Engaging participatory rural appraisal methods in climate change adaptation research / Godwin Etta Odok.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Odok, Godwin Etta, author.

Series:

SAGE Research methods: diversifying and decolonizing research.

SAGE Research methods: diversifying and decolonizing research

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Participatory rural appraisal--Africa.

Participatory rural appraisal.

Ethnoscience--Africa.

Ethnoscience.

Climate change mitigation--Africa.

Climate change mitigation.

Traditional ecological knowledge--Africa.

Traditional ecological knowledge.

Physical Description:

1 online resource

Place of Publication:

London : SAGE Publications Ltd, 2024.

Summary:

Participatory rural appraisal (PRA) research methods have historically been influential in generating knowledge for long-term adaptation of human groups to their biophysical environments. This influence is especially true for the African continent, where interest in Indigenous knowledge is growing regarding development and climate change adaptation. In an earlier study on Indigenous knowledge for forest management and climate change adaptation in Africa, PRA methods enabled the researcher to generate data that validated how African farmers have developed a range of Indigenous agricultural practices based on generations of experience, informal experiments, and intimate understanding of their natural environment, especially forests. PRA methods engaged in the study included transect walks, trend analysis, seasonal calendars, institutional analysis, vulnerability ranking, and social mapping. These methods helped the researcher identify paths; confirm similarities and differences; assess sequences of events in nature and their relationship with Indigenous people; and assess communities' interests, layouts, infrastructures, demographics, health, and wealth patterns. Overall, these PRA methods robustly captured collective group actions and activities that ensured external adaptation and internal group solidarity. Consequently, PRA research methods proved useful in enabling the researcher to capture hidden nuances that deny Indigenous people of forest-dependent Africa the autonomy to act on issues relating to climate change adaptation. In this way, PRA research methods espouses Indigenous knowledge as the cultural knowledge that affirms the autonomy and inventiveness of Indigenous people as co-creators of climate change adaptation knowledge rather than mere consumers of knowledge.

Notes:

Description based on XML content.

ISBN:

1-5296-9091-9

9781529690910

OCLC:

1428169548