GEOG 2260 Blog @jbgeog2260 - Tumblr Blog

The End of a Semester...

Introduction

Wow. This semester has been so topsy turvy - going through a pandemic with multiple lockdowns, online learning, the stress of the world around us…I applaud all of us for making it through this incredibly difficult time!

I want to note that, like some of my peers, I would not have picked to take this course had it not been required. I prefer physical and environmental geography over human geography, so naturally I was planning on going in a different direction. I am now so grateful that I took this course!!! One of my career aspirations is to work with National Geographic, and it has now been made clear to me how vital it is to learn the intricacies of research and its methods/techniques. As someone who would rather do field work than a desk job, I am excited to one day apply all my new knowledge in research to the field I plan to work in!

Three things I know for certain about human geography research:

There are three things that stick out in my mind when I reflect back on what I have learned in this course.

First, the concept of the “visible backpack” has stuck with me. Not only while working through this course work, but also work for other courses, while watching documentaries for my own entertainment, and maybe most importantly in this day and age, when watching stories on the news. As we have learned in Week 3, the “invisible backpack” takes into account all the features of the researcher, including ethnicity, gender, background, and more. These factors can greatly affect the manner in which data is perceived. An example I think of often is the wealthy, young men who interviewed Agafia in the Serbian wilderness. With their backpacks, they could not have possibly fully understood all that Agafia went through, and continues to go through today. This is an important reminder that all research has room for potential error or bias, depending on the exact situation. This allows me to reserve all judgement, and try to see things from all angles before forming an opinion. The invisible backpack can also relate to critical reflectivity.

Secondly, the importance of ethical research has been thoroughly engrained in me through this course. In my opinion, data obtained in an unethical way should be seen as null and void. It can be as simple as asking for someone to make a statement, or as complex as invading a prohibited area to try and fetch data (think of the man trying to preach Christianity to the native people of the Sentinelese island, subsequently getting killed - though this is not exactly a research incident, it is very prominently unethical). Entire research projects can be rendered invalid if the proper ethics are not followed, so I am thankful that this subject was taught and emphasized so much during this course.

Finally, Professor Hooykaas taught us in a way that really engrained the importance of verifying and evaluating sources into our minds. I have been reminded that sources cannot just be blindly trusted - they must be critically evaluated, just like the article itself.

Three things I am still confused by:

The Week 8 activity of coding was certainly challenging at first. While once completed I see the appeal of the organizational technique, it was intimidating to begin, and I quite honestly dreaded that week’s blogging activity. After completion, however, it was very beneficial when narrowing down topics for my Digital Storytelling Project!

Second, I am unsure how to overcome the invisible backpack. No matter who the researcher is, they are not identical to their subject, and cannot fully comprehend their views. I am curious to learn more about how to overcome this and avoid any possible complications that may arise.

Lastly, I am still slightly uncertain about “when enough is enough”. When, while performing research, have you obtained enough data without simultaneously having too much information? I feel this may be remedied by experience.

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

Firstly, while I know I would like to pursue research in my career, I now know that there are fields that interest me more than human geography. While no doubt interesting, I now know for sure that my interests lie in the more physical/environmental sides of geography.

Second, I know that I can approach research situations with an open mind. I am confident that I can avoid any foreseeable biases in order to have the highest quality outcome possible.

Finally, I feel that I could employ research in a way that has an overall positive impact on the world. Following ethics and my own morals, I know I can conduct research that holds importance in the betterment of our environment.

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

As I mentioned above, I would like to get a sense of familiarity to determine when the amount of research I have done has become too much. I of course want to have all the information, but it still must be conveyed in a digestible manner.

Second, I would like to practice with what types of interview questions are the most beneficial, and what types of questions to ask per scenario. Knowing that will save some stress, help narrow down specific questions, and yield specific results that pertain more closely to the goal in question.

Finally, I would like to develop my skills as a student more. Transitioning to online learning was certainly challenging. By taking this course, I can more qualitatively reflect in on myself and the world around me.

Conclusion

Thank you to all my peers who interacted with my blog this semester! It was a unique way to connect with you all - especially in a remote setting! Be sure to reach out at any time :)

Your peer, Robin Hounsell

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.

jbgeog2260

Hi Robin, thanks for sharing your thoughts about this semester, I really enjoyed reading your post!

You demonstrated a clear understanding of many things in this course and it is cool how you have been able to make use of this material outside of the class as well! The importance of knowing one’s invisible backpacks is something you showed thorough knowledge of and I agree it is something that can be utilized in everyday life to make a big difference in our perspectives. I hadn’t actually thought about how to overcome these issues and I believe this is a great point you bring up and I would love to gain a greater understanding of this as well! Your discussion on the significance of making ethical considerations was very well thought out and I can tell that as a human geography researcher you would thrive in this area.

I too am drawn more to the physical more side of geography, but you made a good point that while this was a human geography course, Professor Hooykaas taught us many things that could be used outside of this course such as evaluating sources and countless aspects of research in general. Geography is a clear passion of yours and I’m sure that with your already acquired skills along with some more practise of those you feel less confident in, you will be a very successful, opened-minded researcher in whatever field of geography you choose!

Josh

atgeog2260

My Final post

This course has been an eye opening experience and has taught me so much. For my final post I will discuss some of the ups and downs of the course, concepts that were difficult to grasp, concepts I most enjoyed and how this has shaped me into the human geographer that I am today.

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

I know for sure that a lot of qualitative methods of research are used more often than quantitative. Because you are dealing with people , stories, experiences and cultures it is hard to quantify this kind of data in a graph or represent it statistically. (Hay.2016.pg5).

In order to work in the field of human geography having a good sense of ethics and respect for others is essential. Because you are dealing with a multitude of people all from rich and diverse backgrounds you must have some respect for fellow human beings. One thing to keep in mind when dealing with people is the sense of power dynamics (Hay.2016.pg35), this can lead to unjust policy making decisions, data being swayed to favor one group over another etc. This ties into the idea of ‘the invisible backpack’ ,“Does everyone engage in the world in the same ways? Describing one’s privileges makes one newly accountable.”(Hooykaas, Week 2, 2021). An invisible backpack is all the privileges we carry around with us everyday, and heavily influences how we view the world and how we treat others. Treating everyone with the same respect and mutual understanding no matter what they carry with them is an important part to data collection in this sub field.

Critical reflexivity is also a term used a lot in human geography and is a key element to qualitative research. “Reflexivity, is a process of constant, self -conscious scrutiny of the self as researcher and of the research process. In other words, being reflexive means analyzing your own situation as if it were something you were studying”(Hay. 2016.pg34). I know for sure that this is a crucial part to any form or research, case study or situation. Always to keep an open minded unbiased approach and to look at your own work from another persons point of view.

These three things I am still confused by:

Luckily the majority of the concepts discussed throughout this course I found easy to grasp. However, the concept of coding discussed in week 8 still gives me some trouble(Hooykaas.2021. week8). “Coding is a process by which researchers structure and interpret qualitative data. When doing discourse analysis, coding serves two primary functions: organization and analysis of source materials“ (Hay 2016, p302). I understand what coding is and why it is done, but when we were digging deeper into the types of coding (whether you have inductive or deductive coding and whether you use flat coding or hierarchical coding etc) this is when things got a little confusing for me.

Another concept I found to be challenging was discussed in chapter 6 of the textbook ‘Qualitative research design and rigour’. “The questions we ask, the cases and participants we involve in our studies, and the ways in which we ensure the rigour of our work need to be considered; these are hallmarks of any dependable research”(Hay.2016.p117). The whole process of designing a research project seems to be a very daunting task, and with the numerous types of research methods and sub methods I found myself getting confused. I was asking myself ‘which method is effectively used for which scenario?’ and ‘how do you know you have used the right one?’ Etc.

