Switching Blogs

From here on out, I'll be posting almost entirely on my blog for England...please visit Call me Bex for the the continuing adventures of a (now alumna) Spartan!
Loads of love to you all.

Packing Insanity

This week is moving week...I leave East Lansing fairly permanently on Friday.  Nicole isn't moving out of the condo until next Sunday, but she's camping starting on Wednesday.  Since she's moving into a furnished apartment, her dad came to pick up all her furniture on Sunday.  The same day that Chris and Grant moved in...and Kelly came to get her microwave and some other things...and Tim came to fix the toilet...and Megan was here moving some of my boxes out of town.  It was a bit of a crazy day.  But we have survived...and slowly but surely, the condo is becoming a boys' space.
This week, I am working 8-5 every day and have quite a lot of meetings as I'm wrapping up projects.
England is getting closer and closer!

Bye-Bye, Kevin!

My boyfriend Kevin begins his Divinity School journey today...he drove away from East Lansing early this morning with a very full car.  He stays with his parents near Detroit tonight, loads the U-haul, and drives to New Haven, Connecticut tomorrow.
Kevin has his own blog - read about his adventures at http://fivefiftyone.wordpress.com/.

Bon Voyage Party

Kevin and I had a wonderful Bon Voyage/Open House Party, celebrating the end of a wonderful four years at Michigan State and the beginning of another fantastic adventure.  Many thanks to all of you for your support and attendance if you were able to make it.  We had somewhere around 120 people traipse through at some point last Saturday.
Food was potluck style (SO MANY COOKIES) with some supplementation from Thai Princess, our favorite Thai place in the Lansing area.  They were very good to us - gave us a massive discount and sent along an extra pan of Pad Thai.  Originally, I asked them to do 100 spring rolls, 100 chicken satay skewers, and Pad Thai for 50 people.  Thai (yes, her name is really Thai) said "no, no.  You like curry!  Kevin loves massaman curry!  We're making you that."  Well, okay, fine!  Haha.  So we were expecting a peanut curry with spring rolls and chicken skewers.  And suddenly all that plus pad thai showed up the day of!  It was truly delightful.
Even more delightful were everyone's well wishes; it was very touching to see so many people take time to come say good-bye.  I never totally broke down and started bawling...though some people certainly tried to make me!!

Family Camp!

I just got home from another lovely week at Cedar Campus in the Upper Peninsula...on the Bay, with much kayaking and Sunfishing and swimming.  Also hiking at our "Narnia" (big rocks to climb) and spending lots of time with assorted small children.  My version of Heaven, for the most part!  :)

Tomorrow, Kevin and I are having a large Bon Voyage/Open House party...expecting 120 people or something.  It's going to be fun!  Then we head to my uncle's on Sunday for a wonderful celebration dinner.

Cami!

I've had my 12-year-old niece with me this past week; we've had a delightful time frolicking about East Lansing. We're now in Mount Pleasant at "Nana Kendall" and Papa Charlie's" place, visiting with their new dog Kiki. My sister and the new baby will be here later today...hooray!
And then Kevin and I are headed up to the UP for Family Camp with Grandma and Grampa Farnum. What joy...boating on the water and hiking the forested paths.  Life is good, my friends!

Holland!

This weekend, Evan, Kevin, Allegra, and I are having a delightful time at the Stewart (Evan) family home in Holland.  More frolicking on the beach - of Lake Michigan this time!

A fun time is being had by all.

Lexington Last Week

I have been horrible about posting on this over the summer (and this past year, even)...my apologies.  I promise I'll be better in England!
Last weekend, Evan, Kevin, and I went to Lexington (Michigan, not Kentucky - there's a city called Lexington in the Thumb right on the Lake of Huron).  Linda and Michael (Kevin's mom and stepdad) have a vacation house there.  We had a lovely time frolicking in the water and eating yummy food.
Thanks to Allegra who did a presentation about Wesley in Mount Pleasant for Charlie so I didn't have to drive over there in the middle of the weekend!

Girl Date!

I had a fabulous birthday; thank you all for your part in making it a wonderful day. 
The "Celtic Thunder" DVDs have been on loop in the condo...I'm waiting for Kevin to get utterly sick of them; I know I won't.  Nicole is equally amused.
Speaking of Nicole...girl date!  Kevin is in Ann Arbor meeting his mentor for the pastoral candidacy process, so Nic and I are going to get haircuts, watch a movie, go to lunch/dinner, and run errands.  'Twill be quite delightful, I am sure.

If you're in the Midwest region...I truly hope you are somewhere near air conditioning.  Stay cool, people.

Happy July!

