, Chapter 8).

Secondly, I’d like to do something similar to my first, but with questionnaires. I can see a career in data collection for research and working for agencies that provide statistics so I would like to gain additional experiences in forming open or closed questions and using the questionnaires for mass research. The guideline in the textbook of a productive questionnaire caught my eye as interesting during that assigned chapter! (Hay, 2005, Chapter 12).

The last concept I want to spend more time developing came from this week’s (Hooykaas, Week 11, 2021) content involving the feelings of imposter syndrome. I have felt the feelings of fraudulence before when having academic or workplace success and resonated highly with the youtube video and information from the 2260 lectures. After being introduced to this topic, I want to dive deeper and see if I can apply that logic to other courses and achievements in my day-to-day life.

Thank you all for reading all my work throughout this semester! 

References:

Hay, I. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.  

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Lecture Notes from GEOG2260- Applied Human Geography.

[akgeog2260]

Hello Kirsten!

First, congratulations on your final post, I’ve enjoyed reading them throughout the semester. I totally agree with you on a lot of the points you brought up, specifically on those things you were still confused about, I had very similar difficulties!

Grounded theory analysis also confused me, the general structure of repeatedly reanalyzing the coded data makes sense (Hay, 2005, Chapter 7), but in practice, I do not see the functionality of it either! I believe this has to do with us (undergrads) not having experienced the full scale of a research project, and I assume we simply do not grasp the extent of work to be done with the data.

Furthermore, coding, in general, is still tripping me up too, again, I think it stems from the concepts simply needing to be applied to an actual scenario. While I grasp how to do it, and what benefits it might have, I think the reason why I do not fully see the value behind it is that I’ve never used it for a legitimately large project. I think a good summary of these issues we’ve had might come down to 1, us not being able to experience actual fieldwork due to the pandemic, and 2, us not quite being at the stage in our education where we are performing our actual fieldwork.

I believe wholeheartedly that next year we will be in a better position to reinforce these topics in person and in actual studies, and I personally can’t wait for that! Thank you for helping me get through this semester, it’s been a blast learning with you!

-Adam

Bibliography:

Hay, I. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

[akgeog2260]

A Review of My Progress in Human Geography Research Skills

Introduction:

Throughout this course, we have reviewed and learned many of the ins and outs of human geographical research. For this final blog post, I am going to be reflecting on the course, and human geography overall through 4 sections; Thing’s I know for certain, things I am confused by still, things I know about myself as a researcher, and areas of the research process that I need to spend more time on to feel confident.

These three things I know for certain about human geography research:

There are many, many aspects of this course that I have locked down and understand well, but these three examples are ones that resonated with me the greatest, and I believe can be utilized beyond my scholastic life.

One of the topics I understand thoroughly is critical reflectivity. This concept is crucial in creating ethical work and should be implemented into more aspects of society if you ask me! It is acknowledging one’s social position and determines how this could alter the results of your work (Hay, 2005, Chapter 2).

Another related concept to critical reflectivity was that of one’s invisible backpack. The concept was coined by activist Peggy McIntosh (Hooykaas, Week 3, 2021). The term goes beyond critical reflectivity and applies the concept to a broader horizon. Your invisible backpack involves every aspect of your identity. One's ethnicity, culture, fitness, education level, affluence, sexuality, and more all combine to create the invisible backpack everyone carries. These aspects influence how one interacts with the world, and what privilege is based on.

Finally, the concept of free consent when conducting interviews stuck with me too. Free and informed consent is essential to mitigate risks when conversing with anyone on a scholastic level or personal. The free part means that there is to be no undue influence on the individual, which is essential for collecting truthful data. Furthermore, informed consent is important too as without it the participant cannot be fully aware of what they are doing, and thus they cannot honestly consent (Hay, 2005, Chapter 2). This concept is applied beyond research and is an important part of myself growing as an educated individual, as an example thinks of land dispute claims between the Dominion of Canada and Indigenous, one of the reasons these disputes are happening is because the consent the Indigenous gave was not free nor informed!

These three things I am still confused by:

I am still confused about a couple of things that were taught throughout this course, but I do believe I will be able to retain the concepts after a bit more experience in scholastics.

One of these things is coding. I believe I have a decent grasp on coding, I just wish I knew more. Coding is a system that is utilized to retrieve and store data (Hay, 2005, Chapter 8). The thing I am confused by in this still is which technical software would be used to do this in the most efficient way. I am just curious about the use of databases, programs for auto-coding, and the workflow of this in a professional environment.

I am furthermore still confused about how to evaluate the strength of my source’s information, beyond the basic is it peer-reviewed, or not.

Lastly, I would like to understand more about strategies for overcoming potentially exploitative power relations between researchers and those of lower socioeconomic status (Hooykaas, Week 2, 2021). As stated earlier I understand the power dynamics of invisible backpacks and critical reflectivity, but I fail to see how simply understanding these things can help remove them from skewing our research.

These three things I know for certain about me as a human geographic researcher:

I know for certain that as a human geographic researcher that I enjoy working with quantitative data more than qualitative data. The reason for this is more personal preference than anything else. I enjoyed my statistics course (GEOG 2460) last semester that dove into both types of physical and human geographic research, but specifically quantitative data for both. As a human geographer, I would rather work with datasets and statistical analysis than coding and interviewing. This is just because I enjoy numbers and their (barely) relative simplicity.

Furthermore. I know that coding is a skill that is incredibly useful and has rounded out my human geography research skills. More experience with this is necessary for sure, but I know that this method is the most logical and efficient way of combing through data, so I am excited to utilize it.

Lastly, I know for sure that historical qualitative research is my favourite type. Using past occurrences to predict future trends is very fascinating, and I believe an essential tool in impacting change in society today (Hay, 2005, Chapter 11).

These three areas I need to spend time developing/learning in order to feel more confident in my skills:

I strive to become more informed about the ethics review process for research at the University of Guelph. In the future, if I choose to go into research, I should definitely be literate in my own school’s ethics review board. The notes we have on it are good, but I would like to see an example of the entire process going through in real-time.

Furthermore, I would like to understand grounded theory analysis more. It is an inductive, comparative, and interactive approach to inquiry that offers several open-ended strategies for conducting emergent inquiry (Hay, 2005, Chapter 7). I just would like to practice performing a research assignment using this method of data analysis, because it seems very effective and I am interested in how results would differ if compared to other types of data analysis.