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

As a human geographer I know I will try to keep an open mind, be respectful and ethical when conducting research. I know I am capable of searching for sources and filtering out ones that aren’t applicable to my research. I am capable of analyzing data and reporting on my findings and effectively communicating with peers and coworkers.

I know I am personally interested in exploring and learning about different cultures and their unique practices. I absolutely loved the number of case studies we looked at in this class. I watch case studies and documentaries on other cultures’ way of life in my free time, so to be assigned this as homework was an absolute joy to me. Because of this I especially loved the hypothetical research blog post (blog post4), something about learning how the geography of a landscape has such a large impact on the culture that inhabits it fascinates me. This is something chapter 7 of the class textbook discusses in more depth.

“The primary guiding philosophical assumption is that in-depth understanding about one manifestation of a phenomenon (a case) is valuable on its own without specific regard to how the phenomenon is manifest in cases that are not studied” (Hay. 2016.pg131)

One documentary I watched recently that I found to be interesting and quite beautiful I would like to share with you all (see below)

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

What confused me about the topics we discussed in this course are also areas I would like to improve on. These areas may have been confusing but I would also like to work at them as they are essential elements to the research processes.

As well as the art of conducting a good Interview. Though I have had little experience with this I feel this is a very valuable skill to master. I feel an interview is a valuable piece of qualitative data to support a research project. Oral histories (discussed in chapter 9) are a form of interview and are also a valuable source of data. Having a real life story told by someone who was present during the time of an event , gathering first-hand knowledge surrounding this event/subject is very vital information.

I would also like to improve upon my research gathering abilities. Narrowing down my research questions/search terms is something I am still working on. This will be useful so that my search results are more applicable to what I am searching for.

References

Hay, Iain. Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography. Fourth ed., Oxford, 2016. Chapters 1,2,6,7,8,9

Hooykaas, (2021). Week 8, Coding

Hooykaas, (2021).Week 2 Philosophy, Power, Politics, and Research Design

jbgeog2260

Hi Abigail, I really enjoyed reading your final post!

I agree that the qualitative data studied in this field of geography completely changes everything about the research process. From planning ahead of the study and making ethical considerations and knowing one’s invisible backpack, to constantly reflecting on how one is performing the research throughout, and finally doing the final write-up and making sure the results are not affected by the researcher. I believe these are some of the most important concepts in human geography and it is awesome that you feel confident in your understanding of them. I also agree that coding is a very complicated concept, and I felt quite intimidated by it the first time we learned about it. I myself feel as though I understand the basis of it but not the whole picture. I can definitely see the benefit of diving deeper into this concept as well, as it is a skill that could be used in many areas of academic life.

That’s super cool that you enjoy watching case studies in your own time, I can see how you would be so intrigued by this class! I never really watched them on my own but I have to say I did get excited when we were required to watch them because they truly are so fascinating! It’s amazing how being in different geographical locations can impact society so much and I believe using films in case studies is a great way of presenting this work. Would you ever want to do your own case study documentary?

Thanks for sharing!

Josh

Reflecting on a Semester in Applied Human Geography

Introduction:

As a first-year geography student, and having only taken one human-specific geography course before this, there have been many things that I have learned which have expanded my understanding of both geography and research in general, as well as things that I still need to dive deeper into to fully grasp.

What I Know About Human Geography:

Something I learned early on in the course that I felt shaped the rest of the course content, was how qualitative data in human geography differs from quantitative data and the impact this has on research in this field. While working with humans and studying their relationship with and across space, it is extremely important to consider how the research could impact them and how this subjective data could be interpreted differently by both the researcher and the participant (Hay, 2016, Chapter 1).

This is why I believe critical reflexivity and ethics are two of the most important aspects of human geography. To be critically reflexive means that, as well as focusing on the research itself, researchers must focus on how the research is being done, the process, and who they are as a researcher (Hay, 2016, Chapter 1). Specifically, the researcher should look at their position of power and how that could influence the participant’s engagement in the research process and the way the participants are perceived in the final write-up (Hay, 2016, Chapter 1).

On top of that, critical reflexivity also includes understanding that since everyone is different; comes from different places and has different opinions, human geographic data will be subjective and that the way the researcher perceives the data could potentially be different than how the participant meant it (Hay, 2016, Chapter 1).

Similar to critical reflexivity, ethical issues can arise during qualitative research because all subjects are different and can be affected by the research. Ethics is all about making sure the research participants are respected throughout the process. While critical reflexivity focuses on data being acquired throughout the process, ethical considerations occur beforehand and focus on how the participants could be impacted by the study. By participating in research, people have to sacrifice something to be a part of it, whether it be time, vulnerability or privacy (Hooykaas, 2021, Week 3). For this reason, ethical considerations also consist of thinking about how the participants can be compensated and how their privacy and vulnerability can be concealed and protected (Hooykaas, 2021, Week 3).

Things I Am Confused By:

Looking back through my notes, I feel as though I have a good understating of the majority of research methods discussed in class. However, there are a couple of aspects I am still confused by. The first is some of the research approaches from the first lecture such as naturalist, anti-naturalist, realism, anti-realism, which I was unable to find a clear description of in the textbook.

Second is how this course focused on two types of human research; research done directly with other humans, and research based on past studies through analyzing data. What I am stumped on here is whether the research methods we learned about in class only relate to research done directly with other humans, or if they can also be used in acquiring data from the past. This became confusing to me when working on the digital storytelling project as we were asked to name research techniques for our project, however, the only research we could do was analyzing peer-reviewed journals and other articles.

Lastly, I found that when doing many of my blog posts such as analyzing the research done on Agafia Lykov and my dream research project, I often missed crucial ethical considerations that should have been made. For this reason, while I have a good understanding of the importance of making ethical, I feel as though I am still confused about specifically what considerations should be made in certain situations.

What I know for Certain about me as a Human Geographic Researcher:

As I have said in previous blogs, my interest in geography stems from the physical side of geography. Therefore, as a human geographer, I would be more drawn to researching issues and topics heavily involving the environment, such as the Kiribati Islands case study.

Along with this, I have noticed I do not love analyzing and reading through articles to acquire data. For this reason, I believe most of my research would be done in the field, interacting with other humans and using research methods like grounded theory, participant observation, semi-structured interviews to have the most authentic in-person research experience possible (Hay, 2016, Chapter 1). I also feel confident in these areas, especially interviews. Here, I understand the importance of using different styled questions depending on the circumstance, and overall starting with broad, descriptive questions to ease into the interview and slowly becoming more specific using, storytelling, opinion, structural, and contrast questions (Hay, 2016, Chapter 8).

While I don't love analyzing articles, I believe that when the time does come, I will have success in doing so, as I feel I have developed strong coding skills throughout this class. In general, I would prefer using deductive coding with a flat frame to acquire information fast, however, if my research required lots of information and data, I would use inductive coding with a hierarchical frame to make sure it stayed organized and connected (Hooykaas, 2021, Week 8).

Areas I Need To Spend Time Developing In Order To Feel More Confident In My Skills:

Something I feel I have struggled with not only in this course but also in other courses is assessing the value of data. I find that when doing research, articles with good authority often have too much information, causing them to have a weaker scope, while sources with a strong scope and get right to the point are many times influenced by an outside authority (Hooykaas, 2021, Week 5). Ideally, I would acquire data from sources with a strong scope in order to save time, however, I find I still have a difficult time knowing whether or not they are indeed valid. I believe that developing my skills in this area would be extremely beneficial as it would allow me to do my research in the most efficient way possible.

