The technological gaze and Rural Communities (COM)

Description

The case engages with the vulnerabilities created by the solutions (such as modern technologies and livelihood options) that are projected to reduce the vulnerabilities in rural areas in the first place. The initiative also helps in demonstrating why using a top-down approach to address rural vulnerabilities can be problematic. Simultaneously, the case presents a situated ontology and epistemology to understand and engage with rural vulnerabilities and resilience.

Aim

The COM case study investigates the role of common property resources in rural areas. It explores how modern technological interventions such as wind farms and eucalyptus plantations which are often introduced to promote sustainability and resilience, can paradoxically create new vulnerabilities by undermining these shared resources. The study further examines how these rural communities respond to the challenges posed by such interventions, including their strategies for resisting, negotiating, and mitigating the impacts on their traditional ways of life and resources.