I'm not sure how we're halfway through 2012 already, but here it is...happy July, everyone!  Best wishes for a fantastic month.
In Lansing, Michigan, at least, it's HOT.  And it desperately needs to rain.
Other than that, there is relatively little news...my research jobs are going well.  Yesterday, Kevin and I went to a cousin's high school graduation open house.  We had lunch at his father's first in honor of my birthday, and I got two "Celtic Thunder" concert DVDs.  I am now free to watch the Irish men's singing group whenever I like.  The audience is the best part - screaming women of all ages; lots of fun.

Green Carpet Day!

Green Carpet Day has come to MSU...a time for high-achieving high school students who will likely be admitted to the Honors College to explore MSU as a place for them to flourish.  I remember coming when I was 16...
Yesterday, Evan and Allegra participated in a panel in the morning, and then attempted to crash the tour I was going to give at the end of the day.  We ended up with a great number of tour guides, though, so I didn't actually get a group...off we all headed to the Dairy Store, and answered questions there for the many folks who skipped out on a tour in favor of the Dairy Store!

Finally!

I finally have concrete dates for leaving Michigan as a Marshall Scholar.  Orientation starts in DC September 16, 2012.

For those of you who wish to be particularly nosy(/concerned/interested):

PRE-DEPARTURE BRIEFING AND RECEPTION AT BRITISH EMBASSY, WASHINGTON DC

Arrangements will be made for the new Scholars to attend a pre-departure briefing at the British Embassy in Washington DC on 16/17/18 September 2012, and it is hoped that The British Ambassador will be available to host a Reception for the Scholars during that period.  Flight tickets will be handed out in Washington and Scholars will travel to London as a group following the pre-departure briefing and Reception.  Further details will be sent out in due course by the British Council at the Embassy.

TRAVEL TO THE UNITED KINGDOM

Arrangements for the Scholars’ travel from the United States to the UK will be made on behalf of the Marshall Commission by the British Embassy and reservations will be made for the 2012 Scholars to fly to London from Washington DC as a group, leaving on the evening of Tuesday 18 September 2012, arriving in London on 19 September 2012.

The Scholars will be met at the airport in London by the Marshall Commission’s staff and will stay in a London hotel for two nights to enable them to attend certain functions which have been arranged for their reception before proceeding to their respective universities.  Details of this programme will be sent out at a later date.

The Commission expects all to travel from Washington DC to London as a group unless approval is given for alternative arrangements. The British Embassy will be in touch with you shortly, if they have not already contacted you, to discuss arrangements for your travel from your place of residence to Washington DC.  In due course information about this, and about other arrangements necessary before departure from the United States, will be sent out by the British Embassy.  If they do not already hold one, Scholars should ensure that they have a valid US passport.

BAGGAGE ARRANGEMENTS AND INSURANCE

Further detailed information on baggage arrangements have been sent out separately.

Transportation of baggage within the United States is the Scholars’ own responsibility, as is the cost of any insurance coverage.  The Commission stresses the importance of taking out adequate personal and baggage insurance while in transit from home in the United States to destination in the United Kingdom; Arrangements for the latter can be made through SOS International, the Commission's agents in New Jersey (see below).  Coverage costs must be paid by the Scholars/Fellows before departure and the Commission will not at any time be involved in any way with Scholars’/Fellows’ insurance. The Commission advises Scholars/Fellows to pack baggage carefully in order to provide maximum protection for your possessions while in transit. Particular instructions for packing belongings is included in the shipping information.

Accompanied baggage. The free allowance on transatlantic flights is one piece of checked baggage, weighing up to 50 lbs (23 kg); when added together, the maximum dimensions (length + width + depth) of any piece of checked baggage must not exceed 35.5 x 29.5 x 16 inches.

In addition, one piece of cabin luggage is allowed, weighing up to 13lbs (6kg); the dimensions of hand baggage must not exceed 9 x 14 x 22 inches (length x width x breadth). You should however check with the particular airline before flying as weight allowances and dimensions can vary. Excess baggage charges will be the responsibility of the individual. As these are high, Scholars are strongly advised to make every effort to keep within the free allowance and to make use of the container service for their heavy baggage (see below). Scholars wishing to bring with them any electrical equipment (e.g. personal computer) are advised to check the security regulations with the appropriate airline nearer the time, since these may be subject to change.

Unaccompanied baggage.  The Commission will pay for up to 250 lbs of a Scholar’s/Fellow’s unaccompanied baggage sent by container ship from New Jersey in accordance with the agreements made by it for that purpose.  The weight of the consignment will be determined by actual gross weight or 12 lbs per cu. ft., whichever is the greater.  Arrangements have been made with Agility Logistics Limited in London and SOS International in New Jersey, for the Marshall Scholars’/Fellows’ baggage to be shipped by container as one consignment. 

