Our communities are our own world of vital stories that keep us connected to our history roots and provide for our future, but the world is changing and these micro-cultures are disappearing quickly. By interviewing people to collect their work narratives and mapping social and community networks unique perspectives can add richness to our understanding of the world.
But traditional funding for community studies is in short supply.
That is where you beautiful, interested, visionaries can help!
Help me collect these stories. You will be directly responsible for enabling the collection of hyper-local knowledge, at this point in time, before it is lost.
A small contribution of £2 can buy a cheap meal to keep me going, £20 buys accommodation for a night, or approx. £55 buys a day’s research.
Image by KW
A well-known community-focused academic told me, ‘That everyone will love what you do, but universities won’t want to pay for it.’ Depressingly, she was quite right. Which is such a shame. Communities are the life of all of us; they should be celebrated and recorded in all their glorious idiosyncrasies!
My name is Dr. Tabitha, I am a middle-aged, working-class, ADHD, artist and academic. I recently completed my PhD titled: ‘Catching Hope, Shifting Identity: An ADHDers Study of The Bottom End Fishing Community and The Impact of Brexit’. I am interested in small communities under pressure and facing change.
I’m looking to conduct a cross-cultural comparative pilot study, which will involve a three-month embedded stay in Vietnam and a further write-up period. Vietnam has many towns and villages sharing similarities to those in England.
Vietnam with its socially and economically important fishing industry, and long history of cooperative groups that mirror the UK of the past, and those communities are confronting the type of issues that many British fishermen and women have encountered. The fishers of Vietnam are of a lower economic status (similar to the UK’s working class) which will be severely impacted by climate change and reduced fish stocks (some studies suggest up to 40% reduction of income). In the face of these challenges, I will record the fisher’s narrative accounts of life, folklore, their sense of place, work practices and how these are changing when confronted by climate and tourism. Vietnam has a strong folklore tradition and active storytelling; this pilot will record these and their influence on the crisis faced by the fishers today.
This pilot project will record the fishing community’s different way of knowing and experiencing the world adding variety and cultural depth to the world's understanding of living in a blue-green zone at the sharp end of the climate crisis.
Fusing creative practice into visual records and narrative storytelling will bring to life the people of Vietnam’s vital fishing community. With the ethnographic foundation and creative spirit of its author, this study will blend creative practice and narrative storytelling to provide a vibrant written and visual representation of people living on the edge of economic stability and climate change.
Image by KW
Call to Action
It is a cracking pilot which could lead to a brilliant further full project; but I need your help to get it started.
The whole pilot project will cost approx. £5000. (Prices in Vietnam appear to be fluid, as are exchange rates) I'm not taking a salary, this is just the cost of a return flight, accommodation, food, travelling to interview, paid interpreter when needed, etc.
The £1000 I’m asking for will cover 3 months' accommodation.
Anything more and I can eat!
The pilot should last 90 days, so it works out at approx. £55 per day, so the more I raise, the more I can research.
But even if you cannot contribute, share this campaign and tell everyone you know- that would be great to.
After over twenty years of looking after my ASD children, putting everyone else first, I need to start my career, doing what I am really good at - interviewing and observing people.
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for any donation, big or small.
REWARDS!
You will be the first to be sent a link to the project website and to follow on social media, so you can track the progress and see what research in the field really looks like - the highs and the lows. There will also be exclusive first access to an exhibition preview of all the photos taken by the fishermen and me.