Editors’ introduction

In this chapter we are told the story of longstanding and ongoing research on natural resource management working with Indigenous forest communities in South America. The authors included here represent the range of people that Andrea Berardi and Jay Mistry, as lead authors, have worked with over the years. Their biographies can be found at the front of this book and reading these is considered by the lead authors to be important for a full understanding of their research story. The authors consider their experiences, their challenges and the ethics involved in what they did. Like the other examples in this book, their research drew heavily from systems theories and, as with previous chapters, the authors describe the way that their research processes evolved over time. In this case, moving away from their quantitative origins and becoming increasingly more visual and inclusive over time. This chapter places diagramming within the wider context of visual approaches more generally. Going beyond diagramming, the authors explain how they developed visual techniques relevant for their particular context, including (and combining) video, drawings and photo stories as well as diagramming. Here they explain the way that their approach and use of visual techniques helped to strengthen the capabilities of marginalised people.

Introduction

For over 15 years, the authors of this chapter have been engaged with the Indigenous communities of the North Rupununi, Guyana, in working through complex natural resource management dilemmas. Over time, we have developed a critically reflective approach to collaborative research with Indigenous community members in order to evaluate the type of research methods and techniques we apply, to reposition power relationships in the research processes, and analyse the immediate and long-term impact of the research intervention on participants. Why do researchers and participants engage in the use of visual methods? What are their differential motivations and how does this affect decision making during the research process? Who participates in and benefits from this research? What is the role of technology? How are Indigenous people's rights and knowledges taken into account and advanced? How do visual methods contribute to transformative change and social justice? With what limits?