Browsing by Author "Kelly, Sarah"

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    Critically evaluating the purported global "boom" in small hydropower development through spatial and temporal analysis
    (2022) Ptak, Thomas; Crootof, Arica; Harlan, Tyler; Kelly, Sarah
    Due to a rapid proliferation of small hydropower (SHP) in many parts of the world, a purported boom in SHP development globally has captured significant attention in recent research. While SHP is expanding rapidly in distinct places, the global landscape is more varied. Some regions are experiencing a plateau or even declines through decommissioning efforts. To date, research has predominantly drawn on national level data to interrogate empirical outcomes of the pronounced global boom in SHP development. National level data, however, can obscure spatiotemporal variations, which are critical for understanding empirical complexities. We argue, the notion of a boom, particularly when applied without spatial or temporal context, can be problematic for adequately understanding a range of dynamics inherent within SHP planning, development, distribution, and empirical outcomes. Given regional differences, there is a need to critically investigate spatiotemporal dimensions of SHP development. Accordingly, we offer a multi-regional comparative case study analysis of SHP in four distinct regions: West and Northeast United States, Southwestern China, Central and Southern Chile, and Central Nepal. Our research interrogates patterns of spatial distribution by focusing on concentrated hotspots and considers temporal dynamics through the lens of timepeaks. This approach allows for an effective capture of empirical complexities bound in ongoing SHP development (and decommissioning). We discover rates of growth and/or decline in SHP development vary substantially depending on both spatiotemporal criteria. Resulting spatial and temporal patterns and processes can be holistically analyzed to better understand empirical outcomes for policy makers, development practitioners, and environmental planners.
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    Figuring disasters, an experiment on thinking disruptions as methods
    (2019) Tironi, Manuel; Bacigalupe, Gonzalo; Knowles, Scott Gabriel; Dickinson, Simon; Gil, Magdalena; Kelly, Sarah; Ludwig, Jason; Moesch, Jarah; Molina, Francisco; Palma, Karla; Siddiqi, Ayesha; Waldmueller,Johannes
    In this report, we reflect on the 2-day thinkshop ‘Figuring disasters: methodological speculations in exorbitant worlds’ held in Valparaíso, Chile. The thinkshop aimed at discussing the possibility of inventing new genres for the figuration, representation and visualisation of distributed and processual geoclimatic disruptions. For this report, we assembled a choral essay in which each one of the participants selected one object of our visit to Messana—an informal settlement in the outskirts of Valparaíso that was severely damaged by the 2017 fires—and knit around, from and with it a reflection on the thinkshop and its questions. The report is thus fractionary. We do not look for wholes, perhaps as disasters themselves problematise linear narratives. We prefer to be attentive to what each one of us inherited from Messana and to stage that sensibility in a multiplicity, though adventures into what disasters as methods can and should be.
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    Interruptions: imagining an analytical otherwise for disaster studies in Latin America
    (Emerald Group Publishing Ltd, 2021) Tironi Rodo, Manuel Eugenio; Campos Knothe, Katherine Veronica; Acuña Bravo, Valentina Moraima; Isola Sanchez, Enzo Antonio; Bonelli, Cristobal; Gonzalez Galvez, Marcelo Ignacio; Kelly, Sarah; Juzam, Leila; Molina, Francisco; Pereira Covarrubias, Andres; Rivas, Ricardo; Undurraga Rodriguez, Beltran Felipe; Valdivieso, Sofia
    Purpose Based on the research, the authors identify how four key concepts in disaster studies-agency, local scale, memory and vulnerability-are interrupted, and how these interruptions offer new perspectives for doing disaster research from and for the South. Design/methodology/approach Meta-analysis of case studies and revision of past and current collaborations of authors with communities across Chile. Findings The findings suggest that agency, local scale, memory and vulnerability, as fundamental concepts for disaster risk reduction (DRR) theory and practice, need to allow for ambivalences, ironies, granularization and further materializations. The authors identify these characteristics as the conditions that emerge when doing disaster research from within the disaster itself, perhaps the critical condition of what is usually known as the South. Originality/value The authors contribute to a reflexive assessment of fundamental concepts for critical disaster studies. The authors offer research-based and empirically rich redefinitions of these concepts. The authors also offer a novel understanding of the political and epistemological conditions of the "South" as both a geography and a project.
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    Megawatts mask impacts: Small hydropower and knowledge politics in the Puelwillimapu, Southern Chile
    (2019) Kelly, Sarah
    Internationally, high head diversion small hydropower is being developed in mountainous regions. In contrast to the history of large reservoir hydropower's well-documented social and environmental impacts, scholarship is only beginning to examine the impacts of small hydropower in river basins around the world. While a number of articles globally emphasize the principle ecological impacts of small hydropower, few articles examine the social impacts, and fewer still draw from ethnographic or collaborative inquiry with affected peoples. Through an ethnographic, collaborative research approach with Mapuche-Williche Indigenous leaders in the Puelwillimapu Territory of southern Chile, I interrogate how the interrelated social and environmental impacts of small hydropower cited in Environmental Assessments compare with those lived and perceived by affected Mapuche-Wiliche communities. Small hydropower development targets areas of cultural significance in Mapuche territory, generating considerable conflict. Additionally, knowledge politics shape and obscure small hydropower's impacts. Analyzing two case studies, I argue that judging a small hydropower project's size by megawatts can mask significant impacts. The current trend to design environmental regulation for small hydropower based on megawatts is shortsighted, infringing upon Indigenous rights. In Chile, harmful projects are being developed without consulting Mapuche-Williche people. Small hydropower's impacts are expressed in not only ecological fragmentation, but also in the fragmentation of social relationships and ancestral knowledge recognition. Thus, this article seeks to expand our notion of what counts as an impact to include those that Indigenous communities identify as important. In conclusion, I provide recommendations for improving small hydropower regulation and Indigenous Consultation for hydropower. Reflecting on an interdisciplinary and collaborative approach, this paper contributes methodologically to the field of energy and social sciences.
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    Undoing disaster colonialism: a pilot map of the pandemic's first wave in the Mapuche territories of Southern Chile
    (2022) Carraro, Valentina; Kelly, Sarah; Luis Vargas, Jose; Melillanca, Patricio; Miguel Valdes-Negroni, Jose
    Purpose The authors use media research and crowdsourced mapping to document how the first wave of the pandemic (April-August 2020) affected the Mapuche, focussing on seven categories of events: territorial control, spiritual defence, food sovereignty, traditional health practices, political violence, territorial needs and solidarity, and extractivist expansion. Design/methodology/approach Research on the effects of the pandemic on the Mapuche and their territories is lacking; the few existing studies focus on death and infection rates but overlook how the pandemic interacts with ongoing processes of extractivism, state violence and community resistance. The authors' pilot study addresses this gap through a map developed collaboratively by disaster scholars and Mapuche journalists. Findings The map provides a spatial and chronological overview of this period, highlighting the interconnections between the pandemic and neocolonialism. As examples, the authors focus on two phenomena: the creation of "health barriers" to ensure local territorial control and the state-supported expansion of extractive industries during the first months of the lockdown. Research limitations/implications The authors intersperse our account of the project with reflections on its limitations and, specifically, on how colonial formations shape the research. Decolonising disaster studies and disaster risk reduction practice, the authors argue, is an ongoing process, bound to be flawed and incomplete but nevertheless an urgent pursuit. Originality/value In making this argument, the paper responds to the Disaster Studies Manifesto that inspires this special issue, taking up its invitation to scholars to be more reflexive about their research practice and to frame their investigations through grounded perspectives.