Links between gender, indigeneity, sociopolitical, economic and biophysical factors and food security among the Mapuche in Chile
Indigenous peoples in Latin America suffer from a long history of exploitation and marginalization and face poverty and food insecurity rates that are on average twice as high as compared to the non-indigenous population. Despite their dire conditions, there is a serious lack of systematic research into food insecurity among indigenous populations in Latin America. Hence, given the multifaceted problems of food insecurity an intersectional framework is needed to fully identify the interlocking power systems and guide the empirical research. Specifically, this project analyzes links between gender, indigeneity, sociopolitical, economic and biophysical factors and food security among the Mapuche the largest ethnic majority in Chile. The project facilitates a survey among 700 randomly selected Mapuche and non-Mapuche households that complement the analyses of the political and social institutions. The results of our analysis will feed into prospective scenarios and actions that should improve the food security and livelihood conditions of the Mapuche people. The research project is part of an ongoing collaboration between the researchers at the Vrije Universiteit and the Universidad de la Frontera.
Contact persons:
- Dr.ir. B.G.J.S. Sonneveld, senior researcher/lecturer, deputy director Amsterdam Centre for World Food Studies (ACWFS)/Athena Institute. Faculty of Science.
- Dr. C.F.A van Wesenbeeck, associate professor, director Amsterdam Centre for World Food Studies (ACWFS). School of Business and Economics.
- Ms. M. Vasquez Ladron de Guevara, Junior lecturer and researcher, Athena Institute, Faculty of Sciences
- Dr. E. van Roekel, Senior researcher/lecturer cultural anthropology, Faculty of Social Sciences.
- Natalia Caniguan, Anthropologist and director Indigenous Institute, Universidad de la Frontera (UFRO).
- Dr. Gladys Illanes Morales, senior lecturer Public Health and epidemiology institute, Universidad de la Frontera (UFRO).
- Dr. Maria Angelica Hernandez Moreno, senior lecturer community public health and natural environment, Centre for the Study and Promotion of Human Rights, Universidad de la Frontera (UFRO).
- Marcelo Carrasco, social worker and director of Rural and Community Interdisciplinary Internship Program, UFRO.
The environmental sustainability and costs of measures to reduce heat strain
Climate change leads to an increase in extreme temperatures. Since morbidity and mortality are considerably elevated during thermal extremes, the Dutch government has serious concerns about health in thermal extremes and in particular in the heat. Therefore, heat measures are summarized and advised in order to reduce the impact of heat in vulnerable people.
However, these measures are not rated for their sustainability and costs. For instance, air-conditioners are effective in reducing temperature, but expensive and not environmentally friendly. In contrast, fans are low cost and use approximately 30-times less electricity to operate compared to standard air-conditioning units, but can only provide cooling in the heat when people sweat. The goal of this project is to extend the evaluation of measures to reduce heat strain in humans with an analysis of their environmental sustainability and financial costs.
Contact persons:
- Iris Dijkstra, MSc., Junior researcher in (environmental) exercise physiology
- Prof. dr. Hein Daanen, Full professor in (environmental) exercise physiology
- Prof. dr. Wouter Botzen, Full Professor in Economics of Climate Change and Natural Disasters
- Dr. Coen Bongers, Radboudumc, Postdoc researcher in (environmental) exercise physiology
- Max Tesselaar, MSc., PhD Candidate in the Environmental Economics
- Saro Campisano, Hedgehog company
A Sustainable Cloud: Tactics for Urban Futures
The resources required by data centers are witnessing an unsustainable growth. How to evolve digital infrastructures so that the cloud becomes sustainable, is a crucial problem that needs to be addressed, and fast. A concrete example of this issue is evident in the Netherlands, which is attracting a growing number of Big Tech companies, while being distributed over a relatively small geographical area. As a solution, classic centralized hyperscale data centers can be disaggregated into distributed cloud environments in the built environment. The smart distribution of computational and storage capabilities would allow to alleviate the burden of energy demands over a wider geographical area, bring the data closer to the end-user (thus saving telecommunication resources by reducing latency and data traffic), and even empower energy prosumption. Sustainable cloud environments, however, require well designed built environments, allowing the seamless software-enabled placement of data and computational tasks to follow time, space, and energy.
With this project, we aim at uncovering tactics that combine technical software solutions for distributed clouds (from computer science) and novel business- and behavioral models for the built environment (from economics). The combination can help achieve cloud sustainability. As a pilot study, we will also analyze the portfolio of cloud-based software and data management of the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and start identifying tactics for decreasing its energy footprint. The resulting tactics will be shared as an Open Archive.