Another area I need to work on is writing in the third person when writing up geographical data. Since human geography is subjective, using the third person can turn data from an opinion and interpretation to actual facts, ensuring that the author has no impact on the results (Hay, 2016, Chapter 10). This can be difficult to do because qualitative data is required to be interpreted when forming a conclusion since results from humans are not set in stone like quantitative data.

Lastly, since I am confused about what specific ethical considerations should be made when preparing for a research project, I believe it would be beneficial to spend time analyzing past research projects and focusing on what ethical considerations were made in order to enhance my skills in this area.

Conclusion

Overall I enjoyed this class! And while human geography is not necessarily my passion like physical geography, I believe I developed many skills that I can take out of this field and use in many aspects of my academic life.

References

Hay, I. (2016). Qualitative Research Methods in Human Geography. [VitalSource Bookshelf]. Retrieved from https://bookshelf.vitalsource.com/#/books/9780199010912/

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Lecture Notes from GEOG 2260: Applied Human Geography

asgeog2260

National Geographic: Locust Plague Hits East Africa

I came across an interesting article posted by National Geographic yesterday entitled “A locust plague hit East Africa. The pesticide solution may have dire consequences” and was quite intrigued. This article was posted on March 24, 2021 by Tristan McConnell and explains the current situation on pesticide use in East Africa.

The article explains that since late 2019, a ridiculous number of locusts have been swarming several countries in East Africa, eating tons of crops and pastureland. With resources scarce, major steps have been taken in order to eliminate the insects. According to McConnell “a ground and air spraying campaign over eight East African countries, coordinated by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, has staved off the worst” (McConnell, 2021). While food stocks have been protected in order to feed millions, the potential effects of these pesticides could be quite devastating. McConnell also stresses that over half a million gallons of chemicals have been dumped, with no signs of slowing down. In my opinion the most interesting part of this article is how the author had expressed his feelings on a seemingly nonexistent environmental assessment plan. Further explaining the lack of research surrounding these chemicals in this particular location.

This article certainly provides an abundance of information on this topic, but is the article trustworthy? While National Geographic is one of the most popular magazines out today, there can certainly be some bias within the articles. Firstly, it is important to note that no sources have been listed in the article itself, but the author has made several references to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. Thus, this article would be considered more of an opinion piece, with the guided help of one decent source. Personally, I would have performed more research on the chemical being used in particular, diving into those scholarly journals to provide a few more solid sources to the case. As we have discussed several times throughout the semester, it is essential to back up all point through multiple scholarly sources to avoid bias.

Honestly, the subject matter of this article was very interesting, but does contain quite a bit of noise. It provides a background on the subject but lacks strong evidence. I would use this article as a steppingstone and perform more research in order to develop my own opinions. After reading the entire article, I do believe environmental impact assessments should be carried out on matters like this regardless.

Do you think the authors style of presenting the information should have been more scholarly, or is this just an example of a Geography magazine attempting to raise awareness?

McConnell, T. (2021, March 25). A Locust plague hit East Africa. the pesticide solution may have dire consequences. Retrieved March 26, 2021, from https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/article/locust-plague-hit-east-africa-pesticide-solution-may-have-dire-consequences

Hooykaas, A. University of Guelph, 2021

jbgeog2260

Hey Antonio, I really enjoyed reading your post!

I found it interesting that this article didn’t include any of its sources, especially since I’ve always considered National Geographic to be a very reputable, non-peer-reviewed source. I believe this demonstrates how important it is to do a literature review and verify an article even if you might be familiar with the platform. I agree that there is a lot more that could have been done to explain the contents of this article and to ensure the information is valid. Whether they are just trying to raise awareness, I think it is always necessary to incorporate trustworthy sources, as it is still important to know whether the awareness being presented is true. However, I doubt the regular reader of National Geographic would be looking for all the sources behind their information, which is likely why they are sometimes likely to not incorporate any.

Josh

Critical Evaluation of COVID-19 Variant Data in Ontario

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-variants-death-analysis-ontario-1.5964296

Key Message

The article, “60% higher risk of death from coronavirus variants, Ontario analysis finds: sources” by Lauren Pelley, describes the increasing amount of variant COVID-19 cases in Ontario and how they will potentially impact the risks of hospitalization and death, especially in younger populations. With variants making up more than half of the current COVID cases in Ontario, the growing contagiousness and deadliness of the disease is a significant cause for concern. These COVID Variants are said to have a 60 percent increased risk of hospitalization, a 100 percent increased risk of being admitted to an ICU, and a 60 percent increased risk of death. By presenting this data, CBC News hopes to make it clear that while the pandemic appears to be getting better, there are still important reasons to treat it with just as much caution as we have the whole time, and if not, with more. Lower COVID cases, the reopening of recently locked down activities like shopping and dining, and the increasing amount of vaccines can make it seem as though we are safe from COVID. However, with younger populations being unvaccinated, and more likely to engage in the recently opened activities, they are now more vulnerable than ever, especially with the rise of COVID Variants.

Sources and Verification

The quantitative data on COVID variants is the basis for this article and the main argument for why we must continue being extremely cautious around COVID (the key message of this article). For this reason, it is important to know where CBC is getting their data and how valid it is. Lauren Pelley explains that the majority of data was acquired from an upcoming briefing note prepared by members of Ontario’s science advisory table. She stated that while they didn’t receive a direct copy of the findings in the briefing note, they talked to multiple sources who had an idea of the contents. They were, however, unable to identify who they talked to in order to maintain confidentiality since the scientists were not permitted to talk about it publicly (Hooykaas, Week 9, 2021). It was also important for them to maintain confidentiality in case they misinterpreted the data, though this would be less likely to occur considering the data was mainly quantitative (Hooykaas, Week 9, 2021).

CBC demonstrated a clear effort to validate this data through interviews with experts in the field where they performed a dialectical analysis (Hooykaas, Week 9, 2021). The three people Pelley mentioned she talked to was Dr. Kali Barrett, a member of the COVID-19 Modelling Collaborative, Dr. Andrew Morris, an infectious disease specialist with Toronto's Sinai Health System, and Dr. Gerald Evans, an infectious disease specialist at Queen's University's. These experts completely agreed with the data and constantly related it to the fact that younger populations are likely to be at risk. To further prove validity, CBC compared their data with Denmark and the U.K., who were both hit hard by variants, and found that many of their findings were similar and lined up with one another. On top of that, CBC explained that Ontario Clinicians have been noticing COVID-19 patience to be much younger and sicker. This combination of sources to prove the validity of data is an example of triangulation and was very beneficial in this article as it helped make up for validity when one source was unable to (Hooykaas, Week 9, 2021). While dialectical analysis usually focuses on the conflicts in data, this analysis mainly focused on how the data made sense (Hooykaas, Week 9, 2021).

Expectations/Responsibilities of the Consumer

After reading this article, the consumers are left with the responsibility of making the change. CBC did a great job in proving the validity of this data which made it evident how severe the pandemic still is. Everyone, especially young people and those who are unvaccinated, must be extremely careful as the province reopens and continue to treat the pandemic with just as much caution as we always have, in order to prevent worsening the virus and spreading variants.

