scholarly journals Pond Becomes a Lake: Challenges Posed by Climate Change in the Trans-Himalayan Regions of Nepal

2018 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiban Mani Poudel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Management Practices ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
The Past ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ecological Relationship ◽  
Change Context ◽  
Past Climate Variability

Satellite images, repeated photography, temperature and precipitation data, and other proxy scientific evidences support the claim that climate is changing rapidly in Nepal, including in the Trans-Himalayan regions of the country. Climate change in the Trans-Himalayan region of Nepal is altering the existing relations of functional socio-ecological system for generations. This ethnographic assessment of Nhāson village looks at the disturbance posed by climate change to the social and ecological relationship in reference to livestock management practices. It focuses on two thematic areas of communities’ verbalisation of issues and challenges faced by the mountain herders in the climate change context. This paper is the product of ethnographic study between the years 2012 and 2014 in Nhāson. The locals’ attachment to environment and witnesses of change is capable of telling the story on the disturbance of climate change in the social and ecological systems, contextually. The stories gathered during walking, herding, travelling, watching and observing of the places are “real stories” with insights into the past climate variability and fluctuation which is critically valuable to understand the environmental phenomena at times when scientific evidences are not sufficient. Ethnographic study can contribute in documenting the place and cultural specific stories as a powerful evidence to climate change and its impact on grounded social and ecological systems.

Pond Becomes a Lake: Challenges for Herders in the Himalayas

2020 ◽  
Vol 42 (2) ◽  
pp. 30-35 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jiban Mani Poudel
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Climate Variability ◽  
Coping Strategies ◽  
Scientific Evidence ◽  
Ecological Systems ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Himalayan Region ◽  
Functional Relations ◽  
It Impacts ◽  
The Social

Abstract Climate change is disturbing the existing functional relations between socio-ecological systems in the Himalayan region of Nepal. In this paper, I look at the disturbance posed by climate change to the social and ecological dimensions, referencing the Himalayan herders as eye-witnesses. I focus on two thematic areas, that is, the challenges faced by the mountain herders in the context of climate change and their coping strategies. This paper is a product of nine months of ethnographic study between the years 2012 and 2018 conducted at the Nhāson valley. The herders' stories are “real stories” with insights into the climate variability and fluctuation, which is critically valuable to understand the environmental phenomena at a time when scientific evidence is not enough. In this context, an ethnographic study can contribute in documenting the place-specific and culture-specific stories as the powerful evidence to climate change and how it impacts the grounded social and ecological systems.

Jaziret Fadel

2021 ◽  
pp. 104-126
Author(s):  
Amal Adel Abdrabo
Keyword(s):  
Social Life ◽  
Arab Countries ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
Mutual Interaction ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Preliminary Research ◽  
The Village ◽  
Key Questions

The plight of refugees fleeing from Palestine in 1948 raises several key questions regarding their historical fragmentation as a nation and their future. From a social anthropological point of view, the existing literature seems to tackle the Palestinian case from different perspectives influenced by the mass exodus of Palestinians from their homeland. Such perceptions took for granted the recognition of the state of “refugeeness” of the exiled Palestinians around the globe, while, in reality, it is a mutual interaction between people, place, and time. In the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli War at the beginning of the year 1948, more than 700,000 Palestinians fled their homes in Palestine to the nearby Arab countries, among them was Egypt. Some thousands settled in different areas all over Egypt. Based on a preliminary research on the literature, the author can argue that this is the first ethnographic study of the social life of the village of Jaziret Fadel and its Palestinian inhabitants in Egypt. The chapter is about tackling the historical trajectories, genealogies, memories, and present of the inhabitants of this village who seemed to be torn between two nostalgic pasts. The author's emphasis within this chapter is about how the narratives of the past memories could reveal a lot about the present time of the human societies and their future.

scholarly journals Application of dendroclimatology in evaluation of climatic changes