Detailed information on the group shipping facility has already been sent out by email.

If a Scholar/Fellow prefers to make independent arrangements for transportation of baggage to Britain, this will be in order, but the Commission will not then be involved in any way; repayment of the costs will be arranged on arrival in the UK, on presentation of receipts, and will not exceed the group rate agreed with SOS International.

The final date for baggage to arrive in NJ will be Friday 17 August 2012.

Hum Drum...

We are home from Annual Conference and back to the "hum drum" of everyday life...though in the summer, that takes on an interesting aspect.  My current jobs:
-Personal Assistant.  I am working with someone recently diagnosed with bipolar, helping to keep organized and monitor mood swings and productivity.  It's been a lot of fun...I'm putting my Type A and bossy personality to good use.  :)
-GenCen.  I am continuing my work at the Center for Gender in Global Context, helping with various grant- and research-related projects.  I'm working more hours, though...and with a pay raise!
-Philosophy Online Certificate Program.  The Philosophy Department is working to create an online program in Ethics, Development, and Global Justice.  I'm working on some organization and basic resource compilation for them...it's been exciting to see this program grow from an initial desire to an (almost reality).
-Shalom Center.  I'm working for a local peace group, revamping their webpage, organizing virtual meeting infrastructure, and pre-planning several events.

All told...I'm working ~50 hours a week.  Which still feels like a lot less than I work during the school year!

Annual Conference

This week, the West Michigan Conference of the United Methodist Church met at Calvin College for their Annual Conference, setting regional policy and worshiping together.  Annual Conference has always been one of my favorite parts of the year; in many ways, it is a family reunion for me.  This year was a bit bittersweet, as it is my last one for a number of years while I'm in England. 
It was great to see everyone and reconnect with my denomination right before I run away...haha.
Conference was great - but I am very much ready to go to bed for more than four-five hours a night!

Lake House!

Kevin and I had a lovely weekend in Port Austin (the very tip of the Michigan Thumb) at his grandparents’ lake house.  My parents were able to join us for a bit; Kiki – their German shepherd puppy – got to have her first experience in a lake and had quite a lot of fun. 

 

The rest of the Dean clan was there as well.  The weather wasn’t all that great, but Papa left a few board games with us and Kevin and I got to teach his younger brother and sister Ticket to Ride and Dominion.  A grand time was had by all.

Celeste is in "Cinderella!"

I am sick as a dog, and thus have been watching every ridiculous movie ever in the past several days.  Today, this included the 1965 TV version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's "Cinderella," starring Lesley Ann Warren.  And the Fairy Godmother appeared...and who should it be but Celeste Holm, who plays the photographer (Liz Imbrie) in "High Society" with Bing and Frank.  Well, I'll be.

Happy Reading!

It is summer, and I am actually staying in Lansing rather than jetting off for more coursework or doing some high-intensity internship somewhere.
I am working on campus for nearly forty hours a week between a few different research jobs, but my work stays in the office (a very new kind of feeling for me).
So what to do, what to do?
Get a library card, of course!
I have read more than seven books since graduation, essentially averaging a book a day.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to Becca's middle school years.  Hello, juvenile fantasy fiction aisle.
: )

Grades are in

Ladies and gentlemen, the last grade report of my undergraduate career is in.  I have ended with a bang.
James Madison College, I have a solid four-point from you.  So there.  :P

Quilts and Health

I attended a really fun reception tonight at the MSU Museum about multiple projects making use of art to promote discourse around issues of public health and disease.  We learned about dolls made in South Africa speaking to the devastation of HIV/AIDS; dolls made in America to help give women a voice in speaking out against AIDS, domestic violence, bleeding diseases, and poverty; quilts made to give voice to Alzheimer's.  It was quite the evening!
A really great blog with more about the ways art and health intersect and can help each other: http://quiltsandhealth.wordpress.com/

Graduation

I have survived the long weekend of commencement ceremonies.  They were all quite lovely; I enjoyed most of the speeches.
Much love and many thanks to Granna, Uncle Al, Uncle Mark, Chris, Bubba, Papa, Mum, Grandma and Grampa, and the rest of everyone for their love and support.
: )

Fin!

And, ladies and gentlemen, with the completion of my final exam in Women's and Gender Studies, I have completed the last strict academic commitment of my undergraduate career.
I would probably feel slightly more giddy and/or sad about this were it not for the fact that I have way too many things to be at in the next three days, so I'll hardly notice the fact that I don't have homework.

So Close!

I have completed and sent off my honors thesis today (105 pages plus works cited!).
All that remains of my undergraduate academic commitments is an exam tomorrow in the Women Studies Senior Seminar on Gender, Religion, and Sexuality.