References

Hooykaas, A. (2021). Week 9: Writing Qualitative Geographies, Constructing Geographical Knowledge Data Analysis, Writing, and Re-Evaluating Research Aims Presenting Findings

Pelley, L. (2021, March 27). 60% higher risk of death FROM CORONAVIRUS variants, ontario analysis Finds: Sources | CBC News. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/covid-variants-death-analysis-ontario-1.5964296

Economic Trends and Population Geography

Articles

To bring more insight and understanding to our digital storytelling project, I decided to code two articles that would further prove the applicability of the field of population geography to many aspects of the world. I decided to code one peer-reviewed journal by Paul R. Voss, “Demography as a Spatial Social Science”, which explains and defines population geography and one article by The Economist, “Long-term macroeconomic forecasts Key trends to 2050”, on predicting economic trends. Through this coding, it became very evident that populations not only have a great impact on the economy but that economies affect populations as well.

Deductive and Flat Coding

In our proposal, one theme we talked about was population geography’s ability to predict changing economic trends. Having already brained stormed and discussed our ideas, I knew deductive coding was the way to go. I created four predefined codes based on this idea which would allow me to quickly find the most accurate and applicable information, relating to both my chosen articles. All four predefined codes I came up with had the same relative importance, and for that reason, I decided to incorporate a flat coding frame in my analysis.

The Codes

These predefined codes included key phrases such as; “Populations” and “Economies” as well as themes; “changing economic trends” and “changing populations”. Since populations are the main focus of our study and my goal in this assignment was to prove its connection to the economy, I believed it was important to highlight these phrases and others that were similar. By looking for themes of changing populations and economic trends, I was able to bring to light the clear relationship between the ideas and concepts in both articles.

Application to DST

For our final video, we decided to focus on only three ways populations geophagy and demography relate to different parts of the world. We already had some information on their connection to economic trends however I thought by coding this theme, I would be able to find more examples to prove our thesis which would be beneficial for the project. There can never be too much information and coding provides a new and different perspective to our already existing work. I also noticed that the two other topics we discussed in our final video had already been coded and figured I would work on the one with the least to keep our information even over all our topics.

Legend

“Populations” - Yellow

“Economies” - Purple

“changing economic trends” - Green

“changing populations” - Blue

tngeog2260

The Changing World and Zooming In For a Better Look

During this global pandemic people have had lots of time to reflect on life habits and norms in which they partake in everyday. Before Covid-19, people went to work and sat at their desks, jammed into a meeting room full of people, with nothing to worry about. Now it is hard to imagine that now. Week 6 made me think that how we use to collect information may have changed for the near present. In person interviews and large focus groups sounds like a criminal offence to many these days. And by Covid protocols seem like we are far from getting together and meeting to discuss and engage in research findings, which means remote conversations via telephone or Zoom calls seem to be the future of conversation, at least for a little while longer.

While conducting interviews in person, an interviewer relies on physical and facial expressions to fully understand how the interviewee feels and reacts to prompted questions, therefore it would be extreme and quite impossible to rely on these factors over and phone call interview. That is why Zoom has such a major part in everyone’s lives today as face to face over the computer allows us to communicate nonverbally. Another key component from Week 6 is group size and how to determine the size of a focus group interview. People have joined zoom for features such as the size of people you can have on one zoom call and being able to have one person in charge to mute anyone. One obstacle would be deciding the format of the interview structure. Semi-structured interviews would be the most appropriate base on the ability to use multi-methods approach, as Colin Robson (2002, p.2) points out.

This topic resonated with me because I feel that human interaction is so important for our mental health and not having the opportunities to have much of a social life, zoom have provided a way in which we all can get together safely for useful conversations like interviews and focus groups, but also allows people to engage with friends for a quick hello and catch up on each others lives. Zoom has changed everything.

Ted Nichol

jbgeog2260

Thanks for sharing Ted!

I really enjoyed reading your ideas on how zoom is changing an already changing world, and how you connected it to human geography. A year ago I don't think I had a clue what zoom was, yet today it is a normal part of my everyday life. Our world truly is changing so much and I definitely agree that zoom will be a key factor, in interviewing and research moving forward. I don't see how researchers could only base their information on interviews done over the phone, considering the importance of non-verbal information. I believe that zoom is not only capable of making in-person interviews possible in our changing world, but could even make them more popular and easier to be done since people will no longer have to leave their homes to participate. It also provides the opportunity for a wider range of information and opinions to be shared by allowing people from different parts of the world to all engage on the same topic, at the same time. Features such as being able to mute people are also not possible in regular in-person interviews, which could make zooming even more beneficial than regular interviews. Though other video chat platforms have been in use for years, the increasing popularity of zoom has the ability to change and shape what our world will look like in the near future.

Looking forward to reading more of your posts Ted!

Josh

Research Analysis: “There’s Something In The Water”

Polluted Lake of Pictou Landing First Nation in Nova Scotia

“There’s Something In The Water”

The other day, I had to watch a documentary on environmental injustice for another geography course. Environmental injustice occurs when the people who had nothing to do with environmentally degradation (most often minorities and racialized groups) suffer the impacts, while the people responsible (predominantly white people) benefit at their expense. “There’s Something In The Water” is a documentary done by actress Ellen Page, who grew up in Nova Scotia, and wanted to bring to light the many environmental issues the Indigenous and African communities of this province suffer. Rather than just paying attention to the details in the video (what I had to do for my other course), I decided for my blog I would take a human geography perspective and analyze how Ellen goes about her research.

Research

Ellen’s research is predominantly qualitative, doing it in an ethnographic style and participating in close field observation with the African and Indigenous communities of Nova Scotia. She went to three different communities, meeting with a woman who represented each one, and who would guide her through the environmental racism they faced. At the beginning of each study, Ellen would engage in an in-person, semi-structured interview with them.

Semi-Structured Interview with Michelle, a member of Pictou Landing First Nation

The first question was always a storytelling question, where she would ask the women to explain the history of this environmental racism, where they are today with it and how they have been affected. This was a multi-method style interview as well since it represents similarities to oral histories. What Ellen hoped to get out of this question was an idea of what these communities have been dealing with, from their perspective. Issues such as these are often overlooked when they don't impact the wealthy, or are portrayed as less than they are, making responses from community members and victims of this racism extremely important.

Ellen in the field with the Mi’Kmaq women fighting the Alta Gas company

Afterward, Ellen and the female community-representative would go out into the field to get an in-person look at the environmental issue; the causes and impacts. Here, Ellen was able to document an old dump along with the many homes it provided with cancer through air and water contamination, a lake polluted with paper mill chemicals that was once an escape for the Mi’kmaq people from white oppression in the early 1900s, and a river another Mi’kmaq community was fighting to protect from a gas project. The landscapes and information portrayed throughout these experiences were devastating and hard to watch, however, I believe this method was very beneficial, as it provided an up-close and personal view that would otherwise be missed in a regular sit-down interview.

Semi-structured interview while in the field with Louise, a member of the Black community in Shelburn, Nova Scotia.

Throughout this participant observation, Ellen would continue asking questions. These questions were mainly opinion questions such as, if they worried about also developing diseases and why the white communities were not affected. The responses Ellen acquired represented the pain and emotions felt by the individuals and the true inequality experienced through lack of money and oppression. Their ability to explain their opinions on these environmental problems allowed for a clear representation of the contrast between the experiences of the white communities and racialized communities.

