Category: Research

Categories
Research

Gender relations in dried fish value chains

Galappaththi et al. explore gender relations in dried fish value chains, proposing an analytic framework that links gender, wellbeing creation, and intersecting structural oppressions within dried fish value chains, with an overarching focus on relationality.

Their work draws on three case studies: (1) The seasonal fish drying workforce at Nazirartek, Bangladesh, which includes local inhabitants, migratory workers from elsewhere in Bangladesh, and Rohingya refugees from neighbouring Myanmar; (2) local Tanzanian women and women from the Democratic Republic of the Congo who trade in dried Nile perch in Mwanza, Tanzania; and (3) Tamil fishing communities on Mannar Island, Sri Lanka, who engage in fish processing and selling, and whose traditional livelihoods have been impacted by civil war.

The authors suggest that by focusing our attention on gender relations in such contexts — the “relational construction of gendered roles, responsibilities and restrictions, and how they often uniquely disadvantage women” — we might better critique the power structures embedded in value chains, providing a better understanding of marginalization, agency, social wellbeing, and the complexities of women’s lived experience.

Selected constraints faced by women in dried fish value chains. Galappaththi et al. write: “Despite the diverse benefits mediated through social and cultural relations, women face significant constraints within dried fish value chains that perpetuate gender inequities and undermine their wellbeing. Existing dried fish scholarship, however, does not provide a complete account of these constraints. We supplement existing (limited) dried fish research with insights drawn from small-scale fisheries research to explore the key constraints faced by women”.

Reference

Galappaththi, Madu, Andrea M. Collins, Derek Armitage, and Prateep Kumar Nayak. 2021. “Linking Social Wellbeing and Intersectionality to Understand Gender Relations in Dried Fish Value Chains.” Maritime Studies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40152-021-00232-3.

The purpose of this perspective paper is to advance a comprehensive framework to integrate gender within the study of dried fish value chains. We do so by linking three complementary areas of scholarship: social wellbeing, intersectionality, and value chains. Social wellbeing literature emphasizes the range of benefits generated through dried fish value chains (e.g., social ties, cultural values, and material goods). An intersectional perspective, however, brings attention to the relational structures (e.g., caste, ethnicity) that intersect with gender to uniquely position women and men within value chains in relation to the benefits they can generate. In developing this framework, a key point of departure from existing literature is the notion of relationality (i.e., the creation of experiences in relation to one another within a given context). The value chain analysis further reveals how such unique positions determine the wellbeing outcomes women can generate through their participation in value chains. We demonstrate the contribution of this novel framework by applying it within dried fish case examples from Bangladesh, Tanzania, and Sri Lanka. In doing so, we systematically unpack how gender intersects with other structures of oppression and perpetuate gender inequity. Our framework thus results in a ‘thick description’ of gender relations operating in dried fish value chains. The insights that emerge can inform relevant policies, decision-making processes, and programs to ensure the creation of equitable wellbeing outcomes by those participating in dried fish value chains.

Categories
Research

Living on the edge

In India, dried fish have been traditionally important to small-scale fishing economies, contributed to food and nutritional security of large segments of population (especially the poor), and supported a wide range of livelihoods. Since the beginning of the 1990s, as Indian fisheries sector underwent a radical transformation, the dried fish processing sector was subject to significant upheavals. While the early stages of modernisation of Indian fisheries had enhanced the women’s access to fish, its latter stages were characterised by the dried fish value chains having to cope with reduced availability and access to fish; competition from other, more lucrative, value chains and markets; and overall decline in the drying operations. Women, who constituted the majority of actors in dried fish production and trade, faced increasing challenges to their livelihoods that required, on the one hand, having to make a number of adaptations to their fish processing and trade practices and, on the other, attempting to reduce their dependence on fish drying and switch to other occupations.

Many of these transformative changes remained poorly understood and documented, especially from a development policy perspective. District Fishermen Youth Welfare Association (DFYWA), an NGO working with the small-scale fishers on the east coast of India, undertook a study to obtain better understanding of the changing livelihood context of women dried fish processors, and its consequences on their quality of life, in the northern coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. A major theme underlying the study has been to gain an historical perspective, based on the perspective of women involved in the dried fish trade, on the long-term viability of dried fish as a source of livelihoods, and in terms of their contribution to food security and small-scale fishing economies.

The focus of the study was firmly on women: to understand how a set of women, following a traditionally important way of life, coped with the impacts of major changes happening within and beyond their area of work, and frequently beyond their control or understanding. The adaptability, flexibility, and resilience shown by the women, it was expected, would not only form the basis of any policy/development actions to improve their conditions, but also have relevance to a wider range of people confronting similar trends and challenges in their own livelihoods in other activities/sectors.

Following a categorisation of the women fish processors (who were a diverse and disparate lot) according to their socio-economic conditions, the study attempted to understand the current status of dried fish production and the key trends affecting the activities and actors from a livelihoods perspective. It aimed to assess the current and long-term impacts of new sources of demand, such as industrial fishmeal, on the dried fish production and trade. It attempted to understand the strategies adopted by women (in terms of mitigation, adaptation, and diversification) to cope with the challenges and to assess the effectiveness and sustainability of such responses. Based on the magnitude of the challenges and women’s responses to them, the study tried to identify broad areas of action to inform and initiate future policy and support processes for more robust and realistic support systems to be put in place.

