Conference Poster - 9th International Conference on Community-Based Adaptation to Climate Change (Nairobi, Kenya)

Abstract

Research Questions • How should notions of 'culture' be conceptualised in the context of CBA? • How do local cultures influence, enable and constrain pathways and outcomes of CBA? How do these dynamics work in a 'vulnerable' case study community? • How do the institutional cultures of CBA donors, governments and non-governmental implementing agencies influence how CBA is constituted, financed, and delivered? • What strategies are available to practitioners of CBA to achieve a practice that engages effectively and appropriately with local cultural contexts? Research Approach Literature Review How is (and isn't) 'culture' addressed in the mainstream discourses on CBA? Ethnographic Case Study With a climatically-vulnerable Rakhaine community—an indigenous group in rural Bangladesh with a distinctive minority culture 2. Interview Program with CBA researchers and practitioners • Investigating institutional cultures within CBA; • Exploring cultural influences on adaptation pathways; • Developing a framework for a culturally-engaged CBA practice.

Full text

Towards a culturally-engaged
CBA practice
Patrick Kirkby
University of Tasmania, Australia
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Research Questions
• How should notions of ‘culture’ be conceptualised in
the context of CBA?
• How do local cultures influence, enable and constrain
pathways and outcomes of CBA? How do these dynamics
work in a ‘vulnerable’ case study community?
• How do the institutional cultures of CBA donors,
governments and non-governmental implementing
agencies influence how CBA is constituted, financed, and
delivered?
• What strategies are available to practitioners of CBA to
achieve a practice that engages effectively and
appropriately with local cultural contexts?
Research Approach
Literature Review How is (and isn’t) ‘culture’ addressed in
the mainstream discourses on CBA?
Ethnographic Case Study With a climatically-vulnerable
Rakhaine community—an indigenous group in rural
Bangladesh with a distinctive minority culture2.
Interview Program with CBA researchers and practitioners
• Investigating institutional cultures within CBA;
• Exploring cultural influences on adaptation pathways;
• Developing a framework for a culturally-engaged CBA
practice.
References
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Figure 2. Ethnographic fieldwork with a Rakhaine indigenous community in coastal Bangladesh
(photo by Patrick Kirkby, Nov 2014)!
A culturally-engaged approach?
The CBA approach is espoused to be sensitive and
responsive to local cultures, and built upon existing cultural
norms1. However, my review of the theory and practice of
CBA finds such notions of ‘cultural engagement’ to be
largely superficial. The significance and influences of local
cultures and institutional cultures on adaptation pathways
and outcomes are not well understood.
Figure 1. Cultural factors significant in the context of CBA.
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Culture?
Our cultural lens frames our worldviews, values, beliefs,
motivations, norms, knowledges, identities, and notions of
wellbeing. Culture mediates our decision-making and
behaviour, influencing our social and environmental
interactions.