2018 ◽  
Vol 64 (No. 3) ◽  
pp. 139-147 ◽  
Author(s):  
Khaleghi Mohammad Reza
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Tree Rings ◽  
Arid Regions ◽  
Ring Width ◽  
Climatic Changes ◽  
The Past ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Temporal And Spatial ◽  
Artificial Neural Network Ann ◽  
High Degree

The present study tends to describe the survey of climatic changes in the case of the Bojnourd region of North Khorasan, Iran. Climate change due to a fragile ecosystem in semi-arid and arid regions such as Iran is one of the most challenging climatological and hydrological problems. Dendrochronology, which uses tree rings to their exact year of formation to analyse temporal and spatial patterns of processes in the physical and cultural sciences, can be used to evaluate the effects of climate change. In this study, the effects of climate change were simulated using dendrochronology (tree rings) and an artificial neural network (ANN) for the period from 1800 to 2015. The present study was executed using the Quercus castaneifolia C.A. Meyer. Tree-ring width, temperature, and precipitation were the input parameters for the study, and climate change parameters were the outputs. After the training process, the model was verified. The verified network and tree rings were used to simulate climatic parameter changes during the past times. The results showed that the integration of dendroclimatology and an ANN renders a high degree of accuracy and efficiency in the simulation of climate change. The results showed that in the last two centuries, the climate of the study area changed from semiarid to arid, and its annual precipitation decreased significantly.

scholarly journals Climate change in Colombia

2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 632-652 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clara Inés Pardo Martínez ◽  
William H. Alfonso P.
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Policy Instruments ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
Official Policy ◽  
The Social ◽  
Droughts And Floods ◽  
Mitigate Climate Change ◽  
Main Ideas

Purpose This research analyses and evaluates the trends and perspectives of climate change in Colombia. This study aims to understand the main ideas and concepts of climate change in five regions of the country by analysing attitudes and values, information habits, institutionalism and the social appropriation of science and technology. Design/methodology/approach The research study involved a focus group technique. Ten focus groups in five regions of the country, including rural regions, were administered. The selection of cities and municipalities in this study took into account vulnerability scenarios based on the two criteria of temperature and precipitation for the 2011-2040 period. Findings The participants of the focus groups believe that climate change began 10 years ago and that human activities have caused climate change. The main effects of climate change are believed to be droughts and floods that have appeared in the past several years and have negatively impacted agricultural activities and the quality of life of the population. Moreover, the participants believe that it is important to design and apply adequate measures to adapt to and mitigate climate change. Originality/value This study makes an important contribution to the extant climate change literature by identifying and categorising the main ideas and knowledge on this issue from the perspective of the population in Colombia. In developing countries with high climate change vulnerability, it is especially important to analyse this issue to determine relevant official policy instruments that could promote adequate actions and instruments to prevent, adapt to and mitigate climate change.

scholarly journals Evidence of Climate Change Engagement Behaviour on a Facebook Fan-Based Page

2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (17) ◽  
pp. 7038
Author(s):  
Kirtika Deo ◽  
Abhnil Amtesh Prasad
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Social Media ◽  
Global Climate Change ◽  
Data Privacy ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
User Engagement ◽  
Small Islands ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
Social Media Platforms

Climate change has become one of the most debated topics in recent times. The social media platforms have given the general public the power and propensity to share and express concerns about climate change. However, climate change awareness created on social media depends on user engagement with the contents modulated by emotions. Much has been researched in this area using Twitter, but Facebook fan-based pages have not been extensively explored in the past. In this study, we investigate the engagement behaviour of users on a Facebook fan-based page titled “Global Climate Change Awareness” by analysing user insights data for two years starting from April 2018 to April 2020. Results show that the frequency of posts made to the page did not significantly promote engagement but improved visibility of the contents to the users. Overall, fan growth was attributed more to increased post visibility that enhanced post engagement. Hashtags associated with climate change had a significant reach amongst users, but those associated with disasters where the page expressed sadness and informed users about taking precautions had the highest engagement rate. Likewise, users from developing countries, especially from the small islands, were more engaged with climate change awareness. This study did not assess negative responses from users (possible deniers of climate change) and other Facebook fan-based pages due to data privacy and stringent Facebook policy.