The study received partial support from the research project, ‘Dried Fish Matters: Mapping the social economy of dried fish in South and Southeast Asia for enhanced wellbeing and nutrition’, being implemented by the University of Manitoba, Canada, with support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

Download

Reference

Salagrama, Venkatesh, and Arjili Dasu. 2021. “Living on the Edge: Perspectives of the Small-Scale Women Fish Processors of Northern Coastal Andhra Pradesh, India.” DFM Reports. India: District Fishermen Youth Welfare Association. [DFM-DFYWA_RPT_Living-on-the-edge_2021-08-25_FINAL.pdf]

The District Fishermen Youth Welfare Association (DFYWA) is a community-based non-governmental organisation working with the small-scale fishers and fishworkers of northern Andhra Pradesh since 1992, implementing activities focused on developing sustainable fisheries-based livelihoods for men and women. This working paper is the first in the proposed series, focusing upon the fisherwomen involved in dried fish trade covering the four northern coastal districts of Andhra Pradesh. The working paper also takes a sideways glance at the potential impacts of the industrial fishmeal production on the small-scale processed fish production in the target communities. It is the intention of DFYWA to treat the working paper as a live document, to allow updating it at regular intervals, add more quantitative data as it is collected, and also use this as a baseline to understand and interpret future development directions in the subsector, both from within the communities and outside of them. The study, based mostly on primary data collection, is undertaken by several members and staff of DFYWA.

Categories
News Research

Researching communications in an international project

This study, “Assessing perceptions of effectiveness of three levels of communication in an international project on the social economy of dried fish in Asia”, was conducted as part of my Master Thesis from September 2020 to August 2021, and due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this thesis was done remotely.

I used a mixed method approach to examine various factors influencing communication effectiveness in an international project directed by anthropologists. The project is called “Dried Fish Matters” (DFM) and focuses on the importance of the social economy of dried fish and the social wellbeing of marginalized people in South and South-East Asia. My study can serve as a model to encourage other international research projects to include reflexivity and self-analysis in their work and communication practices.

Communication can take multiple forms and is essential in our personal and professional lives. Communication has been studied in various contexts, including architecture projects; distance education; commercial enterprises; fishery organizations, industries, consumers, marketing companies and decision makers; and medical environments. However, communication within international research teams has been understudied.

I used three different methods to investigate DFM’s internal and external communications: a general survey, in-depth interviews and participant observation. Internal communications were divided into internal communication within research teams and internal communication within the global project. Both types of internal communications were found to be effective from participants’ perspectives: 84% of the participants answered positively to the general questions. Concerning the external communication addressed to external users, results were much more mixed, with only 47% of the participants answering positively about its effectiveness. Even though the mixed method approach can be an effective methodology for engaging with communication effectiveness, close attention should be given to the definitions of communication and communication effectiveness.

DFM Student Working Group Meeting (2020), part of the participant observation methodology.

This study highlights some of the influencing factors of communication, including hierarchy, interdisciplinary collaboration, personality traits, social relationships among colleagues, and DFM’s coordination. There is not a single definition of effective communication or a model for how it can be achieved in every case, so it is impossible to make generalizations based on this work. However, my study demonstrates the importance of transparency, open-mindedness and frequent communications in international research projects, which can form the basis of effective communication. Thereby, I demonstrate the importance of communication in research projects, the lack of literature associated with it, and the influencing factors that could be seen as a requirement to have effective communication.

Key recommendations

Here are some key recommendations based on the results of this study and from the participants’ point of view:

  • Having a Zoom free Friday, or Zoom-free after 9 pm
  • Having a summary in one place to keep track of everything related to the project, for example in the DFM’s website for all the participants, or in the wiki-page
  • Sending an analysis every couple of weeks or month in order to keep collaborators from the project aware of the research
  • Having one person or a group of people dedicated to communication full-time
  • Having someone from DFM central monitoring and assisting the country teams; it could even improve the communication between regional teams and DFM central

Here are my key recommendations based on the results of this study:

  • Online meetings should include a break of 5 or 10 minutes during the middle of a meeting. Moreover, it would be helpful to alternate the meeting time: one time during the morning in Canada, one time during the evening in Canada, etc
  • Giving more feedback to everyone working within the project
  • Increase social media presence by creating an account on Instagram and/or other online platforms to expand communication toward the general public
  • Create a WhatsApp group within research teams and even within the global project

Reference

Pigeault, Alexia. 2021. “Assessing Perceptions of Effectiveness of Three Levels of Communication in an International Project on the Social Economy of Dried Fish in Asia.” Master’s thesis, Online: Gent University and University of Manitoba. [Thesis report Alexia Pigeault.pdf]

Effective communication in research projects can have direct positive impacts on knowledge co-production and the researchers’ wellbeing. Examining the factors influencing communication requires in-depth observation and understanding of the researchers’ opinions and actions. This study consisted of “researching the researchers”; as part of my thesis research, I observed the interactions of members of an international research project on dried fish in South and South East Asia led by Canadian Anthropologists. The focus was on internal and external communications and revealed that open-mindedness, frequent communication, and transparency are three determinants of effective communication. Moreover, the results show a global agreement on the effectiveness of internal communications, while the results for external communication are more mixed. Studying our own communications by engaging in introspection is something that should be required to produce better outcomes and enhance collaboration in international projects.