Lastly, I am confused about when to choose which type of question for interviews. I know the type of data that is derived from each type of question (opinion, contrasting, storytelling, etc.) but I believe practice creating an actual interview scheme would advance my comfort level assigning questions leaps and bounds (Hay, 2005, Chapter 7).

Conclusion:

In conclusion, this course has taught me loads about conducting research, but beyond that it has also taught me about being ethical throughout my entire life. There are still many aspects of research that I do not quite fully grasp, but I honestly believe I am making great progress towards being a competent human geography scholar.

Bibliography:

Hay, I. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography(4th ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780199010912/cfi/0!/4/[email protected]:0.242

Hooykaas. (2021) Course Notes for GEOG 2260- Applied Human Geography

[krgeog2260-deactivated20241207]

Critically Evaluating An Article

My Article & It’s Key Message

I find a lot of news and interesting stories on National Geographic, and after being in a geography program for 2 years, it is one of my favourite websites so I decided to find an article on there that I would be critically evaluating. I have chosen “What The World Can Learn From West Virginia’s Successful Vaccine Roll-out” (https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/what-world-can-learn-from-west-virginia-successful-vaccine-roll-out). This article came out on March 18th, 2021 after research and interviewee’s were gathered for all of February 2021 and was written by Oliver Whang.

The key message of this article is working to showcase a success story that other regions can learn and potentially benefit from. During this pandemic, gaining as much knowledge as possible is crucial for stopping the spread and making progress on herd immunity through vaccinations.

Sources & Evaluation

Whang’s story doesn’t have any included sources, but according to the information provided I can infer that multiple sources were used, as well as face to face oral interviews as a point of data collection (Hooykaas, 2021). Data collection could include specific guidance from contacts that were featured in the article (the article includes quotes from 7 different West Virginia’s medical professionals or residents). Another source that was potentially used transcripts and official paperwork that shows the rates of the vaccine rollouts in many counties in the state. The story also incorporates visuals such as maps and real life images from vaccination sites and residents home vaccination visits. Npr.org has also published some resources about West Virginia’s success in February 2021, so Whang could have used online resources and existing articles when writing his own (Whang, 2021). The sources used throughout this story were most likely evaluated by their relativity to COVID-19 and its location because of the specificity of the articles region and topic of vaccines rollout.

Validity

As we know from week 9’s content, validity or authenticity can be “reflected throughout the proposal and final product” (Hooykaas, 2021). Since we don’t have access to any proposal for this published article I took the liberty of just evaluating the final product with the provided strategies we have learnt during 2260, examples being triangulation by using multiple sources, researchers or datasets to ensure rigour and the use of expert consultants which in this case would be medical professionals that are experiencing the pandemic in West Virginia (Hooykaas, 2021).

Something else I noticed about the formatting of the text was the use of removing the writer (Hay, 2005). This creates a sense of neutrality in the writing, which is critical when presenting information related to science or current events.

Expectations & Responsibility

COVID-19 is a major medicine related historical event that has drastically changed many aspects of daily life for almost the whole world since March 2020. After reading and educating oneself on COVID, consumers of these stories should feel inclined or almost obligated to get vaccinated when they’re able to. According to Whang, “there is a lot of hesitancy—and fear—around getting the vaccine” (Whang, 2021). People who read this article hopefully feel a sense of hope and inspiration to continue holding strong while vaccines rollout all around the world. I know for myself after reading it I felt relieved for West Virginia’s residents and elders that they have a community working so hard to help keep them safe.

This is a good COVID related feel good story that I highly recommend giving a read!

References

Hay, I. (2005). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography (4th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Hooykaas, A. “Writing Qualitative Geographies, Constructing Geographical Knowledge Data Analysis, Writing, and Re-Evaluating Research Aims and Presenting Findings” University of Guelph, 2021.

Whang, O. (2021, March 19). What the world can learn from West Virginia’s successful vaccine roll-out. National Geographic. Retrieved from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/culture/article/what-world-can-learn-from-west-virginia-successful-vaccine-roll-out 

[akgeog2260]

Hey Kirsten,

I believe you made an excellent point when speaking on validity and authenticity. I also believe that those two things are one of the most important aspects of a piece of work, no matter if it’s academic or not. Triangulation of expert opinions is one of the best ways to validate your piece of writing, and I think that this needs to especially stand strong through our provinces vaccine rollout. We need to trust the experts first, and believe what they are saying is true, because hey, society would fall apart if we just stopped listening to science after all! Great insight, looking forward to reading your last blog of the year soon!

-Adam 

[akgeog2260]

For this blog post I decided I would review an online-news article about a topic I will be covering for a report in another class, efficiency, right? My article was posted on February 23rd, 2021, so hopefully by “from the past week” in the instructions you meant from the past month haha! My article is titled Nestle Selling North American Water Bottling to a Private Equity Firm and covers the most recent development in this ongoing saga. The commodification of an open communal resource like water is a neo-liberal action that activists have not taken kindly too, but businesses and banks have. Author Doreen Nicoll aims to give a review of where things stand on the potential sale and thus continued degradation of the various aquifers in question. The stance being taken by her, although not directly and done through quotations, is that activists want to use this crucial juncture in time (with the wells ownership likely changing hands after the current ban on new bottling permits in Ontario lifts on April 1st) to save our communal resources that have extracted from us (Nicoll, 2021). They key message to be taken from this article is that this is the time for action, and we need to spark more debate over this to make people aware about how much this will affect them, their kids and the bottom-line of Canadians. The sources used here are not directly cited but hyperlinked to various points in the article. Most of these sources are other new-media pieces and blogs across various websites. I am inferring that these are what she used to inform her, but another likely story is that she has been involved in the situation for so long that she might be genuinely writing form her own expert opinion on the topic. The sources can be evaluated through a variety of means; first the validity and experience of the author, second the validity and legitimacy of the website hosting the article, and third if that author left sources. Again, I found that while travelling down the rabbit hole, the sources she has cited are other news articles with a similar method of citing via hyperlink very sparsely. Overall, tracing ideas in this new media down to their original source, if there even is one is difficult. The majority of these articles lack sources, especially any peer-review ones. Although the quality of sourcing and citation isn’t to an academic standard, I would still argue that the things being said are legitimate facts, and it is due to the reputation of the websites/authors that I can say this. The upside to these quicker written pieces of work are that they fit better in todays fast paced media environment, “As this example shows, geographers interested in new media can examine the kinds of practices they facilitate—in this case, new patterns of protest and new ways to link networks of global justice activists. In this regard, new media seem similar to listservs and the Internet, which played key roles in social movements like the Zapatistas in Mexico in the mid-1990s” (Froehling 1999). These new media have a valid place in impacting change in the real world, making them extremely effective tools for activists worldwide. Thanks for reading my blog, can’t wait to hear what you all think!

