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The Gender of Trees: Gendered Local Knowledge Systems in a Forest Fringe Community in Rural Ghana. Christine E. Gibb Second World Agroforestry Congress August 2009. Tree. Research Question:
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The Gender of Trees: Gendered Local Knowledge Systems in a Forest Fringe Community in Rural Ghana Christine E. Gibb Second World Agroforestry Congress August 2009
Research Question: • How do the knowledge, use and management of tree resources differ among members of a forest fringe community in rural Ghana? Objectives • To characterize and evaluate the species, uses and management strategies that constitute the tree resources component of local knowledge systems. • To determine how people learn this knowledge. • To identify factors that lead community members to differ in their knowledge, use and management strategies.
Local Knowledge • Product: • A community-based understanding of reality that relates to the entire system of concepts, beliefs and perceptions of community members • Processes: • To observe phenomena, solve problems, validate new information • To store, apply and transmit information
Gender Affects Resource Use and Management • Gender as a means for studying difference • Factors shaping the content and distribution of knowledge systems: • Labour responsibilities (gender division of labour) • Property rights • Decision-making processes • Men and women in the South typically differ in their • Power to conserve, to modify, to build and to restore ecosystems • Power to regulate the actions of others • Spatial scale of resource tenure
Gendered Knowledge Systems • Knowledge about different things • Different knowledge about the same things • Organize their knowledge in different ways • Receive and transmit their knowledge by different means
Research Context • Deforestation emerges from conflicting interests of agriculture, agroforestry, livelihood strategies of resource-poor and political and economic influences • Taungya system: government response to forest decline and need for financial capital Ayakomaso N Source: CIA 2007 (http://www.lib.utexas.edu/maps/cia07/ghana_sm_2007.gif)
Study design Reflects an interpretive view of reality Adopts a feminist standpoint of situated knowledge Incorporates participatory principles and tools Research strategy Exploratory case study Qualitative data Methodology
Semi-structured interviews Community workshops Participant observation Review of secondary data Participant photography Methods
Gender and economic status interact with other factors to shape tree management strategies
Tree Management Strategies • Two types: • Strategies for conservation or economic purposes • Strategies for mitigation or adaptation purposes • Strategies typically included one or more of: • Low cost & risk averse • Considerate of a species’ desirable and undesirable traits • Reliant on traditional beliefs or taboos • Focused on species relating to personal preferences • Limited to species related to livelihoods • Informed by local issues • Influenced by informal, non-formal and formal education • Concentrated in locations for which an individual has access to and/or control over trees and land • Community members attributed their application of less-than-ideal management strategies to their inability to mobilize resources
Key Findings • Tree-related knowledge was learned through social and experiential learning within the local ecosystem. Thus, place and personal experiences continued to play vital roles in shaping local knowledge systems. • Gender played an influential role in shaping diverse aspects of local knowledge systems. • Commitment to tree management was • Affected by a variety of factors • Balanced with other commitments • Limited to familiar species exhibiting desirable characteristics. • While there was a potential for formal education to supplement the tree component of local knowledge systems, it can never be a perfect substitute because of the importance of place.
Medasi Paa • Community members in Ayakomaso • My supervisor Helen Hambly and committee member Jim Shute • Research assistants Vida Antwi and Irene Darkuman • Staff and teachers at FFRT, Sunyani and KNUST • JICA and Forestry Department staff • Family, friends and Frank • CDE and CIDS colleagues and friends • SSHRC