scholarly journals Waste Pickers and Their Practices of Insurgency and Environmental Stewardship

2021 ◽  
pp. 107049652110553
Author(s):  
Jutta Gutberlet ◽  
Santiago Sorroche ◽  
Angela Martins Baeder ◽  
Patrik Zapata ◽  
María José Zapata Campos
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
General Public ◽  
Environmental Stewardship ◽  
Educational Practices ◽  
Income Source ◽  
Waste Pickers

Informed by different grassroots learning and educational practices engaged in waste management, and drawing from the concepts of insurgent citizenship and environmental stewardship, we examine the role of waste picker organizations and movements in creating new pathways towards more sustainable environmental waste governance. Two case studies (Argentina and Brazil) demonstrate how waste pickers inform and educate the general public and raise the awareness of socio-environmental questions related to waste management. Different educational practices are used as strategies to confront citizens with their waste: to see waste as a consumption problem, resource, and income source. Our paper draws on grassroots learning (social movement learning and insurgent learning) and education (stewardship) aimed at the transformation of waste practices. We argue that waste pickers play an important role in knowledge production promoting recycling, in landfilling less and recovering more resources. We conclude that waste pickers act as insurgent citizens and also are environmental stewards.

Surviving from garbage: the role of informal waste-pickers in a dynamic model of solid-waste management in developing countries

2006 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 371-391 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROCÍO DEL PILAR MORENO-SÁNCHEZ ◽  
JORGE HIGINIO MALDONADO
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Waste Management ◽  
Solid Waste ◽  
Dynamic Model ◽  
Solid Waste Management ◽  
Waste Collection ◽  
Management Policies ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Waste Pickers

In developing countries, informal waste-pickers (known as scavengers) play an important role in solid waste management systems, acting in a parallel way to formal waste collection and disposal agents. Scavengers collect, from the streets, dumpsites, or landfills, re-usable and recyclable material that can be reincorporated into the economy's production process. Despite the benefits that they generate to society, waste-pickers are ignored when waste management policies are formulated. The purpose of this paper is to integrate the role of scavengers in a dynamic model of production, consumption, and recovery, and to show that, in an economy producing solid waste, efficiency can be reached using a set of specific and complementary policies: a tax on virgin materials use, a tax on consumption and disposal, and a subsidy to the recovery of material. A numerical simulation is performed to evaluate the impact of these policies on landfill lifetime and natural resource stocks. A discussion on the implementation of these instruments is also included.

Toward a Militant Ethnography of Infrastructure: Cybercartographies of Order, Scale, and Scope across the Occupy Movement

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (4) ◽  
pp. 482-509
Author(s):  
Joan Donovan
Keyword(s):  
Social Movements ◽  
Organizational Change ◽  
Political Participation ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Knowledge Production ◽  
Research Projects ◽  
Occupy Movement ◽  
Academic Knowledge ◽  
Infrastructure Studies

Taking networked social movements as a fieldsite, I chart how the Occupy Movement transformed as activists turned to building infrastructure as a mode of political participation. Critically, infrastructure is not simply a feature of networked social movements, but forms its core capacities. Integrating insights from militant ethnography with STS research on infrastructure studies, I illustrate how to use these methods to render visible the infrastructure of networked social movements. Because militant research projects and STS scholarship have a dual role of making knowledge about as well as knowledge for participants, examining the epistemological foundations of social movement research requires understanding the researcher’s purpose for participating and, then, operationalizing their knowledge. To illustrate this, I introduce cybercartography, a theory/methods package, for mapping organizational change in order, scale, and scope across networked social movements. As such, cybercartography bridges academic knowledge production with activists’ goals to organize action.

scholarly journals Waste pickers in the informal economy of the Global South: included or excluded?

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (5/6) ◽  
pp. 280-294 ◽  
Author(s):  
Diego Coletto ◽  
Lieselot Bisschop
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Informal Economy ◽  
Global South ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Management Policy ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Informal Workers ◽  
Qualitative Case Studies ◽  
Waste Pickers

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide insights into the role and practices of informal waste pickers and the implications for waste management policy in urban contexts of the Global South. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative case studies were used, including interviews, observations and document analyses. The authors compared informal waste management in two cities of the Global South: Accra (Ghana) and Porto Alegre (Brazil). Findings The analysis points out that informal waste pickers play a crucial role in the implementation of waste policies in both cities, despite differing economic, social and institutional contexts. The study of the waste management system also points to multiple connections between informal and formal parts of the economy. Although the informal waste pickers are integral to the waste management systems, their economically disadvantaged position excludes them from the formal labour market. Faced with these challenges, they develop creative solutions to guarantee their livelihood and gain more effective collective voice. Research limitations/implications The comparison of two case studies, conducted about the same social phenomenon in two different economic, institutional and social contexts, has limited generalisability but is theoretically and practically important. Practical implications The findings are relevant to policy-makers who deal with urban waste management and for organisations who develop support actions for informal workers. Originality/value The authors draw on a comparison of qualitative case studies to explore the multidimensionality of the waste picker’s phenomenon. This paper sparks discussion among scholars and experts who study the informal economy from different perspectives, in this case bridging insights from sociology and victimology.