Nicoll, Doreen. "Raise the Hammer." Nestlé Selling North American Water Bottling to an Private Equity Firm. Raise the Hammer / Rabble.ca, 23 Feb. 2021. Web. 19 Mar. 2021. <https://www.raisethehammer.org/article/3805/nestl%C3%A9_selling_north_american_water_bottling_to_an_private_equity_firm>.

Froehling, O. 1999. “Internauts and Guerilleros: The Zapatista Rebellion in Chiapas, Mexico and Its Extension into Cyberspace.” In M. Crang, P. Crang, and J. May, eds, Virtual Geographies: Bodies, Space, and Relations. New York: Routledge, 164–77.

Note: ^ this source was cited from the class textbook ^

[awgeog2260]

Coding Qualitative Research

The Articles I Coded

I decided to code two resources that are related to Rural Geography and include many similar topics, though the sources are quite different. The first piece of data is a peer reviewed journal article published in The Journal of Rural Studies and the second is a discussion paper written for a NGO called Food Secure Canada. The central theme of these two papers include rural land use and projections for the future of food structures, agriculture and rural development in the Global North. 

Deductive Coding and Flat Coding Frames

Since I already had an idea of some common themes in rural research, I chose to use Deductive Coding. I chose to come up with a the set of codes to start with because I had already read through these articles for the project and knew they have some key similarities related to Rural geography, and specifically I knew what themes they discuss. Also, I know what key subject matter I want to retain and include in our project, so using Deductive Coding saves me time and ensures I will get what I need from these sources. I also chose to use a Flat Coding Frame mostly because of the limited number of codes I included. Since I only have 4 codes, and all seem to have similar levels of importance for what I want to know from these sources, I chose not to use a Hierarchical Coding frame.

The Codes I Used

My four codes I used are Agriculture, Development, Community, and Sustainability. As said previously, I chose these codes before starting to actually code the papers because I knew these were common themes in rural research on rural land use and food systems, and my group wants to include these themes in our project. I also chose these codes because I feel they are encompassing of the issues in these 2 papers as well as some of the other papers my group has sed to help us with our Digital Storytelling Project. These are some screen shots of my coding in action:

I used different colour to highlight the codes using the preview app on Mac.

Applying This to the Assignment

Coding this research helped me narrow my focus on key themes that my group is focusing on in our project. It also helped me analyze similarities and differences in each source on these topics in an efficient way. I am aware of my biases that may come from doing the coding in this way, and the possibility of overlooking some themes that I have not coded, but I believe since I have already spent a couple weeks researching the literature on rural geography and these sources specifically, so I could narrow down some codes more easily. Coding helped me organize the data and my own thoughts. I believe this process will make the research process for the Digital Storytelling Project more rigorous. 

Resources

Knickel, K., et al. (2018). Between aspirations and reality: Making farming, food systems and rural areas more resilient, sustainable and equitable. Journal of Rural Studies. 59. 197-210. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jrurstud.2017.04.012

Food Secure Canada. (2011). Discussion Paper 2: Food Sovereignty in Rural and Remote Communities. Human Rights Impact Assessment 

[akgeog2260]

Hi Alanna! I think you chose very effective codes for your work, I onyl briefly skimmed the articles you coded, but based off of your description of how the themes had already become apparent to you, and from what I saw they made sense! Furthermore, I agree with you on how coding helps organize and correlate between data and my own thoughts. Sometimes that logical step is very time consuming and this new strategy for researching is indeed helpful! I'm persoanlly looking forward to doing these strategy from the beginning of an assignment, and seeing the whole process in action. Thanks for your post, and good-luck on your story-telling project!

-Adam

[akgeog2260]

Coding Demographic Geography Papers

Which Articles I’ve Coded / Why

I’ve coded an article by Ian Angus on Overpopulation and climate justice, and another about climate justice in the Louisiana coast. The reason I chose these is because they were related in their discussion of demography, climate change, and solutions. They were interesting pieces and show how demography is important to all types of physical and social sciences, which is the goal of our project after all.

Coding Scheme Used

Deductive Coding, with a flat Scheme. The reason I did this was due to the scale of our project. Our group is only coding 2 articles/pieces of work each, and since our articles are all unrelated to a large extent, we decided to all do separate coding schemes, and thus I figured the quantity of codes would be compatible with a flat scheme. Furthermore, for the interest of time I chose the deductive coding scheme. I simply have too much work to do to take on the slower method!

Codes Chosen

Degradation, Solution, Demographic Stat, and Notable Counter Arguments. I used these as they were the common themes I was looking for, I was looking for evidence of environmental degradation, solutions being offered, statistics to backup the arguments, and counter arguments to expand and analyze. These categories could be renamed in the future, but these are the generalizations used for now. If I were to continue my research beyond these articles, I would’ve likely chosen a hierarchical coding scheme and expanded and widdled down the categories.

Application to Assignment

This coding will be applied to our assignment in each specific segment of script writing. Our project is a summary of how demography can be the backbone for all social sciences, so each segment of our project is through a different human geography lens. So, each group member will use their coding of their topic to help finalize our script and storyboard!

Images of Coding:

Sources:

Angus, Ian. "The Return of the Population Bombers." Climate & Capitalism. 04 Sept. 2016. Web. 13 Jan. 2021.

"What's at Stake? The People of Louisiana." Restore the Mississippi River Delta. 07 Aug. 2019. Web. 03 Feb. 2021.

[ekgeog2260-deactivated20231114]

GEOG*2260 has been a bit of a dichotomy for Me

GEOG*2260 - Applied Human Geography has been an interesting experience for me and it has helped me a number of ways, but it has definitely been a dichotomy between being finding the course content important to learn and not being interested in doing what the course content teaches.

I mentioned in my 4th original blog post (Week 4, Feb 1-7) that I have zero interest in conducting academic research after my university education. For me, this class and the course content has helped me greatly in confirming that research is not the right path for me and my interests. It has been an interest experience for me being in a course that teaches solely about research techniques when I have already established to myself that I don’t want to do research as a career. Reading and learning about interviewing, creating questionnaires, research ethics, and research design has been slightly excruciating due to my lack of interest in applying those skills in a research project setting. However, there have been topics so far that I have found very interesting, both directly and indirectly relating to the specific course content.