Contact persons:
- Prof. Dr. Patricia Lago
- Prof. Dr. Henri de Groot
- Dr. Roberto Verdecchia
- Robin van der Wiel
Locusts and Wild Honey
It is widely argued that the ecological crisis we are facing today, is for a large part the consequence of destructive (Western) human attitudes, actions and underlying worldviews characterized by anthropocentrism. If we, as human species, wish to turn the tide, we need to encourage attitudes, actions and worldviews that are more eco-centric, that is, more concerned with the world as a whole, the human and more-than-human world together. This need certainly also pertains to education, not only to its contents but also to its epistemology.
"Locusts and Wild Honey" is an exploratory project that aims to develop a new approach to literary texts in higher education in the context of the climate crisis. In doing so, it integrates insights from 'wild pedagogies', which have not yet been applied in academic teaching on literature (both secular and religious). Wild pedagogies are pedagogical approaches that are about reimagining and enacting human relationships within the more-than-human world, and does this, among other things, through challenging an overabundant sense of control and reflecting on agency and the role of nature as co-teacher.
Contact persons:
- Iris Veerbeek, MA, junior fellow ‘Ethics in the Anthropocene’ (2021), project coordinator Active and Blended Learning, Faculty of Religion and Theology
- Dr. Frans Kamsteeg, Associate Professor of Culture, Organisation and Management, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Dr. Harry Wels, Associate Professor of Culture, Organisation and Management, Faculty of Social Sciences
- Prof. Dr. Peter-Ben Smit, Professor of Contextual Biblical Interpretation, Faculty of Religion and Theology
- Dr. Kristine Steenbergh, Associate Professor of English Literature, Faculty of Humanities
- Prof. Dr. Jessica Vance Roitman, Professor of Jewish Studies, Faculty of Religion and Theology
- Prof. Dr. Gerdien Bertram-Troost, Professor of Education in Worldview and Pedagogical Perspective, Faculty of Religion and Theology
- Dr. Pieter Coppens, Assistant Professor of Islamic Studies, Faculty of Religion and Theology
How hazard scales can support and improve risk communication
For decades, meteorologists and governments have been warning coastal communities for an imminent hurricane using the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Wind Scale. This scale, however, is flawed: it only categorizes a hurricane by its maximum wind speed, whereas a hurricane can also cause substantial impacts through high storm surges and large precipitation totals. To overcome this limitation of the Saffir-Simpson scale, various alternative classification methods have been proposed, incorporating information on the other hurricane hazards. In this ASI-funded research, we will study risk perception under alternative hurricane hazard scales, such as the Tropical Cyclone Severity Scale, as a communication and forecast tool. The results will provide valuable insights in how hazard scales can support and improve risk communication, allowing for enhanced storm preparations and ultimately saving more lives.
Contact persons:
- Dr. Nadia Bloemendaal - IVM, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Prof. Dr. Kees Boersma
- Amy Polen, M.P.H., C.P.H. - University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
- Prof. Dr. Jennifer Collins - University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida
- Hans de Mol - IVM, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Jantsje de Mol - Center for Research in Experimental Economics and Political Decision Making, University of Amsterdam
Decolonising Sustainability Transitions Research in Practice
One of the most urgent discussions taking place at the crossroads of sustainability transitions research and post- and decolonial studies today is: how can global ecological collapse be countered without erasing the local realities of indigenous peoples worldwide? The challenge is that while the ongoing ecological collapse forms a global emergency, any universal solution is problematic since it is by definition bound to override local, indigenous autonomy. Yet, developing new, ambitious and potent decolonial research designs and practices to address such obstacles is fraught with challenges. A major difficulty concerns research grants, since calls for funding tend to work with criteria that tacitly reinforce inequitable and hierarchical research practices that effectively exclude indigenous and global south thinkers and leaders; for instance by restricting eligibility to scholars based in the Netherlands/Europe, restricting the understanding of social impact and valorisation to the Dutch/European contexts, and upholding a scientific view of research methods that may be at odds with indigenous views of knowledge generation and dissemination. Accordingly, the research question that this project will investigate is: How can academics collaborate with indigenous communities to co-create decolonial sustainability transitions research practices that counter the neo-colonialist extraction of planetary and financial resources, and of local knowledges? To address this question the project will employ a grounded approach and organize a series of workshops together with indigenous thinkers and leaders.
Contact persons:
- Dr Joana Meroz, assistant professor in design culture, history and theory, Faculty of Humanities, Art and Culture, History, Antiquity, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Prof Monika Kirloskar-Steinbach, professor of philosophy, Faculty of Humanities, Ancient, Patristic and Medieval Philosophy, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Prof Wouter Veraart, professor of legal philosophy, Faculty of Law, Legal Theory and Legal History, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
- Dr Peter Versteeg, assistant professor in the anthropology of religion, Faculty of Social Sciences, Social and Cultural Anthropology, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam
