Toolbox

Water and Mining

Methods used

InterviewsParticipatory methods

Research focus & objectives

The research project addresses the extractive transformation of territories across the Netherlands (gas extraction in Groningen) and Guatemala (mining of construction materials in Quetzaltenango) as well as the contestation and resistance struggles by territorially-rooted movements from a political ecology perspective. It further investigates the idea of translocal, cross-cultural, and multi-scalar learning and solidarity alliance bridge building between these place-based struggles, paying attention to the potentials and challenges of such endeavor, and reflecting on possibilities, tensions, and contradictions of translocal activist-research.

Methods applied

InterviewsParticipatory methods

In-depth interviews, informal conversations and ‘listening to rumours’
Participant observation
Focus groups
Listening to rumors
Counter-mapping
Field visits
Document analysis, including maps, policy documents, technical reports, academic and nonacademic literature, and media report
Co-Creating translocal learning and solidarity action-research bridges

Reflections and recommendations by the researcher

Consider how critical academic research can be combined and actively blur boundaries with political engagement and activism that tangibly support the struggles at hand. Remain reflexive on your positionality and sit with your discomfort. Stay attentive to the ethics and politics of your project. Be honest to yourself and others about what you can achieve and what not. Value long-term and reciprocal engagement and friendship with your collaborators. Think about the accessibility of research results (e.g., language, format etc.).

Researcher

Hannah Porada

Hannah Porada is currently a PhD researcher based at the Center for Latin American Research and Documentation (CEDLA) at the University of Amsterdam. Her research interests relate to critical geography, political ecology, environmental justice, water governance, and social movements struggles against extractivism. Her PhD research explores the impacts of extractive industries, struggles over territory and for environmental justice, and opportunities for and challenges of translocal, cross-cultural, action-research alliance building across the Netherlands (gas extraction) and Guatemala (mining of construction materials) from a political ecology perspective. Hannah has previously conducted research in the German brown coal areas close to her own home.