Published In

Geohumanities

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

5-17-2024

Subjects

Urban community development, Conservation

Abstract

Women constitute most volunteer water stewards in West Virginia. After having conducted participatory research on the motivations behind women’s engagement with water preservation and restoration work we carried out two participatory art-based activities. In this Practices and Curations, we reflect on these two art-based activities to facilitate networking between researchers and participants and to communicate to the wider public the role of women water stewards. Together with community partners we first organized an icebreaker for women to share a boundary object that signified their connection with water. These boundary objects were subsequently displayed in an art exhibit highlighting women’s connection to water, their reasons for care work and the consistent role they had played in environmental preservation in West Virginia. We conclude by providing incitements to our fellow academics to engage with art in participatory geographical research as a learning experience that can overturn the common researcher-researched power dynamics.

Rights

Copyright (c) 2024 The Authors

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.1080/2373566X.2024.2333286

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/41970

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Geography Commons

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