scholarly journals Carnival Anthropocene: Myth and Cultural Memory in Monique Roffey's Archipelago // Antropoceno Carnaval: El mito y memoria cultural en Archipelago de Monique Roffey

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 41-55
Author(s):  
C. Parker Krieg
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Cultural Memory ◽  
Political Engagement ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
Natural World ◽  
The Novel ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

      This essay examines the role of myth in and as cultural memory through a reading of the novel, Archipelago (2013), by the Trinidadian-British author Monique Roffey. Against conceptions of the Anthropocene as a break from the past—a break that repeats the myth of modernity—I argue that Roffey’s use of cultural memory offers a carnivalesque relation to the world in response to the narrative’s account of climate change trauma. Drawing on Bakhtin’s classic study of the carnival as an occasion for contestation and renewal, as well as Cheryl Lousely’s call for a “carnivalesque ecocriticism,” this essay expands on the recent ecocritical turn to the field of Memory Studies (Buell; Goodbody; Kennedy) to illustrate the way literature mediates between mythic and historical relations to the natural world. As literary expressions, the carnivalesque and the grotesque evoke myth and play in order to expose and transform the social myths which govern relations and administrate difference. Since literature acts as both a producer and reflector of cultural memory, this essay seeks to highlight the literary potential of myth for connecting past traumas to affirmational modes of political engagement. Resumen     Este ensayo examina el papel del mito en y como memoria cultural analizando la novela Archipelago (2013), escrita por la autora trinitense-británica Monique Roffey. Frente a la idea del Antropoceno como una ruptura con el pasado—una ruptura que repite el mito de la modernidad—este trabajo argumenta que el uso de la memoria cultural de Roffey ofrece una relación carnavalesca con el mundo en respuesta al trauma del cambio climático detallado en la novela. Basando mi argumento en la teoría clásica de Bakhtin sobre el carnaval como una ocasión para la contestación y la renovación, así como la llamada de Cheryl Lousely por una “ecocrítica carnavalesca,” este ensayo amplía el reciente giro de la ecocrítica hacia el campo de los estudios de memoria (Buell; Goodbody; Kennedy) para ilustrar cómo la literatura media entre las relaciones míticas e históricas con el mundo natural. Como expresiones literarias, lo carnavalesco y lo grotesco evocan el mito y el juego para revelar y transformar los mitos sociales que gobiernan las relaciones y gestionan la diferencia. Ya que la literatura actúa tanto como productora y como espejo de la memoria cultural, este ensayo busca destacar el potencial literario del mito para conectar traumas del pasado con modos de compromiso político más afirmativos.

scholarly journals Collective Forgetting in a Changing Organization: When memories become unusable and uprooted

2019 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 449-470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hamid Foroughi ◽  
Ismael Al-Amoudi
Keyword(s):  
Social Relations ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Organizational Changes ◽  
Charitable Organization ◽  
The Past ◽  
Practical Usefulness ◽  
The Social ◽  
Memory Power ◽  
Collective Remembering ◽  
Sense Of Identity

How is collective remembering inhibited by organizational changes which were not intended to manipulate it? And how does collective forgetting affect workers’ power and sense of identity? We rely on an ethnographic study of a charitable organization that went through recent organizational changes to study two processes constitutive of collective forgetting. The first process consists in the past becoming unusable because once-useful memories lost their practical usefulness for participants’ new activities. The second process consists in the past becoming uprooted because the social relations through which memories used to be shared had changed beyond recognition. Our findings provide insights into the organizational processes through which memories cease to circulate. They also help understand the complex relations between memory, power relations and participants’ sense of identity.

