Elaine Mumford spend their summer doing research. Elaine spend their summer on the wadden islands Schiermonnikoog and Ameland. Both are true. While most researchers were glued to their computer screens, Elaine immersed herselve in landscapes of sand and sea. The contrast was not lost on her colleagues, who suggested Elaine should feature in the next OR ELSE newsletter.
Elaine, a PhD candidate at Wageningen University’s Environmental Policy Group, studies how people perceive and interact with sandy landscapes and seascapes. Her work delves into stakeholder onto-epistemologies—essentially, the different ways people understand the world, how they come to know it, and what they believe is right or wrong.
For some, sand is just a resource. But Elaine’s research explores how sand also is a cultural and historical entity. “A fisher, for example, spends every day at sea, observing changes in fish populations and learning through direct experience with the wind and waves,” Elaine explains. “This way of knowledge making is different from what happens in academic institutions, but it’s equally robust. And this lived experience shapes how a fisherman understands the sea and evaluates what is right or wrong.”
Elaine adds that ‘different views on what one thinks is true, how they know it is true and what is right or wrong can be incompatible. People may not even be aware that they have different worldviews or that this is the source of conflict. They may end up dismissing or harming each other without really understanding why. Governance based on a single worldview might miss opportunities to be more inclusive, sustainable, and ethical for both nature and people.’ Elaine’s research aims to uncover whether and how diverse ways of seeing the world are integrated into the governance of the North Sea and the Wadden Sea.
Research in Action: On the Islands
It might be true that everybody has their own truth, but how do you research this? Elaine describes her methodology: “In July, I was on Ameland, and in August, on Schiermonnikoog. I engaged with management authorities but also joined tourist excursions, paying close attention to who said what and how they shared their stories. I would then invite tour guides to do an interview when I returned in the autumn. But these weren’t typical interviews. Elaine asked participants to take her to places they felt connected to, creating a setting for walking interviews that allowed for richer, more meaningful conversations. These interviews often led to further connections, as participants recommended others to speak with.
From Islands to the North Sea
What about the North Sea? Will there be as many ways of looking at sand as they found on the islands? To Elaine the Wadden sea is part of the North Sea, but they are planning to compare the worldviews of the islanders with those of the consortium partners and the stakeholders that are identified in OR ELSE. Elaine wants to interview them as well and travel with them to places that are meaningful.
A first observation is that the North Sea is a populated and a social space. Every stakeholder has their own spatially defined part of the sea, and this is increasingly true on the islands. In what way this leads to more or less variations in the worldviews that Elaine will find, is still a question. Regardless of the outcome, Elaine emphasizes the importance of acknowledging and incorporating diverse perspectives when designing communication strategies or simulation games for institutional learning.
One ‘problem’ with starting the research in the touristic summer season: many people who were willing to be interviewed were very busy with all those tourists. Too bad: Elaine had to go back in the quiet season, but I felt they are happy to be back!