Ethnicity

Citation:

Gay-Antaki, Miriam. 2016. “‘Now We Have Equality’: A Feminist Political Ecology Analysis of Carbon Markets in Oaxaca, Mexico.” Journal of Latin American Geography 15 (3): 49–66.

Author: Miriam Gay-Antaki

Abstract:

Carbon projects follow a neoliberal logic that stresses that nature is best conserved via market mechanisms. Studies and experiences of the impacts of development projects on communities and feminist political ecologies suggest that women, the elderly, the young, the poor, and the indigenous often perceive projects differently, benefit and lose in different ways, or shape the projects on the ground to fit their needs. Carbon projects have differentiated impacts within a community especially on the poor, women, and ecology; however, these differences do not tend to be the main focus of scholarship. The research presented here focuses on the effects of a wind project and a small scale reforestation project and the convergence of environment, gender and development as these are introduced into communities in Oaxaca, Mexico. This paper expands on carbon offset literature in Mexico by looking at the differential impacts of technologies on geographies and people with specific attention to gender. I find that there are important gendered differences between the wind and the forest projects, and suggest that a Feminist Political Ecology perspective is a necessary, though infrequently employed, lens through which to understand the impacts of carbon markets.

Keywords: feminist political ecology, Oaxaca, carbon projects

Topics: Development, Environment, Ethnicity, Feminisms, Feminist Political Ecology, Gender, Women, Indigenous Regions: Americas Countries: Mexico

Year: 2016

Citation:

Turner, Terisa E., and Leigh Brownhill. 2006. “Ecofeminism as Gendered, Ethnicized Class Struggle: A Rejoinder to Stuart Rosewarne.” Capitalism Nature Socialism 17 (4): 87–95.

Authors: Terisa E. Turner, Leigh Brownhill

Abstract:

Stuart Rosewarne’s comment on our essay ‘‘We Want Our Land Back,’’ underlines the need for clarification of the relationship between the exploited, both waged and unwaged, on the one hand, and between all within the hierarchy of the exploited and capital, on the other. Hence, our response addresses the fundamental struggle between classes over enclosures of the commons and the defense (and extension) of life-centered, subsistence relations. To bridge the divide that Rosewarne identifies between ecosocialism and ecofeminism, we proceed by critiquing James O’Connor’s analysis of the ‘‘second contradiction of capitalism,’’ offering an alternative perspective*gendered, ethnicized class analysis. 

Topics: Class, Environment, Ethnicity, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender

Year: 2006

Citation:

Hamrell, Sven, and Olle Nordberg, eds. 1993. Women, Ecology and Health: Rebuilding Connections. Uppsala, Sweden: The Dag Hammarskjöld Centre and Kali for Women.

Authors: Sven Hamrell, Olle Nordberg

Annotation:

Summary:
The seminar on 'Women, Ecology and Health: Rebuilding Connections', which has provided the basis for the material presented in this issue of Development Dialogue, was held in Bangalore in southern India from July 17 to 22, 1991. It was jointly organised by the Dag Hammarskjöld Foundation and the Research Foundation for Science, Technology and Natural Resource Policy, Dehra Dun, India, and moderated by the Director of the latter foundation, Vandana Shiva. It brought together 25 participants from seven South Asian and Southeast Asian countries and one participant from the United States. Both foundations are grateful to the participants for their valuable contributions to the seminar discussions and to the authors for the pains they have taken in thoroughly revising and updating their papers.The basic idea behind the organisation of the Bangalore seminar was the conviction that, twenty years after 'the Environment' was placed on the international agenda, the time was ripe to take stock, from a women's perspective, of two decades of development in the environmental field. Furthermore, an important factor was the growing recognition that across the world women are rebuilding connections with nature and renewing the insight that what people do to nature directly affects them, too; that there is, in fact, no insular divide between the environment and their own bodies and health (Summary from original source).