Conclusion

Ellen’s research consisted of mainly storytelling and opinion questions, along with participant observation and oral histories. The lack of structure through minimal use of primary questions allowed the respondents to expand and their ideas and go into much detail, providing some very authentic and meaningful answers. Along with these methods, Ellen used her position of power as an actress to create and produce this documentary that, I believe, successfully shed light on the real and current issue of Environmental racism and injustice in Canada.

kmgeog2260

Interviewing Doreen Massey on Urban Geography

If I had five minutes to interview a key thinker in the subfield of urban geography, I would choose Doreen Massey. Doreen Massey although not currently alive specialized in Marxist, feminist, cultural and economic geography which allowed her great insights to write her book World City (2007) were Massey uses the case study of London to reimagine the way in which world cities should be viewed but also challenged and changed. By pointing out geographical inequalities to understand the concept of place through urban cities Massey illustrates a style of urban geography that is less concern about the city itself but rather how the city interacts with the rest of the world (DeVries, 2012). I think Doreen Masseys perspective of looking at the city in terms of we ways in which different groups interact with it, and how it interacts with different groups to shine light on inequalities is what makes her very interesting. I believe it is crucial when looking at urban spaces to get perspectives from different demographics so Massey being female gives her an edge because females inherently interact with cities differently than men.

Some interview questions that I would like to ask Doreen Massey for our digital storytelling project that would help us to solve the research question: “What is Urban Geography?” would be.

1. What is urban geography to you?

2. Why were you drawn into the field of urban geography?

3. How has your experience in the field progressed and changed since your started?

4. Why do you think urban geography is an important field of study?

5. Is there anything else you would like to add about urban geography that has not already been asked or answered?

In this interview I am looking to conduct qualitative intensive research which is constructed with open ended questions looking to gain insight on her thoughts, opinions and feelings on urban geography (Hay, 2005), that is why I phrased my questions starting with mostly “how”, and “why”. I also wanted this interview to be a discussion, so I phrased my questions so that there is not yes or no answers. While determining which direction I wanted to take this interview I thought about what kind of answers would be able to help me with my own research question, and what type of information would be transferable. I think that Massey’s experience in the field and critical analysis is what would ultimately be the most useful for this project. The majority of my questions are primary, opinion-based questions (Hooykaas, Week 6, 2021). I structured them this way because the purpose of my own research is to obtain a detailed yet general overview of what urban geography is and therefore there is no one case or issue I would like her to expand on. I have also chosen a semi-structed interview (Hooykaas, Week 6, 2021) style because this loose framework allows Massey (who is the expert) to have some control over what information she might deem the most important on the subject. This semi-structured styled presents itself in my last question where I leave room of Massey to add whatever thoughts or opinions she might have been holding back during the interview.

If you were to interview someone on Urban Geography to gain insight on the field as a whole, are there any other questions that you would find necessary?

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

DeVries. (2012). Place re-imagined: A review of doreen massey. Retrieved February 25, 2021, from https://www.humansandnature.org/place-re-imagined-a-review-of-doreen-massey

jbgeog2260

Hi Kaya, I really enjoyed reading your post and found your interview questions well thought out. You demonstrated a significant understanding of urban geography and did a great job at explaining why you would specifically interview Doreen Massey. I really like how you opened with a broad, descriptive question as the textbook explains the importance of easing into the interview. Your following opinion questions were well thought out and I like how the order you ask them continually gets more specific from the first descriptive question. These questions also require in-depth responses which avoid “yes” and “no” questions, and I believe this would provide some important and helpful information for your research question, “What is urban Geography”. Opinion questions would be especially helpful for interviews with people like Massey, who study such a unique aspect of geography. I believe a contrast question could also be beneficial in this interview as it would provide Massey with an opportunity to demonstrate the importance of taking a geographic view of world inequality. You could ask her to contrast her view with regular ideas of inequality and if there would be less inequality if more people took the same perspective as her. I believe your final question is super important, especially since she is no longer alive, as it would give Massey the chance to share any other thoughts or findings she possibly hadn’t yet shared.

Thanks for sharing your ideas, Kaya!

Best,

Josh

A Short and Meaningful Interview: Population Geography

Overview

The goal of our digital storytelling project is to represent the importance of population geography by demonstrating how it connects to different aspects of geography and the world. If I had 5 minutes to interview a key thinker of this field, I would interview Dudley L. Poston, Jr, a professor of demography and sociology. I would interview him because of his experience working in these fields for over 50 years in hopes that he could provide some insightful information to help our project. Here are the semi-structured interview questions I would ask:

1. “What specific field of population geography do you enjoy focusing on and are you researching any issues in the world today related to this field?

Since I already know what field of geography he specifies in, I would like to know what part of it he personally enjoys and what he feels is important today. By doing this, I could get a better understanding of how the interview will go and possibly think of other questions to ask based on his response.

I decided to keep my first question broad by asking a descriptive question so that I could ease into the interview and provide Poston with an idea of the questions I would be asking (Hay, 2021, p.154).

2. “What issues in our world today relate back to population geography that people wouldn’t necessarily think of being part of this field?”

By asking this, I would like Poston to explain how population geography connects to many different aspects of our world in order to hopefully prove the argument of our research project and to get other ideas we might not have thought of.

This is a storytelling question because it allows Poston to explain factual details that he wouldn’t have to add his own opinion to (Hay, 2021, p.154).

3. “What do you believe are the major drivers behind people being unequally impacted by Covid-19 and climate change due to their geographic location?”

The research we have already done on population geography has informed us that Covid-19 and climate change are currently some of the biggest issues in this field today. I would like to know Poston’s opinion on what causes people to be treated and affected differently by these two issues in order to get a good idea of how we can change these drivers and move toward a more equal world.

I believe that if we can represent the benefit of taking a population geography approach to solving world issues, we could successfully demonstrate how important this field is today.

This is opinion question provides an opportunity for a very detailed response unique to Poston, with new perspectives of why our world is so unequal today (Hay, 2021, p.154).

4. “If an understanding of population geography was more widespread, do you think there would be less geographic inequality?” And “What else do you think has to be done to reduce this inequality?”

Here, I would be trying to get Poston’s opinion on whether our project would actually be beneficial in moving toward a more equal world and if there’s anything else we should intentionally add to encourage this.

I would also use this opinion question as an opportunity for Poston to build off his last response of what drives our unequal world.

5. “Is there anything else you would like to add in regards to how we can represent the importance of population geography?”

Since this is a semi-structured interview, I would finish off with a more open-ended question where Poston could provide information that I might not have thought about asking.

I would like him to explain any additional tips that we could use in our project that would encourage people to deepen their understanding of population geography.

While researching demographers who have had a significant impact on this field, I noticed many of them have already died, or are very old. I originally thought I could use a multi-method approach and incorporate oral histories and allow Poston to provide any outstanding stories or ideas that he has not yet told (Hay, 2021, p.160). However since this is only a 5-minute interview, I believe incorporating some broad, open-ended questions would be just as beneficial.

References:

Hay, I. (2021). QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. Don Mills, Ontario: OXFORD UNIV PRESS.

Liberalarts.tamu.edu. (n.d.). Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://liberalarts.tamu.edu/sociology/profile/dudley-poston/

jbgeog2260

Cooling Climate Change

My Ultimate Research Project

As a graduate with unlimited resources, I would research different ways to fight climate change. This is obviously an extremely broad topic with lots of research already being poured into it, however, I would be interested in only one aspect. Specifically, I would research new ways to cool the atmosphere.

I’ve been aware of climate change ever since a young age, being a lover of winter and the outdoors. For me, climate change only really affected my hobbies by shortening the snowboard season and bringing rain instead of snow. However, for millions of people across the world, climate change can have devastating effects. It’s because of this that I’ve become so passionate about the climate and ultimately what’s driven me to study geography.

Time to Think Outside the Box

The fossil fuel industry is responsible for 89% percent of the carbon in our atmosphere, and it feels like nothing anyone else does to reduce their carbon footprint will make a difference unless this industry stops emitting. However, due to the massive amounts of money fossil fuel companies bring in, creating high GDPs and even funding environmental organizations, the chances of this happening seem to be extremely low. This is why I believe the next solution lies in removing carbon from the atmosphere and other ways of cooling it.