Directly relating to the lectures and readings we have had, I have found the second lecture on the philosophy, power, and politics of applied human geographic research, as well as the Week 3 reading on cross-cultural research. I found that learning about critical reflexivity (the process of constant, self-conscious scrutiny of the self as a researcher and of the research process) (Hooykaas, 2021) very important, not only as a researcher, but as a person who thinks and processes information in everyday life. I have found that being aware of applying reflexivity when there is time to do so can have the potential to yield important insights about yourself and the way you interact with other people and the world around you. Learning about what it means to be objective, subjective, or intersubjective as a researcher is also something I have realized can apply to many other aspects of life (Hooykaas, 2021). I think the most important of these three concepts, that might not be realized as much as the others is intersubjectivity; that the researcher (yourself), the participants (the people around you), nor the nature of your interactions will remain unchanged during the research process (your relationships/life) (Hooykaas, 2021). I also enjoyed learning about cross-cultural research, specifically the differences and shifts between colonial, postcolonial, decolonizing, and inclusionary research (Howitt & Stevens, 2016). It’s exciting and heartening to learn about the shift towards inclusionary research, that can help “…empower subordinated, marginalized, and oppressed others…” through research (Howitt & Stevens, 2016).

Indirectly relating to the course content, I believe I am still interested in the concepts and issues that human geography attempts to research, and there are many of these that I see as important to address and as interesting to examine. For example, the predicament of Kiribati from Blog Post 2 is an issue that I think is one of major importance, and that needs to be addressed by the global community immediately. However, these issues are things that I would want to potentially address in a way other than as a researcher.

Thank you for reading my post! I appreciate any responses and I’m excited to hear what you have to say!

References:

Hooykaas, A. (2021, January 19). Week 2: Philosophy, Power, Politics, and Research Design. Lecture. Retrieved March 1, 2021, from https://courselink.uoguelph.ca/d2l/le/content/668082/viewContent/2673139/View

Howitt, R., & Stevens, S. (2016). Cross-Cultural Research: Ethics, Methods, and Relationships. In 1221261455 908622289 I. Hay (Ed.), Qualitative research methods in human geography (4th ed., pp. 45-75). Don Mills, ON: Oxford University Press.

[akgeog2260]

Hey Eric,

I totally agree with your point about the dichotomy of this course. I also don't plan to pursue a career in research, but I find that there are still some lessons to be learned form this course regardless of if we pursue research or not in the future as a career. I think critical reflectivity is a powerful tool for change in society, and I believe that more people truly should learn this skill, beyond the context of research but applying it to their everyday interactions. Furthermore, I agree that the outcomes of human geography are super important to the well-being of our world, and I too am looking forward to acting on the research others perform for us haha. Thanks for a good read, looking forward to reading more of your posts.

-Adam

[akgeog2260]

Lessons Learned, and Ways Forward.

I think the portion of this course that has resonated with me the most so far would be the second weeks focus on power, politics, and philosophy. The reason this part resonated with me the most is because the knowledge and insight I gained here is the most applicable to my life beyond scholastic research.

I constantly find myself thinking about inequality, as it is something immensely bugs me. We are all born into different situations, and as we grow, we gain a socioeconomic and cultural identity. This identity is vastly influential as to what we do with our lives, and what opportunities are available to us. I have said it many times before, I believe that humans are inherently good, and the majority of our ailments and prejudices are taught and absorbed through illogical, uneducated outlooks on society and culture.

Now how does this relate to our course? Well I believe that if humans could overall exert more critical reflectivity then we as a species could become more cohesive and appreciative of each other. Critical reflectivity regarding research is a process of constant, self-conscious scrutiny of the self as a researcher and of the research process (Hooykaas, 2021). I believe that if people applied this level of reflection to their opinions on political, societal, and everyday issues it could be immensely powerful in making our world a better place.

Furthermore, understanding one’s identity is essential to being able to be critically reflective, and recognizing power dynamics. Ones identity comes from where they were born, what level of affluence their guardians have, what gender and which race they are, etc. We must encourage people to recognize their biases and be critically reflective of how their success and position in society is not fully but often incredibly correlated to their identity. All of these identities come in confluence to creating power dynamics. Being aware of power dynamics is important for people being ethical and fostering better ethics in society is an excellent way to better it.

In summary, I think that the lessons from week 2 on critical reflectivity, power dynamics, and identity can go a very long way to mending broken relations created throughout thousands of years of history. I believe that if people can be educated and learn qualities like empathy, understanding, and proper ethics, society will advance much faster.

Hooykaas, A. (2021, January 19). Week 2: Philosophy, Power, Politics, and Research Design. Lecture. Retrieved March 1, 2021, from https://courselink.uoguelph.ca/d2l/le/content/668082/viewContent/2673139/View

[awgeog2260]

Interview with the Geographer

Interview Participant:

My group and I are researching Rural Geography for our digital storytelling project. A resource our group valued while doing the preliminary research for our digital storytelling project was the Journal of Rural and Community Development. I am interested in community development because I believe that collective decision making produces the best solutions to overcome common issues, and creates resilient, diverse communities, among other things. For the sake of this blog prompt, I would like to interview one of the authors of an article I found particularly interesting that is titled “The Battle of Little Big Puck: Narratives of Community, Sport, and Relationships in Rural Canada”. Specifically, I would interview Kyle Rich. I would interview this author because I am fascinated with the article they co-wrote. The article is about how sport and recreation impacts the lives and cultures of people living in remote communities. Kyle Rich, PHD, is an assistant professor of Recreation Studies at Brock University and is interested in how community, policy, and societal factors impact experiences in sport in rural and remote areas (Brock University, Faculty).

Pictured is a still from the film “The Grizzlies”, which is based on a true story about how lacrosse changes the lives of a group of Inuit students living in the small Arctic town of Kugluktuk. Source:https://www.landmarkcinemas.com/film-info/grizzlies-the

Interview questions:

1. How do you feel sport and recreation impacts people living in remote and/or rural areas?

I would hope to gain insight on the importance of this theme in rural geography. I would hope that Dr. Rich would be able to tell me how his area of study impacts rural people from his perspective since he has done extensive research on this topic.

2. How can municipal governments improve the availability and/or accessibility of activities in their communities? 

For this question, I would hope to get information from Dr. Rich on local government’s role in providing these services for people living in remote communities, based on his analysis of how policies and funding affects communities.

