Violeta Gutiérrez Zamora is a postdoctoral researcher at the Natural Resources Institute Finland (Luke). Her research focuses on topics related to deforestation, rural development, climate change, environmental policies, and the relationships between human and non-human species.
During the next few months he will be carrying out a research stay under the supervision of Stefania Barca at CISPAC. We approached him to learn about his work:
What is the subject of your current postdoctoral research?
In general, my postdoctoral research aims to better understand the different values that people attribute to bamboo and the transformations that development interventions based on bamboo value chains have had in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Laos).
The context of growing global demand for bamboo and international development interventions and the bioeconomy provide fertile ground for investigating how bamboo species are valued, not only in economic terms. but also cultural, aesthetic and ecological at different scales and geographies. Furthermore, it is essential to examine what values are enshrined or relegated in these interventions and the effects this has on the daily lives of producers. Here at CISPAC I am working on an article where I analyze, from a feminist political ecology perspective, how “care for nature” is conceived both as an ethical principle and as concrete work in development interventions based on bamboo value chains.
This research is part of the Justice and Politics in the Global Bioeconomy (Just GLOBE) project, funded by the Research Council of Finland.
Mexico, Finland, Laos and now, Galicia. How is your experience when it comes to analyzing the behavior of communities with their environment in different territories and contexts?
My research so far has focused on rural communities in Mexico and Laos that have been the subject of international interventions in the framework of forest management for sustainable development. When researching in such different territories and contexts, it is evident the influence of global narratives and discourses on what sustainable development is and how it is created and/or the bioeconomy, which shape rural development and forest conservation policies. These narratives can also be found in Finland and Galicia. However, the responses and adaptations of each community to these policies are what provide a diversity of perspectives and stories, from which we can imagine and activate more socially and ecologically just alternatives, and appropriate to the realities and needs of local populations.
It seems to me that it is essential to learn from the different experiences that exist in other territories and reflect on the points where these different stories coincide or contrast, not by way of comparison, but to understand what paths have been taken and learn from them.
Do you think approaching this process from a multidisciplinary perspective is beneficial for your research?
The problems currently facing forests (deforestation, degradation, biodiversity crisis, climate change, etc.) require dialogue between different disciplines, as this allows for a deeper and more complete understanding. In my case, both environmental sociology and feminist political ecology provide me with different tools to analyze how people live in and with forests, and how social, cultural, economic and geographical factors influence this intervention.
But for this it was also important to understand the different perspectives of other disciplines such as forest sciences and environmental history, although they are not my main field, they help to broaden our view. However, dialogue between experts from different disciplines is not easy, as it requires openness, time and willingness, which is not always possible.
Finally, what do you expect from your stay at CISPAC?
I hope to enrich my research through an exchange of ideas and knowledge with other researchers on topics related to sustainability, political ecology and rural development. I also hope to deepen my understanding of current debates on care work and the climate crisis. Furthermore, I want to learn from experiences in Galicia and expand my network of collaboration.
On September 23, Violeta will participate in a seminar with the presentation “Environmental Rationalities and Community Forest Management: Between Hopes, Crisis and Re-Existences in Mexico and Laos”. This activity is part of the Environmental History, Agroecology and Rural Societies course of the Interuniversity Master’s Degree in Contemporary History (USC). The event will take place in Seminar 103 of CISPAC at 11 a.m. , and will also feature the intervention of David Soto Fernández and the moderation of Lourenzo Fernández Prieto and Stefania Barca, researchers at CISPAC.