Table of Contents:

1. Women, Ecology and Health: An Introduction
   Vandana Shiva
2. After the Forest: AIDS as Ecological Collapse in Thailand
   Ann Danaiya Usher
3. Killing Legally with Toxic Waste: Women and the Environment in the United States
   Penny Newman
4. Environmental Degradation and Subversion of Health
   Mira Shiva
5. Using Technology, Choosing Sex the Campaign Against Sex Determination and the Question of Choice
   FASDSP Group
6. Legal Rights… and Wrongs: Internationalising Bhopal
   Indira Jaising, C. Sathyamala
7. ‘Green Earth, Women’s Power, Human Liberation’: Women in Peasant Movements in India
   Gail Omvedt
8. Filipino Peasant Women in Defence of Life
   Loreta B. Ayupan, Teresita G. Oliveros
9. Ethnic Conflict in Sri Lanka: Its Ecological and Political Consequences
   Rita Sebastian
10. The Seed and the Earth: Biotechnology and the Colonisation of Regeneration
    Vandana Shiva

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Environment, Ethnicity, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Health Regions: Americas, North America, Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia Countries: India, Thailand, United States of America

Year: 1993

Citation:

Di Chiro, Giovanna. 2020. “Mobilizing ‘Intersectionality’ in Environmental Justice Research and Action in a Time of Crisis.” In Environmental Justice: Key Issues, edited by Brendan Coolsaet. Abingdon: Routledge.

Author: Giovanna Di Chiro

Abstract:

This chapter reviews the concept of “intersectionality,” describing its roots in Black feminist thought and social justice activism, and its focus on the synergistic relationship between critical inquiry and critical praxis. It examines how scholars and activists use intersectionality to reveal multiple and interlocking identities and injustices that, when made visible, enable coalition building to eliminate all systems of oppression across a wide spectrum of social movements. I analyze how environmental justice activists mobilize intersectionality for environmental change by building coalitions across racial, gender/sexual, class, ethnic, and national differences, contrasting this approach with mainstream environmental and climate movements’ use of the universalizing discourse of the “global commons.” Further, drawing on the social and political construct of the “undercommons,” a critical, abolitionist praxis focused on dismantling colonial institutions and co-creating new forms of research and action, I conclude with examples from my engagement with intersectional environmental justice theory and coalition building with my students and community partners in Philadelphia.

Topics: Class, Environment, Climate Change, Ethnicity, Feminisms, Gender, Intersectionality, Race

Year: 2020

Citation:

Horst, Megan, and Amy Marion. 2019. “Racial, Ethnic and Gender Inequities in Farmland Ownership and Farming in the U.S.” Agriculture and Human Values 36 (1): 1–16.

Authors: Megan Horst, Amy Marion

Abstract:

This paper provides an analysis of U.S. farmland owners, operators, and workers by race, ethnicity, and gender. We first review the intersection between racialized and gendered capitalism and farmland ownership and farming in the United States. Then we analyze data from the 2014 Tenure and Ownership Agricultural Land survey, the 2012 Census of Agriculture, and the 2013–2014 National Agricultural Worker Survey to demonstrate that significant nation-wide disparities in farming by race, ethnicity and gender persist in the U.S. In 2012–2014, White people owned 98% and operated 94% of all farmland. They generated 98% of all farm-related income from land ownership and 97% of income from farm owner-operatorship. Meanwhile, People of Color farmers (African American or Black, Asian American, Native American, Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and Hispanic farmers) were more likely to be tenants rather than owners, owned less land, and generated less farm-related wealth per person than their White counterparts. Hispanic farmers were also disproportionately farm laborers. In addition to racial and ethnic disparities, there were disparities by gender. About 63% of non-operating landowners, 86% of farm operators, and 87% of tenant farmers were male, and female farmers tended to generate less income per farmer than men. This data provides evidence of ongoing racial, ethnic and gender disparities in agriculture in the United States. We conclude with a call to address the structural drivers of the disparities and with recommendations for better data collection.

Keywords: farming, equity, gendered capitalism, food justice, Farmland, agrarian questions

Topics: Agriculture, Ethnicity, Gender, Gendered Power Relations, Gender Equality/Inequality, Land Tenure, Race Regions: Americas, North America Countries: United States of America

Year: 2019

Citation:

Njieassam, Esther Effundem. 2019. “Gender Inequality and Land Rights: The Situation of Indigenous Women in Cameroon”. PER: Potchefstroomse Elektroniese Regsblad 22 (1): 1–33.