3. How do remote/rural communities differ in terms of availability and/or accessibility of sports, recreation, or other activities?

I would like to get some insight on the differences in urban recreational activities and rural activities. I would like to see the specific importance of these activities in remote settings, as well as understand barriers that rural communities face in terms of capacity and resources.

4. How does working with rural community members and organizers help you to analyze and address local issues?

Since Dr. Rich is a community based researcher, I would like to know how his approaches and methods help to build a bottom-up approach in the research process, and how his work helps local communities. 

5. Why/how is the work you do important to you?

Lastly, I would like to get some insight on why Dr. Rich does this work. I think this is an important question because it would help me understand the potential and driving forces for this kind of community development work in rural geography. This would be a follow-up question, which he could build on answers from all previous questions.

How I Decided on these Questions:

I made sure my questions are open ended, and the possible answers were not just yes or no’s. This allows the interview participant to drive the conversation (Hay, 2016, p.151). My first few questions are primary questions to open the conversation up to the main issues, and the last question is a secondary question to elaborate on the importance of the themes we discussed earlier (Hay, 2016, p.154). Most of my questions are opinion and storytelling questions, which page 155 of the Hay (2016) explains. I chose these types of questions because Dr. Rich is an expert in his field and has lots of insight to share from his personal observations and personal experiences. I started with a question I believe would be easy for Dr. Rich to respond to. Hay (2016) says that this is a good way to get the informant familiar with the interview. Lastly, I chose these questions because they help with my understanding of my research project, and they are questions I truly would like to know the answers to. 

Please let me know how you found my questions, and what I could improve on in my hypothetical interview. :)

References:

Brock University. Faculty. Retrieved from https://brocku.ca/applied-health-sciences/recreation-leisure/faculty-research/faculty-directory/kyle-rich-phd/

Hay, I. (2016). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography. Toronto. Oxford University Press.

Rich, et al. (2020). The Battle of Little Big Puck: Narratives of Community, Sport, and Relationships in Rural Canada. Journal of Rural and Community Development. 15.

[akgeog2260]

Hello Alanna! It seems you have an excellent grasp on how to setup an interview, and it was honestly difficult to find anyway for you to improve your questions. If I were to suggest one think it would be to include more devil's advocate type questions. I personally just believe these are one of the strongest type of questions to ask, as they get details that asking opinion or structural questions don’t. For example you could ask, “Why aren’t there more sports programs in rural communities?” This question would get to a deeper understanding of the socio-economic reason why there might be a lack of recreation in some communities. That question is similar to your question #2, but might intrigue more emotion in your subject and get more advanced answer! Overall great work, and hopefully you get to interview Kyle someday! 

[akgeog2260]

Interviewing Dr. Wolfgang Streeck

Who?

I will be interviewing Wolfgang Streeck, the current Director at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Societies in Cologne. The reason I will be interviewing Wolfgang is because he is an economic sociologist who believes in the power of demography in explaining development. This is important to me as I hope to study these fields as well, and I believe he would have great insight into how demography is backbone of human geography. Specifically, he wrote an opinion essay on why demographics and political economy are inseparable, and I’d like to ask him about the ideas behind it.

Questions;

1. Can you describe a complexity of demography through the lens of dominant political economic system of capitalism?

In this opening question I would hope to gain further insight about how capitalism influences demography. This will reveal how Dr. Streeck thinks about the interdisciplinary aspects of demography and the political economy.

2. What do you think Japan could’ve done to avoid their extremely low birth rate, is the political economy to blame?

In this question I hope to gain insight into why the political economy of one of the worlds oldest developed nations lead to it becoming so unstable demographically speaking, or if there were other factors involved instead.

3. Do you believe that the demographics of Japan over time are a model that other OECD countries are inevitably going to replicate?

Here I have posed a contrasting question, to compare an experience of one place to another, in hopes of further drawing solutions to this aging problem out of Dr. Streeck. I also hope to reference his answer to this question with the previous to conclude about the distinctiveness of place and its effects on demographics.

4. What is your opinion on population control methods in developing nations?

This is a controversial topic, with many scholars arguing for and against implementing birth control programs in global south countries. I aim to gain insight into what a leading scholar might think, and how the political economy of a globalized world has caused this cry for birth control.

5. How might we be able to leverage demographic knowledge to help sustainable development through the entire world, not just the global south?

This question aims to find out about higher theories that Dr. Streeck might have, and how demography will be an essential field of study in regards to creating a sustainable future for mankind. I believe this question could also lead to further discussion, and if time permits I would like to follow up with secondary questions such as; Is our political economic system compatible with sustainable development?

Why These Questions?

I used the PowerPoint from this week to guide how I decided on each question. I started with a primary question to initiate discussion and form the topic/theme I will be posing my interview about. After that, I moved into storytelling questions with the hope of being able to swing these responses into expansive follow up questions about a specific scenario. The two questions on Japan are my example of that. Moving on from there, I tried out an opinion question to reveal a global context beyond OECD countries, I am aiming to find any impressions and feelings that a leading scholar on family life/demographics would have about something controversial. Lastly, I followed up my last question with a secondary devils advocate type question. Regardless of his answer about population control, the insight into what solution he’s undoubtedly theorized about over his many years of study is very valuable. In conclusion, I will use a variety of different types of questions to try to influence Dr. Streeck to divulge his answers to controversial, and existential questions.

[chgeog2260]

Tourism Industry: One of COVID-19's many victims

Growing up on an island where tourism is one of the biggest contributors to the economy, I have seen with my own eyes the impact of the decline in tourism due to COVID-19. My research would be focused on the repercussions that COVID-19 has on those unemployed by the tourism sector. It is estimated that tourism employs more than 220 million people globally (Saarinen et al. 2011). With limitless resources, I aim to focus on the major impact’s COVID-19 has on tourism and the unemployment it has caused to so many of these people.

Quantitative research

I would begin my research by investigating how many people worldwide have been unemployed in the tourism industry. I would then look into specific countries with the most amount of unemployment and see if there is a link between the amount of unemployed people and the regulations out in place by that country. It could be that there are more unemployed in certain countries because they have completely blocked their borders to any tourists.

