The Future is Uncertain
In this specific research example I believe direct power roles may be at play. The Kiribati government and peoples explained in this video that they need the help of other countries to reduce their carbon emission if their islands have any hope for the future. Myself, a university student from Canada, a country with a large amount of industrial activity, being the researcher in this research example means that I have the opportunity to share the information I obtain with people at the university who may have more of an opportunity to influence Government and Industry decisions regarding climate change mitigation in Canada. I think this could be a weak argument considering I do not have any legislative power myself, but I think that this situation could be classified as directly powerful. In this case I think this power role would encourage the Kiribati peoples to tell the researcher all the information about the islands’ current issues and their needs, and it would be the researcher’s job to tell their stories as clearly as possible.
I think that intersubjectivity in the research process would be best suited in this example. This is a research relationship that requires insight from both the participants and the researcher to create meaningful research that could be the catalyst for effective change internationally. Also, due to the fact that I would likely travel to Kiribati to get the most out of the research project, I would need to adapt to changing dynamics by talking with as many people as possible, and getting as many perspectives as possible on the islands. This is a time-sensitive task, as the islands of Kiribati continue to sink under sea level. The situation is evolving by the minute. I would need to be very active in interacting with the participants, as to not waste time. The youth activists, government, students, and community members input into how to save these islands is crucial. Their efforts at planting mangroves to save the coastline and their own research is successful because they know the place, they have been there for many generations. Also, I think my personal input as a person with education on environmental politics and physical geography could add to these interactions. This is an issue that requires many perspectives and areas of expertise.
I would use both ethnographic approaches and historical approaches in my research. I think these types of research would be best because I would focus on the community and the phenomena happening there while also evaluating the history of sea level rise and its present and future effects in this region. In addition I would need to use historical research of global carbon emissions and sea level riseI would use qualitative approaches such as oral storytelling, like the researcher in the initial video. Hay states, “The use of such techniques also enables the researcher to engage with their local, academic, and surrounding communities in a process of knowledge exchange that can empower and give voice to the researched as well as the researcher” (Hay, I., 2016, p.9-10). Using oral storying to collect data may help to understand ancestral ways of protecting the coastline and adapt that into finding new ways to mitigate the effects of climate change in Kiribati. Hay also says that, “The richness of information, and its validity and meaning, is more dependent on the abilities of the researcher than on size of sample” (Hay, I., 2016, p.125). I would not necessarily have to collect oral data from the majority of the Kiribati people. Instead I would need to talk to the right people. I would need to collect data from a variety of sources and people who are directly affected by sea level rise in Kiribati to collaboratively create a plan to move forward.
This would all be a difficult task considering the tragedy that is prevailing in Kiribati, but applying these methods and approaches I believe would serve the community best.