Author: Esther Effundem Njieassam

Abstract:

Land is an essential resource that serves as a means of subsistence for millions of people in the world and indigenous communities and women in particular. Most indigenous societies' survival is closely tied to land. In Cameroon, indigenous women are the backbone of food production in their communities. That makes access to land important, as it is a significant source of wealth and power for indigenous peoples in general and indigenous women in particular. While women all over the world encounter gender-based discrimination in relation to the control and ownership of land, indigenous women face triple discrimination on the basis of their gender (as women), their ethnicity (as indigenous peoples) and their economic class (economically poor). They are often dehumanised, degraded and subjected to treatment as second-class human beings despite the existence of national legislation that discourages such practices. This paper interrogates the possibility of including indigenous women in government and decision-making processes in Cameroon in the hope that they may be involved in key decision-making processes that affect them, thereby reducing their economic and social vulnerability. It concludes with some thoughtful recommendations on policy reform aimed at ensuring access to land for indigenous women as well as socio-economic justice in its broadest sense. 

Keywords: indigenous women, gendered-based discrimination, land rights, gender inequality, decision-making, participation, Cameroon

Topics: Class, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gendered Power Relations, Indigenous, Rights, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights, Women's Rights, Security, Food Security Regions: Africa, Central Africa Countries: Cameroon

Year: 2019

Citation:

Arora-Jonsson, Seema, Shruti Agarwal, Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Stephanie Keene, Priya Kurian, and Anne M. Larson. 2019. “SDG 5: Gender Equality: A Precondition for Sustainable Forestry.” In Sustainable Development Goals: Their Impacts on Forests and Peoples, edited by Pia Katila, Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Wil de Jong, Glenn Galloway, Pablo Pacheco, and Georg Winkel, 146-77. London: Cambridge University Press.

Authors: Seema Arora-Jonsson, Shruti Agarwal, Carol J. Pierce Colfer, Stephanie Keene, Priya Kurian, Anne M. Larson

Annotation:

Summary:
Taking SDG 5 seriously in relation to forests brings to the forefront what is usually taken for granted in forest debates: people, their relationships to one another and to the forests that determine forest outcomes. In this chapter, we bring to light the invisible labour and relations that underpin good forest management. We show how systemic and contextual factors such as health, gender-based violence and unpaid care work by forest peoples in the forests and outside are crucial to the welfare of forests and forest dependent peoples. So far, little progress has been made in implementing SDG5 targets within forestry. Political will is needed to transform unequal relationships and to support demands for forest justice. There is a need to challenge privilege based on sex, class, ethnicity or caste and to destabilize inequitable micro- and macro-economic structures such as commodification and support democratic forest governance to work towards greater sustainability. It is also important to keep in mind that well-intentioned efforts, such as gender programmes can have adverse effects if not cognisant of contextual power relations. The welfare and dignity that achieving SDG 5 would bring to forest peoples and livelihoods is essential to ensuring better managed and sustainable forests. (Summary from original source)

Topics: Caste, Class, Economies, Care Economies, Environment, Ethnicity, Gender, Gender-Based Violence, Health, Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

Year: 2019

Citation:

Arora-Jonsson, Seema, and Mia Ågren. 2019. “Bringing Diversity to Nature: Politicizing Gender, Race and Class in Environmental Organizations?” Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space 2: 874–98.

Authors: Seema Arora-Jonsson, Mia Ågren

Abstract:

Environmental organizations play an important role in mainstream debates on nature and in shaping our environments. At a time when environmental NGOs are turning to questions of gender-equality and ethnic diversity, we analyze their possibilities to do so. We argue that attempts at ethnic and cultural diversity in environmental organizations cannot be understood without insight into the conceptualizations of nature and the environment that underpin thinking within the organization. Serious attempts at diversity entail confronting some of the core values on nature-cultures driving the organization as well as understanding the dimensions of power such as class, gender, and race that structure its practices. We study what nature means for one such organization, the Swedish Society for Nature Conservation, and the ways in which thinking about nature dictates organizational practice and sets the boundaries of their work with diversity in their projects on outdoor recreation. We base our analysis on official documents and interviews, analyze how “diversity” and “gender-equality” are represented in the material and reflect on the interconnections as well as the different trajectories taken by the two issues. Our study shows that the organization’s understanding of nature is a central and yet undiscussed determinant of their work with diversity that closes down as much as it opens up the space for greater inclusion of minorities. We argue that for environmental organizations wanting to diversity membership, a discussion of what nature means for people and their relationships to each other and nature is vital to any such efforts.