Qualitative research

I would approach my qualitative research though ethnographic research. I would interview those who have lost their job in the tourism sector due to COVID-19. When approaching this subject there are some things I would need to consider. Firstly, as unemployment is a sensitive subject it will be difficult for me to display dispassionate interpretation but when doing my research, I will keep this in mind to make sure the research is not influenced by my outside perspective. I would also have to acknowledge and unpack my invisible backpack. I would mention that I as a university student am privileged to be the one researching this and I am not the one being impacted by this unemployment. In terms of the types of questions I would ask the people I am interviewing; I would ask questions to get insight of the outcome of the unemployment. For example:

- How are you coping during these times?

- Do you have any fears for the future of the tourism industry?

- Is there support available for you?

- If so, is this support sufficient?

- Are you guaranteed a job once things begin to “normalize”?

- What do you think of the governments?

With this qualitative research I want to see if the unemployed are getting support through these hard times and how they view the policies in place that may have led to their unemployment. I also wish to know how they generally feel about the unemployment and their thoughts on the future of their job.

Ethics

I am aware my research can impact many people. In my interviews I need to make sure that names are kept confidential and the questions I am asking are not leading questions and that they feel comfortable and do not think I am being judgmental towards their answers. I would also make sure that I have consent prior to interviewing them and that they are aware they do not have to answer anything they are uncomfortable answering. I would also make sure to get consent to publish the results whilst still keeping their information confidential.

Who will benefit?

With limitless resources I am hoping that this research would help get the attention of the governments who aren’t helping the unemployed enough. I would also hope that it would encourage those living in tourist destinations to help out the local’s businesses and if they can go on “staycations” and take part in the touristy activities. As this is a pandemic, I recognize there isn’t very much that can be done until the virus is better contained but if my research can help others realize how lucky they are to still be employed during these times then I think it can still be beneficial.

References

Saarinen, J., Rogerson, C., & Manwa, H. (2011). Tourism and Millennium Development Goals: tourism for global development?

[akgeog2260]

Hello Caitlyn! First of all I’d love to say that I love your topic and I think you would have an interesting perspective on it growing up on a tourist island. In regards to your invisible backpack, I think you should also make sure to think about your bias towards the tourism industry too. I am not saying in any means that the tourism industry doesn’t need the support, I could just foresee someone whos entire families wealth likely being interconnected with the industry to present heavy bias. Furthermore, if you plan to do this research now and not post-COVID you will need to plan extensively as your traveling could cause many ethical issues. I might suggest doing the research remotely via the internet if possible, or doing the research post-COVID with the goal of planning effectively for the next pandemic (HOPEFULLY THERE ISN’T BUT WE ALL KNOW THERE WILL BE). Overall I think this research proposal is excellent, and the outcomes will undoubtedly help more people than hurt. I think ethically if you can navigate your power relations/biases you would be the perfect person to conduct this research!

Thanks for the excellent read, looking forward to reading more of your work in the future.

-Adam

[akgeog2260]

Aluminum, Big Fossil Fuels Worst Nightmare

Research Project:

I think my ultimate research project would be researching the benefits of aluminum and standardization of containers towards the sustainability of our planet. My research project would involve lobbying for a combination of a select group of companies alongside a regional level government to switch from plastics to aluminum containers, and to implement an intensive recycling system. To properly attain results from this experiment it would take multiple years, and the coordination of many governmental agencies and corporation executives. My proposal would be that in the long-term the use of standardized aluminum containers in combination with an extensive recycling centre would lead to lowered costs to corporations, and lowered levels of environmental degradation. Aluminum is a cheap, infinitely recyclable, and doesn’t deteriorate into harmful micro particulates if the material gets into our environment. The focus of my research would be on firstly, convincing an entire region, and a variety of commodity chains to buy into this project. Secondly, reviewing the findings and compiling everything into a report. Lastly, I would hope that my findings were that aluminum was a better option for sustainability, and to lobby for these changes to be made at the provincial or federal level.

Ethics: 

In regard to ethics, my research could impact many people. Plastic production is massive industry linked to fossil fuels (as plastics are fossil fuels), and the outcomes of this research could potentially reshape that entire industry. The goal of my research is to prove my hypothesis that aluminum is a better alternative to plastics, and therefore my goal is subsequently to lower the amount of plastics created every year. As much as the people employed by the plastic industry might lose their jobs, there would also be new jobs created in both manufacturing and recycling of aluminum. The people that would benefit from this research would be literally every single human on the planet. This research would have the potential to vastly impact global warming rates (for the cooler), as well as it could begin to address the planets plastic pollution problem. I would like to do this research as soon as I am able, as I believe that if we do not change our logistics systems now, plastic will be choking our food supply indefinitely and it will be a mess far to impossible to clean up. There are certain power dynamics to be observed here. I must note that my livelihood is not intertwined with plastic production, while many family’s livelihoods are. It’s important to not assume that since I am researching within my own country that there is no hierarchy of power finically, and socially.

 How I’ll Make it Happen:

I will use a participant observational research method, that includes being involved in designing the recycling system, lobbying to get as many organizations and regions involved as possible, and attaining data from places like landfills, grocery stores, municipal governments, etc. I believe that this project would need a full team of researchers across a variety of different disciplines, as I myself am not yet exactly a waste management engineer.

 Disclaimer:

Obviously this blog post doesn’t include any facts or beginnings of the research as this concept of mine is just theoretical, but I do truly hope to explore this one day, as I think it would be one of the best ways for me to help save our planet from devastation, and that truly has been my only goal in life (well besides drinking beer anyways). Hope you guys enjoyed this read, can’t wait to hear what you have to say 😊.

 References:

DeJonge, M. (2008). Comparison of the Fuel Needed to Transport Plastic Recyclables Verses Aluminum Recyclables from Yellowstone National Park. DigitalCommons@University of Nebraska - Lincoln. https://digitalcommons.unl.edu/envstudtheses/5/.

Onstad, E. (2019, October 17). Plastic bottles vs. aluminum cans: who'll win the global water fight? Reuters. https://www.reuters.com/article/us-environment-plastic-aluminium-insight-idUSKBN1WW0J5.

I didn’t use any specific ideas from these ^, just good reads if anyone wants to get a gist of the topic!

[jkgeog2260]

Living in Siberia for 70 Years – Agafia Lykova

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68&feature=emb_title

The VICE study takes place studying a 70 year old lady names Agafia Lykova, she has been living with total disconnect from the rest of the world. Agafia lives deep in the woods of Siberia and is 160 miles from the nearest town. Agafia’s family moved up into Siberia because they belong to a form of Christianity called Russia’s Old Believers and were worried about persecution from the Stalin rule. Agafia has lived in isolation for most of her life and every time she has went into the city she has fell ill. This is not the first time that Agafia’s family had researchers study her way of life in 1978.

