Abstract
The gendered character of wildfire research has marginalised alternative knowledges and realities, particularly those of women. This article examines how situated epistemologies can foster alternative ways of knowing and governing fire-risk in the context of feminist and decolonial critiques of the Anthropocene. As a young woman researcher early in her career studying social dynamics in communities affected by severe wildfires, fieldwork posed challenges due to my personal background and identity. However, it also offered opportunities to explore gender relations and practices in fire-prone areas of Portugal. What also meant knowing untold stories of women and the power structures that entangle them. Drawing on autoethnographic data gathered during research in two rural communities of Central Portugal, it is argued that researchers’ embodied situatedness and experiences influence how wildfire knowledge is produced and the consequences that may follow. The paper aims to contribute to the ongoing debate on how male- and white-dominant narratives in wildfire science have marginalised knowledges and approaches, preventing the much-desired paradigm shift in fire-risk reduction policies and practices. Finally, a wildfire-situated epistemology is proposed as a means of reclaiming not only unreported realities and the forces of reproduction underpinning the (m)Anthropocene’s master narrative but also shedding light on the current invisibility of its women researchers.
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Translation: Science - and men - need to listen to and incorporate feminist ways of understanding how fire works.
This is as retarded as the notorious Feminist Glaciology paper which basically argues the same thing about the scientific understanding of glaciers.
fieldwork posed challenges due to my personal background and identity.
Me, me, me, me, me, me, me. These "papers" are always about the author. And of course it uses "autoethnography," aka me-search.