Quantitative Research

This could occur the same way trees sequester carbon through photosynthesis, or by creating higher albedo land surfaces to reflect more incoming solar radiation. If we could cool the atmosphere at a faster rate than fossil fuels are produced, we could reverse climate change. My research would be objective as I would be dealing with mainly quantitative data. Since the Earth already naturally cools its self, I would begin my research with a historical approach through the content analysis of existing information. I would study climate proxies as they would provide me with information on Earth’s climate over the past millions of years, and the archives within them could show me the different processes that contributed to cooling the Earth. Once I had a list of all the factors that control Earth’s climate, I would find ways to recreate these processes or enhance them to be done faster and more efficiently.

Qualitative Research

Since I don’t have experience with this, I would need the help of others in a similar field. I could work together with other scientists, perform semi-structured interviews with one of them, or a focus group with multiple. My interviews would be semi-structured as the main focus of my questions would be on how they would go about my project, but I would encourage other inputs and ideas as well. This part of my research would be qualitative, and I would have to make sure I took their information as it is, keeping it still objective. I would then experiment with my results, using the information I collected and the advice my colleagues gave me until I came up with some hopefully promising results!

Ethics

With this research being mainly quantitative, there would not be too many ethical considerations I would have to make since I wouldn’t be interacting with people too often. However, I would have to be aware that climate change is a global issue, and it affects me much less than it does others. I would have to understand my positionality of being relatively safe from climate change and how that could affect my project, different than someone who is at great risk of climate change. I would also have to make sure the climate proxies I used to collect my original data are free for me to use and that I have the informed consent from the owner of that information. I would then finally have to recognize the risks my project could pose when finished. Overall, I believe that since my research strives to fight against climate change, it would benefit everyone on Earth, and I would do my best to keep that goal throughout my research.

What are some ways of cooling the atmosphere you think we could use to battle climate change?

Thanks for reading!

Josh

References

Fossil fuels and climate change: The facts. (n.d.). Retrieved February 06, 2021, from https://www.clientearth.org/latest/latest-updates/stories/fossil-fuels-and-climate-change-the-facts/

Hay, I. (2021). QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. Don Mills, Ontario: OXFORD UNIV PRESS.

awgeog2260

Hi Josh

I wanted to comment on your post because this is a topic I love to discuss. Climate change is one of those super huge environmental problems that I think a lot of us feel a sense of hopelessness after talking about for long enough. It sometimes feels like there aren’t feasible solutions to this devastating issue. But, I agree with you that climate change adaptation rather than mitigation is a good focus for research. I learned about these two terms and their difference in GEOG 3020 Global environmental change (I recommend taking this class if you’re interested in learning about these sorts of things). Anyways, like you said, industry is a major contributor of global carbon emissions, and in the capitalist system we operate in, it seems like when we try tackling the causes of climate change we often fall short. Adaptation means that we focus on reducing the impacts of climate change and look for innovative opportunities. Your proposal, removing carbon from the atmosphere is an example of this.

I totally understand why you would want to conduct mostly quantitative research on this subject. I think that going about this research in a qualitative way could also be interesting, like you have touched on. In the reading for this week, the author said something that stuck with me. When talking to their friend collecting field data, their friend says to them, “At least you are surveying people. You ask them questions and they tell you the truth. You can never get the truth from a river” (Secor, 2010). I realized after reading this that qualitative research and oral data collection is a really helpful technique to get some concrete facts both on how a group or individual feels about something, but also what they know. For example, there are traditional ways to sequester carbon such as afforestation. Interviewing people that know about these kinds of methods would be a great way to research this topic.

In your qualitative techniques, would you just interview climate scientists, or other people as well?

jbgeog2260

Hi Alanna!

That class sounds super cool, thanks for recommending it! I also agree that qualitative data could be quite beneficial and thinking about my research more, I can see how I could incorporate it into my process. I believe it would be important to also interview people from other fields since climate change doesn’t just impact the climate. I could interview other scientists with knowledge on ocean ecosystems and land ecosystems, to see how they think my project could impact other parts of the world, and how I could avoid that. April mentioned the idea of environmental ethics and I think this way of talking to people with knowledge of other ecosystems could help me make these ethical considerations in order to cool the climate without negatively impacting other parts of the Earth.

Thanks for your ideas, Alanna!

Josh

jbgeog2260

Cooling Climate Change

My Ultimate Research Project

Time to Think Outside the Box

Quantitative Research

Qualitative Research

Ethics

What are some ways of cooling the atmosphere you think we could use to battle climate change?

Thanks for reading!

Josh

References

Fossil fuels and climate change: The facts. (n.d.). Retrieved February 06, 2021, from https://www.clientearth.org/latest/latest-updates/stories/fossil-fuels-and-climate-change-the-facts/

Hay, I. (2021). QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. Don Mills, Ontario: OXFORD UNIV PRESS.

aatgeog2260

Hey Josh, the title of your post caught my attention right away as I am really interested in how we can stop climate change!

I completely agree with you that at this point, individual lifestyle choices such as eating less meat, taking the bus, or using LED light-bulbs, are just not going to stop climate change. Essentially, it is from industry but because we are so entangled in capitalism, the industry will not stop its emissions. As you said, there is an extremely low chance that we would drastically change the whole system and our way of life. Because we can’t seem to stop releasing carbon into the atmosphere, I think your idea to remove carbon from the atmosphere is really fascinating!

I must say that your research approach is truly impressive. It would be insanely wild to find a way to recreate the Earth’s natural cooling processes but in a more efficient manner. I agree that your research is more quantitative and doesn’t directly involve many people, however I think it would be interesting to look into environmental ethics. This may be especially important as you are attempting to artificially create a way to do something Earth has already been doing naturally for years. It could be risky to mess with the systems of Mother Nature. Of course, I believe that overall, if this could work then the benefits outweigh the risks, just because climate change affects so many things in both people and nature.

Your concluding question is really good for critical thinking because it makes me think beyond walking instead of driving, planting a tree, taking shorter showers, etc. Something I have been thinking about is food waste. We waste so much food and when it rots it produces methane which is even more potent than carbon. I have not made my post for this week yet but it will be something about food waste and possibly how we can stop it. Of course you could tell people to just stop wasting food but that doesn’t work. There are some ideas around this to create a certain type of bacteria to eat the food waste before methane is released. There will be more details on this in my post which should be up soon.

I did a quick search about cooling the Earth and it looks like many scientists are looking at artificial cooling right now, but more as a last resort, “if all else fails” solution. Here are just a couple articles on this idea, but for now they are uncertain about it:

https://theweek.com/articles/953090/should-scientists-artificially-cool-planet-stave-climate-catastrophe

^This link above has a section called “Sucking carbon out of the air” and states “The more ambitious plan for carbon capture involves installing pipes to suck carbon from the sky, then store it deep underground.”

https://grist.org/article/radical-plan-to-artificially-cool-earths-climate-could-be-safe-study-finds/

^This article above talks more about the uncertainty of artificially changing the temperature of the atmosphere.

This was a really awesome post to read, thanks for your thoughts Josh!

-April

jbgeog2260

Hi April!

Thank you for your advice on environmental ethics! There’s definitely always something to be careful of when doing research and I had a feeling there was more I should be considering, I just couldn't put my finger on it. I definitely agree that messing with Earth’s natural systems could have detrimental effects if done improperly and I believe that my research would only truly be beneficial if I could avoid any negative impacts. Also thanks for sharing those articles! It’s so amazing that these types of projects are already in the works, especially sucking carbon right out of the sky!