The VICE documentary sent researchers to go live with Agafia in the Siberian Taiga to examine her way of life and try to get a greater understanding of what it is like to be completely disconnected from the industrial world. The research that was conducted consisted of the researchers participating in subsistence activities such as cutting firewood and shovelling snow off the roof. The researchers also conducted a series of structured interviews about her life, religion and what Siberian life is like

The researchers seemed to be considerate of Agafia and even brought her a goat as a thank you for the opportunity. The researchers also seemed to understand possible ethical concerns and risks. The researchers did not impose their own values on Agafia and were compassionate, this was shown in their interviews. The researchers at VICE made a conscious effort to minimize their impact of Agafia’s life and even stayed in their own tent. This helped avoid the researchers possibly giving Agafia any illness.  

The invisible backpack of the researcher include money, this gives the researchers access to a variety of services that include access to a helicopter if someone was to get injured. The researchers also have access to cell phones to contact others. However, the researchers did a very good job of minimizing the prominence of this invisible backpack. Apart from their modern clothes and tent, VICE did a good job at making the study as non-intrusive as possible.  

If I were to be conducting this research, I would be interested in participating in all her daily activities and chore that she does daily to tend to the house and survive. I believe that this would be the most engaging and would offer the most insight on what it is like to live off the land. I also believe that doing research in this way helps embrace Agafia’s culture and values and would minimize the presence of cultural differences.  

Citation

VICE (Producer). (2013). Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 Years (Full Length) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68&feature=emb_title

[akgeog2260]

Hello Jonah! I enjoyed reading your post as it shows you understood the complexities of the research mission these reporters went on. Specifically about the invisible backpack, it was awesome that you spoke on how they attempted to minimize their impact on Agafia’s life, which was true! Them staying in a tent was considerate as it did help them not transmit any illnesses to her. This current pandemic has taught us all more about epidemiology than we ever thought we would need to know, and I wonder why they didn’t wear face coverings. It just seems a huge risk to Agafia’s health as she ahs gotten sick so consistently with contact with the outside world, and especially since contact with the outside world did kill more than half her family. I think there are more ethical considerations to be made though that the researchers glanced over, such as exposing someone who wants to stay isolated to the eyes of millions of people. I liked you ending paragraph where you stated that minimzing the presence of cultural differences was important in this study, I totally agree!

Thanks for participating, great post!

-Adam

[akgeog2260]

Agaifa the Wonderful.

Who?

The story of Agafia Lykov can be interpreted through many different scholarly lenses, as the story involves history, faith, societal impacts, and geography. Her story began in 1944, born in the middle of the Siberian wilderness to a family that would come to be her mother, father, another sister and two brothers. Agafia’s parents fled from Stalin’s authoritative regime to avoid persecution in 1936, and they never left the wilderness. To exemplify just how isolated they were, they had to be told about world war 2 AFTER it was already over!

Research Strategy

The researchers were using a participant observational strategy to gather information about Agafia and her family’s history. They leveraged connections through their news agency in Russia to fly out via helicopter to live with Agaifa for a period of several days. They were actively involved her lifestyle by helping with chores, “She put Gleb to work.” This active engagement is a strong research technique as it immerses the individual to a certain extent in the life of the subject being observed. It should be acknowledged though that there is no way for them to fully be immersed, and this is part of their invisible backpack.

Privelege

The invisible backpack that was being carried by the researchers was one of privilege, as they would indeed be heading back into society after several days. Their privilege can be summarized through this quote form one of the researchers, “She starts her day with prayers, we start ours with coffee.” This quote is meant to be a joke obviously, but it is one based on the privilege that they do not need to pray for good fortune from the wilderness as they do not rely on it as modern humans only visiting. It is not explictely mentioned in the video about their privilege, but they make a few other comments throughout about the harshness of the land comparably to common civilization.

Ethics

There are a few ethical considerations to be had about visiting Agaifa and conducting this research. The first that comes to mind would be disease possibilities. Agaifa has been isolated her entire life, and this means she has 0 immunity to many diseases of the modern world. Every time she went into town during her life (less than 5 times), she got sick to some extent. Furthermore, her 3 siblings all died of pneumonia the very first time they had contact with the outside world! I would be very concerned about infecting her. The other ethical concern would be that she likely doesn’t want people to know about her! The more media attention she gets the more likely that outsiders will attempt to visit and harass her. If the researchers were to stay distant from her, they would lower the chance of transmission of any diseases. Furthermore, if they had made a disclaimer saying not to attempt to visit her that would’ve helped, but instead they put a map of where her homestead was! Although it wasn’t an extremely accurate map, I am still concern she’ll end-up with worse outcomes in her life because of this exposure.

My take on Vice's approach

If I were given this research assignment, I would have approached it a bit differently. I would have been wary of the ethical considerations I mentioned above, and made sure to keep my distance from her, as well as making sure that nobody knows her location as to not spur any travellers from turning her lifestyle into a tourist attraction. As a white man from a rich country, I should make sure to note my privilege before heading out to visit her. I should understand that I can’t fully immerse myself in her lifestyle and I can’t truly communicate what it is like in several days time, as she has lived like this her entire life! 70 years is 3.5x the life I have experienced, so the least I could do is spend more than a singular week with her.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Agaifa is an amazing person, and her story should be fascinating to people across the world regardless of what they are interested in or study. I wish she was left alone more, but I do still appreciate the small window into her interesting life.

[kmgeog2260]

The Effects of Climate Change on Kiribati and how I would navigate research there

Kiribati is a low-lying country composed of many scattered islands near the equator. Due to the impacts of climate change, specifically ocean levels rising the country is soon to be the first to completely disappear. (AJ+, 2014) Using the case study of Kiribati’s struggle with the effects of climate change I will outline how I would go about conducting a geographical research project there.

Firstly, as a researcher that is coming from an outside perspective there are a view things I need to acknowledge. Being critically reflexive; a process of self-conscious scrutiny as a researcher (Hooykaas, 2021), is essential to creating good research. I need to acknowledge that I do not know what it is like to be a victim to such harsh environmental issues as well as reflect that I in many ways benefit from a system that is helping to destroy their country. There also comes the question of the power of that research, this meaning the likelihood that I will find a significant result/ effect (McHugh, 2018). Ideally in an urgent issue such as this one you would wish for something directly powerful, causing changes to policy because that is the only way to help keep Kiribati afloat, but I think the power of the research would ultimately lie in the stories that the participants have to tell of their lives and what they are losing. Many people may look at the research done on how an island they have never heard of is disappearing and have no reaction to that, I think the direction the research should go is to evoke an emotional response from readers in order to foster change.