State-Society Dynamics in Contemporary Brazilian Land Reform

2016 ◽  
Vol 43 (2) ◽  
pp. 77-95 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy Wolford
Keyword(s):  
Qualitative Analysis ◽  
Social Movement ◽  
Citizen Participation ◽  
Land Reform ◽  
General Public ◽  
Agrarian Reform ◽  
Policy Option ◽  
Critical Element ◽  
The Past

Over the past 15 years, land reform has returned from the “dustbin of history” to serve again as a viable policy option. Much has been written about its resurgence, with the research tending to focus narrowly on the role of prices, policies, and politics in shaping the design and outcome of distribution. While these are necessary elements to understand, their reification neglects the critical element of process. Land reform programs are implemented by an array of government actors and negotiated on the ground by beneficiaries, social movement activists, large farmers, and the general public. A messy assemblage of actors and interests shapes both the design and the outcome of distribution. Qualitative analysis of the federal agency in charge of land reform in Brazil, the Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (National Institute of Colonization and Agrarian Reform—INCRA), reveals that, in the context of increased citizen participation and reduced funding, the agency must work together with social movement activists to perform its task. The analysis suggests that the study of state-society relations today requires a new vocabulary that highlights substance and process rather than form.Nos últimos 15 anos, a reforma agrária foi resgatada do arquivo histórico para servir como opção políticamente viável. Muito se tem escrito sobre essa restauração. Pesquisas têm concentrado atenção no papel de preços, legislação e política no desenho e resultado da distribuição. Ainda que seja necessário entender esses elementos, sua ratificação ignora os elementos críticos do processo. Programas de reforma agrária são implementados por uma variedade de atores governamentais e negociados por beneficiários, ativistas de movimentos sociais, grandes agricultores e pelo público em geral. Um mosaico desengonçado de atores e interesses dão forma tanto ao desenho quanto ao resultado da distribuição. Análise qualitativa da agência federal responsável pela reforma agrária no Brasil, o Instituto Nacional de Colonização e Reforma Agrária (INCRA), revela que, no contexto de maior participação de cidadãos e de recursos reduzidos, é importante que a agência atue coordenadamente com ativistas de movimentos sociais para desempenhar seu papel. A análise sugere que o estudo das relações entre sociedade e Estado hoje exige um novo vocabulário que acentue mais a importância de substância e processo do que da forma.

Track 2.a Introduction

2019 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sucharita BENIWAL ◽  
Sahil MATHUR ◽  
Lesley-Ann NOEL ◽  
Cilla PEMBERTON ◽  
Suchitra BALASUBRAHMANYAN ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Case Studies ◽  
Local Knowledge ◽  
Ways Of Knowing ◽  
Social Contexts ◽  
Knowledge Systems ◽  
Theoretical Frameworks ◽  
Native Communities ◽  
Cultural Systems ◽  
Local Practices

The aim of this track was to question the divide between the nature of knowledge understood as experiential in indigenous contexts and science as an objective transferable knowledge. However, these can co-exist and inform design practices within transforming social contexts. The track aimed to challenge the hegemony of dominant knowledge systems, and demonstrate co-existence. The track also hoped to make a case for other systems of knowledges and ways of knowing through examples from native communities. The track was particularly interested in, first, how innovators use indigenous and cultural systems and frameworks to manage or promote innovation and second, the role of local knowledge and culture in transforming innovation as well as the form of local practices inspired innovation. The contributions also aspired to challenge through examples, case studies, theoretical frameworks and methodologies the hegemony of dominant knowledge systems, the divides of ‘academic’ vs ‘non-academic’ and ‘traditional’ vs ‘non-traditional’.

PERAN MASYARAKAT TERHADAP PEMBAYARAN RETRIBUSI SAMPAH DI KOTA SAMARINDA

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 33
Author(s):  
Abd Rachim AF,
Keyword(s):  
Waste Management ◽  
Population Growth ◽  
Frequency Analysis ◽  
Urban Areas ◽  
Relative Frequency ◽  
Environmental Problems ◽  
Living Standards ◽  
The Public ◽  
And Behavior

One of the environmental problems in urban areas is the pollution caused by garbage. The waste problem is caused by various factors such as population growth, living standards changes, lifestyles and behavior, as well as how the waste management system. This study aims to determine how the role of society to levy payments garbage in Samarinda. This research was descriptive; where the data is collected then compiled, described and analyzed used relative frequency analysis. The participation of the public to pay a "levy junk", which stated to pay 96.67%, for each month and the rates stated society cheap, moderate and fairly, respectively 46.08%, 21.21%, 21.04%. Base on the data , the role of the community to pay "levy junk" quite high.

The Role of Music and Allied Arts in Public Writings on Cultural Diversity: “People of Sri Lanka”

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
pp. 93-100
Author(s):  
Gisa Jähnichen
Keyword(s):  
Sri Lanka ◽  
Cultural Diversity ◽  
South Asia ◽  
Case Studies ◽  
Sri Lankan ◽  
Culturally Different ◽  
The World ◽  
Official Languages ◽  
The Way

The Sri Lankan Ministry of National Coexistence, Dialogue, and Official Languages published the work “People of Sri Lanka” in 2017. In this comprehensive publication, 21 invited Sri Lankan scholars introduced 19 different people’s groups to public readers in English, mainly targeted at a growing number of foreign visitors in need of understanding the cultural diversity Sri Lanka has to offer. This paper will observe the presentation of these different groups of people, the role music and allied arts play in this context. Considering the non-scholarly design of the publication, a discussion of the role of music and allied arts has to be supplemented through additional analyses based on sources mentioned by the 21 participating scholars and their fragmented application of available knowledge. In result, this paper might help improve the way facts about groups of people, the way of grouping people, and the way of presenting these groupings are displayed to the world beyond South Asia. This fieldwork and literature guided investigation should also lead to suggestions for ethical principles in teaching and presenting of culturally different music practices within Sri Lanka, thus adding an example for other case studies.

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