scholarly journals A Comparative Study of the Physiological and Socio-Economic Vulnerabilities to Heat Waves of the Population of the Metropolis of Lyon (France) in a Climate Change Context

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 1004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucille Alonso ◽  
Florent Renard
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Heat Waves ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Principal Component ◽  
Analytic Hierarchy ◽  
Island Effect ◽  
The Social ◽  
Change Context ◽  
Eastern Periphery ◽  
Urban Heat

Increases in the frequency and intensity of heat waves are direct consequences of global climate change with a higher risk for urban populations due to the urban heat island effect. Reducing urban overheating is a priority, as is identifying the most vulnerable people to establish targeted and coordinated public health policies. There are many ways of understanding the concept of vulnerability and multiple definitions and applications exist in the literature. To date, however, nothing has been done on the territory of this study, the metropolis of Lyon (France). The objective is thus to construct two vulnerability indices: physiological, focusing on the organism’s capacities to respond to heat waves; and socio-economic, based on the social and economic characteristics and capacities of the community. To this end, two complementary methodologies have been implemented: the AHP (Analytic Hierarchy Process) and the PCA (Principal Component Analysis) with Varimax rotation, respectively. The results were then spatialized to the smallest demographic census unit in France. The areas highlighted differed due to conceptual and methodological differences: the highest physiological vulnerabilities are in the center while the socio-economic ones are in the eastern periphery of the urban area. The location of these areas will enable prevention campaigns to be carried out, targeted according to the publics concerned.

scholarly journals Walking the Past, Acting the Past? Peace March to Srebrenica Commemoration

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Ana Ljubojević
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Cultural Geography ◽  
Memory Studies ◽  
Social Processes ◽  
Ethnographic Study ◽  
Spatial Mobility ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Town

Abstract This article is based on an ethnographic study carried out during the Nezuk-Potočari Peace March in the framework of Srebrenica genocide commemoration. A more than 100-kilometer procession, attracting each year around 5,000 participants, represents the reverse route of the so-called Death March, the local population’s way of escape from the town of Srebrenica in July 1995. Following theoretical insights from both memory studies and cultural geography, this article’s aim is to analyze mnemonic practices commemorating the Srebrenica genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Moreover, it explores the social processes through which such memory is produced, performed, and maintained. While applying participant observant methodology, I have engaged in conversation with residents and main actors taking part in the Peace March. Finally, the notion of collective memory is approached from the perspective of spatial mobility engagement of people visiting commemorative events and monuments dedicated to the 1990s war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

scholarly journals Village-level supply reliability of surface water irrigation in rural China: effects of climate change

2018 ◽  
Vol 379 ◽  
pp. 89-104
Author(s):  
Yanrong Li ◽  
Jinxia Wang
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Surface Water ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Rural China ◽  
Scientific Basis ◽  
Climate Data ◽  
The Past ◽  
Temperature And Precipitation ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Supply Reliability

Abstract. Surface water, as the largest part of water resources, plays an important role on China's agricultural production and food security. And surface water is vulnerable to climate change. This paper aims to examine the status of the supply reliability of surface water irrigation, and discusses how it is affected by climate change in rural China. The field data we used in this study was collected from a nine-province field survey during 2012 and 2013. Climate data are offered by China's National Meteorological Information Center which contains temperature and precipitation in the past 30 years. A Tobit model (or censored regression model) was used to estimate the influence of climate change on supply reliability of surface water irrigation. Descriptive results showed that, surface water supply reliability was 74 % in the past 3 years. Econometric results revealed that climate variables significantly influenced the supply reliability of surface water irrigation. Specifically, temperature is negatively related with the supply reliability of surface water irrigation; but precipitation positively influences the supply reliability of surface water irrigation. Besides, climate influence differs by seasons. In a word, this paper improves our understanding of the impact of climate change on agriculture irrigation and water supply reliability in the micro scale, and provides a scientific basis for relevant policy making.

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