How will I achieve this? Considering the roles of objectivity, subjectivity and intersubjectivity there are a lot of aspects that could be included in a study on Kiribati’s situation. Objectively speaking I think it would be smart to show the numbers on the correlation between carbon emissions and ocean levels. Then show proof of the shrinking land mass of the Kiribati islands. This alone will not mitigate the issues they are facing, but I think that it is important to first prove to people that this is actually happening right now. Subjectively, as a researcher I would then connect stories and interviews from Kiribati’s citizens about not only their land depleting but also the struggles of losing their culture associated with that land. Lastly from an intersubjective view I would try to look at interpersonal relations between myself and the citizens involved as well as different factors effecting the country. Linking ties between not only climate change and its effects but also economic, political and social ones that might be enhancing the issue. The role of intersubjectivity on this research could as well be allowing the process to flow and adapt to changes as well as my opinions to new information being shared. A key aspect to this is to also to understand that I come from an outsider perspective and that will have impacts on my worldview and personal biases to their situation I am researching.

How does this relate to geography? Looking through the lens of human geographic approaches to research I perspective that I would choose to conduct this research would be a mix of historical and critical. There is great historic relevance to this case such as interpreting why Kiribati is in the situation they are in today, what ecological, economic or political powers of the past might have influenced this and how can I use this information to justify the mitigating processes I propose. I also think that a critical lens in this situation is also crucial, to be able to analyze, question, interpret and synthesize the information prevalent would be extremely helpful. As well as this approach keeps in mind the authors and participants intentions, lives and relationships along the way which is a good tool to have while doing subjective or intersubjective research.

How Might I best Serve this Country?

Personally, I am a 19-year-old female from Canada, although that does grant me many privileges, I do not hold very much political power. Although my position on the world stage is not one of power with the age of social media we are in I could help to spread awareness on the research that I hypothetically did. Not only just awareness of this issue but also remind people that the horrors of climate change have already began, this is happening now. Ways in which we can help countries like Kiribati are watching our own carbon footprint, and to advocate and vote in favour of green initiatives to stop the rise of global temperatures.

McHugh, M. (2018, August 07). Power analysis in research. Retrieved January 20, 2021, from https://www.biochemia-

AJ+ (Director). (2014, December 8). Kiribati: The Sinking Islands Being Destroyed By Climate Change[Video file]. Retrieved January 18, 2021, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P7jXveokDY

[akgeog2260]

Hi Kaya,

First of all, great post! I am interested specifically about the portion where you spoke on getting an emotional response out of the readers of your research through finding tough stories in Kiribati. I similarly agree to this strategy. I think that the quantitative numbers behind sea level rise and global warming have been shown time and time again, and yet people still struggle to agree with it. I think showing a whole nation lose its culture, land, and feeling of connectedness might be enough to light a fire under certain climate change deniers. Furthermore, I think that being critically reflective throughout the process would indeed by essential. There are a plethora of power dynamics and objective differences between us (the researchers) and the people we are researching. Taking note of these imbalances will help us frame our research in an unbiased way as much as possible. Lastly, I like your thought on historically analyzing the island, as history has much power in explaining inaction and deriving passion from people to promote change! 

Looking forward to reading more of your posts!

-Adam

[akgeog2260]

Hope for Kiribati

Kiribati is an island nation in the South Pacific Ocean. Its low elevation has left it susceptible to rising sea levels driven by climate change. In this blog, I will outline a theoretical research method that I would use to hopefully aid the people of Kiribati by assisting getting the worlds attention about the crisis.

The first aspect of this research that should be looked at is the power dynamics present. The information I gather will likely end up published in a journal hopefully (lets pretend theoretically I am actually smart enough for this), and thus it will be credible information for policy makers to reference and impact change. Beyond the direct powerfulness of my findings, there will also be indirect outcomes as my research will affect how the common person views global warming and Kiribati aswell. Furthermore, I must understand that I am in a potentially exploitative relationship with the individuals I’ll be interviewing, and I must also be wary of objectivity, subjectivity, and Intersubjectivity. Being critically reflective throughout this process is crucial if I want my findings to be an accurate representation of the not so obvious impacts that climate change is having on Kiribati and it’s peoples.

I can be critically reflective by looking at the issue subjectively, objectively, and intersubjectively. I must acknowledge that I have objectively no connection to the island of Kiribati, so I cannot fully ever understand what life is like there on a day to day basis over the long term. Yet I do objectively have a connection to the people of the island as I care deeply about displaced peoples as a person with empathy. Subjectively I also must realize that I am biased to believe every story that I hear, as going into this research I believe in global warming, and I believe it is displacing these people. This in mind, I must think critically about information received through my interviews. Finally, in regards to intersubjectivity, I should furthermore acknowledge the power-dynamic between the locals and myself. My social position as an established researcher in a global north country cannot be hidden or changed, so I should note that I might need to pursue alternative research methods beyond one to one interviews as this might stir exaggeration or lies in hope of exacerbating the issue.

In regards to my research lens, I shall be conducting my research through a historical lens with a botto-up approach. I want to speak with elders of the island, who have the greatest context to how the islands have changed. I want to view inter their wisdom of how the islands changing has affected their culture and nation of peoples. I want to work from the bottom-up to find the history from primary sources before I make it to speaking with government officials. This would hopefully give me good context on the situation so I can think critically and prepare a fair assessment. I foresee without a doubt the issues in Kiribati to be real, drastic, and happening rapidly. Yet I should not let this cloud my subjective research lens and give me any bias. An inaccurate or exaggerated report could end up harming the nation more than helping it to get aid quicker.

I realistically think the best way that I can help this country would be to collect as many real quotes, stories, and histories from Kiribatians as possible. I believe those who accept science are aware of the quantitative reasons that are causing global warming, and revealing more of that would be just repeating previously down science. Yet, revealing and showing the world these qualitative and real, raw cries for help from the Kiribatians might do more to change the minds of capitalists spewing carbon into our atmosphere worldwide.

Kiribati: The Sinking Island Being Destroyed by Climate Change. YouTube. AJ+, 2014. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P7jXveokDY.