They mentioned the main issue with these projects is how expensive they are, which seems to be a common trend any time someone wants to battle climate change. Because shutting down the fossil fuel companies would result in lots of money lost and fighting against it would cost too much. A book that I’m reading for another class called “This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. The Climate” by Naomi Klein, speaks about the idea that “the polluters pay”, meaning the large companies responsible for so much pollution, should have to pay to clean it up. I totally agree with this, considering they make more money than they know what to do with, and it falls under the same environmental ethical considerations you mentioned earlier.

I really love your idea of having some way to keep methane from being released from food! I agree that it would be so hard to just tell people to stop wasting so much food, especially since wasting food is not always avoidable. Especially since methane is so much worse for the environment than carbon, I think this research topic would be super beneficial and move the fight for a cleaner Earth in the right direction. I look forward to seeing what you have to say!

Thanks for your comments and advice!

Josh

Cooling Climate Change

My Ultimate Research Project

Time to Think Outside the Box

Quantitative Research

Qualitative Research

Since I don't have experience with this, I would need the help of others in a similar field. I could work together with other scientists, perform semi-structured interviews with one of them, or a focus group with multiple. My interviews would be semi-structured as the main focus of my questions would be on how they would go about my project, but I would encourage other inputs and ideas as well. This part of my research would be qualitative, and I would have to make sure I took their information as it is, keeping it still objective. I would then experiment with my results, using the information I collected and the advice my colleagues gave me until I came up with some hopefully promising results!

Ethics

What are some ways of cooling the atmosphere you think we could use to battle climate change?

Thanks for reading!

Josh

References

Fossil fuels and climate change: The facts. (n.d.). Retrieved February 06, 2021, from https://www.clientearth.org/latest/latest-updates/stories/fossil-fuels-and-climate-change-the-facts/

Hay, I. (2021). QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. Don Mills, Ontario: OXFORD UNIV PRESS.

kmgeog2260

Case Study on Surviving the Wilderness with Agafia Lykovs

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68)

The short documentary produced by Vice tagged above is about Agafia, 70-year-old women who has been living in the Siberian wilderness for the majority of her life. In the 1930s due to her family’s religious beliefs and the political climate in Russia, her father moved his entire family into the woods (160 miles from the nearest town) with very extreme weather conditions. Over the years due to outsider visits causing illness, and starvation the rest of Agafia’s family has passed away. The documentary was published in 2013 and the researchers sought out to understand and experience Agafia’s life/ living situation firsthand in what they described as “one of the most inhospitable places on earth “, (Vice, 2013). The researchers flew by helicopter to where Agafia’s home is and set up camp to live with her for a few days. Research Techniques The research techniques and findings of the documentary where not explicitly laid out but in my opinion the research method they used was qualitative with a mix of observation and interviews. The researchers conducted interviews with mostly Agafia recalling her history with the land as well as asking questions about her everyday life. They also conducted some shorter interviews with the park rangers that had helped them get there, and her neighbour about the same. A keynote about their research method is that it was naturalistic observation, meaning that Agafia was not taken out of her “natural setting”, but rather the researchers came to her. Invisible Backpack and Ethics The researchers unknowingly, or perhaps knowingly, brought with them their invisible backpacks filled with privileges that might not seem as obvious at first. Within this invisible backpack was the privileges of clothes, money, access to technology, geographical location, and education (McIntosh,1989). These privileges which seem subtle in the film do play roles in the research being done and that is why it is important to take note of them. Afterall, one’s invisible backpack also holds and shapes their worldview that has developed in very different ways from those they might be researching. In the film the researchers wore highly advanced winter gear and arrived in a helicopter. It was abundantly clear upon entrance the difference in lives they had to Agafias. Although, in some ways these differences and the way the Agafia lives her life contrarily from the researchers was the point of the study. It seems to me that there were ethical decisions being made in the process of the film. The researchers came off well mannered, helpful, wanting to listen and learn as well as not overbearing on Agafia’s lifestyle. They seemed genuinely interested and concerned for Agafias mental and physical welfare. Although, there were some questions I felt unanswered and uneasy about while watching. Number one, was there communication with Agafia before arriving (any heads up), if so, how? Secondly, they spoke in the film about how her family members had died after being in contact with geologist from the “outside world”, were there any precautions taken to make sure none of the Vice team brought any illnesses? Also, other than sharing Agafia’s story who was to benefit from this research? (Feel free to respond to any of these questions) If I were to research.. If I was given this same opportunity to go and visit Agafia I would conduct my research is a similar way in terms of method (oral histories, observational, interviews). I too come with most, if not all the same invisible backpack as the researcher before me so this is something that I would keep in mind but also ask Agafia about, see her opinion on outsiders coming in. Beforehand, I would try to make contact with Agafia to ensure that me coming would be something she wants. While there, I would try to integrate myself into her ways of life as much as possible, perhaps by staying longer (if I could). In the film they ended off with a great note about Agafia being a case that humans can survive in the gravest of conditions in

jbgeog2260

Hi Kaya, I really enjoyed reading your post! You highlighted some really interesting points that challenged me to think more about the research done on Agafia.

I definitely agree that there likely wasn’t much communication upon when the researchers would arrive, especially after all the delays that occurred. I believe this shows another invisible backpack of communication. Living amongst the rest of society in North America, we mostly all have some accessibility to remote communication, making it seem so normal to us. However, for Agafia, I assume she lacks this privilege, being so separate and distant from society. This has probably created more isolation, separating her further from the rest of the world. However, I do believe the researchers thought of this ethical issue and took the precaution of it by having the park ranger join them. The park ranger probably had the best chances of communicating with Agafia and I assume he would have let her know they were coming, sometimes before they arrived.

It is definitely another important point to bring up Agafia’s past with society coming into her space. I believe the researchers took this ethical precaution by sleeping in their own tent, but I agree with you that other than that, it didn’t seem like they did much to stay distant from her. They were often very close to her, especially in her home when they appeared to be right beside her. I think living in this day and age has shown us the importance of distancing ourselves from vulnerable people, and maybe having not lived with Covid-19, yet, these researchers did not think too much about Agafia’s health.

Looking forward to reading more of your posts!

Josh

162 Miles Away and Happy

Agafia

Agafia Lykov lives in the remote Siberian wilderness, 162 miles from civilization, and has been doing so for the past 70 years. Her family fled to the mountains in 1936, in hopes of escaping oppression and death by Stalin. For over 40 years, they lived disconnected from the outside world, battling through the bitter cold, threats of dangerous wildlife, and a constant shortage of food. By 1987, Agafia’s entire family had perished and she lived alone for many years until a Russian geologist moved to a cabin down the hill from her. Agafia still lives there to this day, and researchers from America have traveled to meet her and study her way of life.

Research

In their time with Agafia, the Americans used different research techniques. Rather than asking questions, they incorporated a value-free and bottom-up approach by going in with no expectations and letting her tell them what she wanted. This allowed them to gather information by simply observing her. With qualitative research like this, It can be easy for research to become subjective, however, the Americans were able to keep it fairly objective by letting the results speak for themself. Despite being someone who wanted nothing to do with the rest of society, Agafia seemed to love interacting with new people on her own land and showing them her way of life, and for this reason, I believe this was an effective way of doing research.

The Siberian mountains where Agafia lives

Ethics

Along with being very disconnected from society, there were many ethical considerations the Americans had to make while researching Agafia. This included the different languages they spoke and the idea that they might be intruding on her space. To break the language barrier, the Americans were joined by the director of Vice Russia as their translator. In the past, interactions with the outside world lead to death and health issues for Agafia and her family, so to avoid physical injury, the researchers stayed separate from Agafia in their own tent. They also compensated Agafia for their troubles by bringing her a goat, rooster, and helped her with chores.