Keywords: diversity, gender, class, environmental organizations, whiteness, environmental justice

Topics: Class, Environment, Ethnicity, Gender, Gender Equality/Inequality, NGOs, Race Regions: Europe, Nordic states, Northern Europe Countries: Sweden

Year: 2019

Citation:

Gruner, Sheila. 2018. "Territorio y el ser decolonial: Pervivencia de las mujeres y los pueblos en tiempos de conflicto, paz y desarrollo." In Movimientos indígenas y autonomías en América Latina: Escenarios de disputa y horizontes de posibilidad, edited by Flores Pavel C. López and Guerreiro Luciana García, 259-84. Buenos Aires, Argentina: CLACSO.

Author: Sheila Gruner

Abstract:

SPANISH ABSTRACT:

La autonomía de los movimientos étnico-territoriales está orientada por conceptualizaciones de territorio y los derechos políticoterritoriales, y las relaciones sociales de producción que se producen y reproducen dentro del mismo territorio. Para entender lo que está en juego para pueblos indígenas y negros tanto como sociedad en general, se requiere abordar temas del desarrollo, conflicto y paz en su conjunto, mirar las tendencias de violencia contra las mujeres, y las mujeres racializadas en específico, desde un marco crítico, global y decolonial, tanto como anti-racista y depatriarcal. En este artículo serán explorados movimientos étnico-territoriales en Colombia y Canadá, examinando aquellos que han avanzado hacia formulaciones ontológicas alternativas al desarrollo, representado en conceptos como el buen vivir, ubuntu, y mino-bimaadiziwin. En este escrito se examinarán de igual forma los esfuerzos de los pueblos indígenas y negros en Colombia en cuanto a la construcción de la paz, la defensa del territorio y su autonomía, y la inclusión del Capítulo Étnico en los Acuerdos de paz de la Habana.

ENGLISH ABSTRACT:

The autonomy of ethno-territorial movements is oriented by conceptualizations of territory, political and territorial rights and the social relations of production that are produced and reproduced within this same territory. To understand what is at stake for indigenous and black people, as well as for society in general, issues of development, conflict, and peace must be addressed in relation to each other, examining tendencies of violence against women and racialized women in particular, from within a critical, global and decolonial framework, that is also anti-racist and depatriarchal. Ethno-territorial movements in Colombia and Canada will be explored, examining those that express ontologies alternative to that which underpins dominant development, represented in concepts such as good life, ubuntu and mino-bimaadiiziwin. Efforts of indigenous and afrocolombian communities will also be explored in relation to the construction of peace, the defense of territory, autonomy and will centre on the inclusion of the Ethnic Chapter in the Havana Peace Accords.

Keywords: decolonial, buen vivir, good life, ubuntu, mino-bimaadiiziwin, movimiento etno-territorial, ethnoterritorial movement, territorio ancestral, ancestral territory, Acuerdos de Habana, Havana Accords, Ethnic Chapter, Capitulo Etnico

Topics: Coloniality/Post-Coloniality, Conflict, Ethnicity, Gender, Women, Gender-Based Violence, Indigenous, Indigenous Knowledge Systems, Peacebuilding, Race, Rights, Indigenous Rights, Land Rights Regions: Americas, North America, South America Countries: Canada, Colombia

Year: 2018

Citation:

Giacomini, Terran. 2016. "Ecofeminism and System Change: Women on the Frontlines of the Struggle against Fossil Capitalism and for the Solar Commons." Canadian Woman Studies 31 (1-2): 95-101.

Author: Terran Giacomini

Abstract:

Topics: Agriculture, Class, Economies, Ethnicity, Extractive Industries, Feminisms, Ecofeminism, Gender, Women

Year: 2016