Invisible Backpacks

The filmmakers of this documentary had many things in their invisible backpacks. Being white and living in America definitely provided the filmmakers with many opportunities. As well as living in New York City, likely having safe housing and not worrying about what they might eat next. They could have seemed like just average people with as much opportunity as anyone else, but seeing the things that Agafia was missing from her invisible backpack, brought to light what the Americans had, even though they were not necessarily noted.

Me As a Researcher

If I were given the same opportunity, I would have approached this case study slightly different as a student researcher. I believe it would have been beneficial to take more of a top-down approach and ask questions about Agafia’s life growing up, what it was like at first when they had no shelter or food, and how they developed the lifestyle she lives now. Having Agafia decide what she talked about, protected the researchers from asking possibly offensive or invasive questions, however caused them to miss out on meaningful information. Some other ethical considerations I would have made if I were doing this case study, would be to avoid talking about Agafia’s personal life with the geologist. I could tell it made her uncomfortable when she was talking about it and it was not necessarily important information to know about. Despite the changes I would have made, I believe the researchers did a well done, ethical job and paid good respect to Agafia while researching her.

Best,

Josh

Sources

Vice (2013, April 9) “Surviving in the Siberian Wilderness for 70 Years (Full Length)” Youtube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tt2AYafET68

mtgeog2260

Kiribati Fights Climate Change

The Issue At Hand:

In the Republic of Kiribati, evidence of climate change can be shown throughout all aspects of the community. Due to the low levels of elevation, the country experiences frequent changes in sea level. Many families that previously lived by the shoreline have been forced to move farther away from the water or even into the main city. Because of this, Kiribati’s main city is now considered the most densely populated place in the world; the population can be compared to the population of Tokyo. In the island’s attempt to mitigate these issues, sea walls and mangroves have been put up and planted. However, Kiribati is in dire need of help from the larger, more industrialized countries in order to fight climate change.

Roles of Power:

As the islands of Kiribati continue to sink below sea-level, time available to assist and prevent further damage is running out. The Kiribati Government has made it very clear in defining what they want and what they need. By regulating and monitoring the Tuna industry in Kiribati (one of the main industries as there is no kind of factory work on the island) the island has proved that no matter how small or how developed a country is, there is always a way for them to do their part in fighting climate change. The Kiribati government hopes that this action will truly show how serious the matter is and encourage larger countries to cut their carbon emission levels as well.

Anna, a researcher sent to Kiribati to study the effects of climate change, also plays a role of power. Her job is to travel to the island and experience the new ways of living that society has adapted to and the damaged environment in which they live. However, Anna enjoys the luxury in being able to leave the island and return to a home that has not been as greatly affected by climate change as Kiribati has. This situation allows viewers to feel empathetic towards the people of Kiribati because it really makes viewers consider the hardships they are facing.

My Role Specifically:

The roles of objectivity, subjectivity, and intersubjectivity all play an important part in the research of Kiribati. Objectivity plays an important role because it separates me and my personal opinions and thoughts from the actual research project but also focusses on my personal involvement and relationships that I will build with the Kiribati people as research is conducted. Now, because this is qualitative research, there will typically always be some level of subjectivity achieved. In this case, it is important that I do not let my relationships built with these people get in the way of my research. Also, intersubjectivity plays an important role because it allows me as a researcher to consider human emotional responses and perspectives. Since these people have such strong ancestral connections to their land and culture, it is important to consider these things.

The geographic approaches that I believe would fit well with this situation are ethnographic and historical approaches. By using ethnographic approaches, I would be able to study the social groups on the islands of Kiribati and further understand what all of this means to them and how it is affecting them personally. I could conduct this research using participatory methods. Lastly, using historical methods will allow me to study past and present information about changing sea levels and other climatic changes. With this information, I would be able to start researching solutions.

- Maddison

jbgeog2260

Hi Maddison, thanks for sharing your response!

I found it interesting how you mentioned the point on what they’re doing to fight climate change. It’s amazing to think that even though the Kiribati Islands have little to do with causing climate change, they are still doing their part in fighting it. From regulating tuna operations to protecting their land from further erosion. To me, this is an example of environmental injustice. With the larger western countries being the main contributors to climate change, the smaller and less developed countries are suffering the consequences. Though they are still doing their part, it is necessary that other countries help, and hopefully, their actions do encourage the larger countries to cut their carbon emission levels as well.

I agree that Anna’s ability to leave the island and return to another country not affected by rising sea-levels represents her power, by showing how isolated the citizens of Kiribati are. On top of that, the extremely high population density of the nation’s capital also shows how isolated the citizens of Kiribati are, as they cannot just leave the island like her, and as a result, are all crowded in a small area. I also agree that as a researcher in this situation, it would be extremely hard to just stick with objectivity, as it is mainly used in quantitative research methods, and this research is qualitative. I believe that there will always be some combination of objectivity, subjectivity, and intersubjectivity and that one must use critical reflexivity to keep a healthy balance.

looking forward to reading more of your posts,

-Josh

Saving the People of a Sinking Island

The Kiribati islands are located in the Southwest Pacific Ocean where they are one of the first locations being affected by rising levels. The island of Abaiang has already lost 200m of land, forcing people to abandon their homes and move to other islands. For the people of Kiribati, it is no longer preparing for climate change, rather finding ways to mitigate and lessen it until they can leave the islands.

As a Canadian researcher in the Kiribati islands, there are likely many differences between myself and the residents that could affect the role of power in my research. For one, there is little worry in Canada about sea-level rise and as a result, my research could potentially make their situation seem less important than it is, or cause me to look less hard into potential solutions. Secondly, the differences in wealth and privilege could lead to a potentially exploitative relationship with my subjects. If sea-level rise were an issue in Canada, most people could afford migrating to another country, whereas in the Kiribati islands, the only solution for many people is moving to the capital where it is much higher. It is also important for me to realize that I might have access to some potential solutions they do not. When explaining these things in my research, I could easily make it seem like it is their fault for being unable to protect themselves from the rising sea or migrating to another country, due to their lack of money. This would be a form of indirect power and I must be careful to avoid that.

There are many ways I could go about my research of mitigating the effects of sea-level rise in the Kiribati islands, however simply just using numbers and quantitative research methods would be a very ineffective way of doing so. Though they might explain how fast the ocean is rising and how long the residents have until they must leave, numbers would not portray the personal experiences each person has had, or how they are already battling climate change. It’s important to understand what sea-level rise and losing their land actually means to the residents in Kiribati, in order to properly interpret their situation and help them. Interacting with these people would provide me with more accurate information, and details that I wouldn’t have access to if only I used objectivity in my research practices. At the same time, it is important to not let my opinions affect research, and instead explain my research as it is. For this reason, a good balance between subjectivity and objectivity would be the best way to go about my research as subjectivity involves the insertion of personal opinions and characteristics.

I would best serve this country by incorporating an action-oriented approach in my research. As sea-levels are rising quickly and with little time before the islands are completely gone, it is important to find the best information fast. Being intentional with who I research and what I ask them would give me the best chances of receiving strong and accurate data on protecting them from the rising ocean.

Sources

AJ+ (2014, December 8). Kiribati: The Sinking Islands Being Destroyed By Climate Change | AJ+ Docs [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9P7jXveokDY

Hay, I. (2021). QUALITATIVE RESEARCH METHODS IN HUMAN GEOGRAPHY. Don Mills, Ontario: OXFORD UNIV PRESS.

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