Schedule for the next few days:
Thursday
10 am - Final Exam
12:30 pm - Lunch with Kendall and Bailey
3 pm - Arts & Letters Awards Ceremony
5 pm - Dinner with the Provost and other scholarship students

Friday
10 am - Honors College Graduation Reception
1 pm - All-University Undergraduate Convocation
5 pm - Dinner with Megan and/or Kevin and/or Granna
7:30 pm - "Anything Goes" performed by Okemos High School

Saturday
8 am - Social Science Commencement
10:30 am - Arts and Letters Commencement
12:30 pm - Madison Commencement
3:30 pm - Celebratory Dinner with Assorted Families
Sleep like the dead

Sunday
10 am - Church, Serve Communion in Graduation Regalia
12:30 pm - Lunch with Family
7 pm - Dinner with Thesis Advisor
More sleeping like the dead

Anthro 859 Final Paper

This paper presents the general background, guiding questions, and proposed methodology for a potential research project.  I could see myself doing this project as part of my PhD program, but regardless of whether or not this specific methodology is ever enacted, the process of writing this proposal has been a helpful one in reflecting on the feminist epistemologies, methodologies, and fieldwork dimensions I have encountered during my engagement with Anthropology 859: Gender, Justice and Environmental Change: Methodology and Application in Spring 2012.

Introduction and Background

Friends of the Earth Middle East, or FoEME (“foe-mee”) as it is lovingly called, was created nearly twenty years ago as a joint project between Israel, Palestine, and Jordan.  Originally, its creator saw an opportunity with the peace wrought by the Oslo Accords to start looking at environmental sustainability.  With the breakdown of the peace process, though, this turned on its head: Environmental sustainability projects were now a road to peace.  FoEME now does a variety of educational, advocacy, and sustainability projects focused on joint needs (wastewater treatment, conservation of regional water sources, etc.). 

FoEME’s advocacy efforts in the policy realm have been notably successful.  In one region, the organizaton’s activism halted construction of Israel’s Security Barrier in a section that would have cut off a peaceful Palestinian village from a nearby Israeli area, neighborhoods that had been previously friendly.  Rather than arguing on the basis of human rights or illegal construction, FoEME argued against the construction on ecological grounds based on the geography of water and land resources in the area.  Their argument won the day; the Barrier has now been rerouted.

For Friends of the Earth Middle East, “Peace is knowing the other.”   Their programs avoid religious discourse almost entirely, focusing instead on “environmental peacemaking.  “Environmental Peacemaking is based on the principle that our common dependency on natural resources and a healthy environment facilitates cooperation between societies and nations and can therefore foster the process of peacemaking in conflict regions. The concept of environmental peacemaking (or environmental peacebuilding) draws upon the three pillars of sustainable development: economic sustainability, socio-cultural sustainability and ecological sustainability. Cross-border environmental cooperation integrates the processes of economic and socio-cultural development and societies benefit mutually from the common management of shared resources. Furthermore, cooperation between societies offers a platform for ongoing intercultural dialogue, enables a process of trust building and fosters the establishment of peaceful cross-border societal linkages.”[1]

Concrete achievements like the Barrier’s rerouting give clear data for the efficacy of Friends of the Earth Middle East’s political environmental peacemaking work.  But the value and effects of FoEME’s grassroots, educational programs are a little more difficult to discernibly measure.

This is precisely what this project aims to do.  My research questions ask 1) how involvement in international environmental projects influence the perceptions of conflict for Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian youth and their families, 2) how involvement in environmental activism changes the perspectives of adults, 3) how environmental cooperation can encourage or instigate other forms of cooperation, and 4) how these issues vary across age, sex, gender, religion, nationality, and education.

These questions are complex and lacking simple answers, but they are strongly intertwined.  Understanding these issues has significant implications for the work of non-governmental organizations and other advocacy networks, policies and government, international relations, and peace and justice studies.

Epistemological Grounding

This research is motivated by and grounded in feminist epistemology.  This can mean many different things to different people, but for me, a feminist approach to research revolves primarily around leveling hierarchies between researched and researcher with a strong focus on advocacy.  This activist bent reflects an understanding of knowledge as situated and partial.  I do not believe that there is a capital “T” “Truth” existent somewhere about the universe that we can fully know.  As humans, limited, imperfect, and biased creatures that we are, we cannot know the world in a way that is not dependent on our own lived experiences and understanding.  Rather, we all have limited views of the world, partial truths and embodied knowledges.

My understanding of knowledge contains elements of both standpoint theory and situated knowledges.  I strongly agree with Sandra Harding’s critique of empirically based epistemologies, as buying into empiricism implicitly (if not explicitly) supports supposedly value-neutral research, pretending that politics and culture do not matter and claiming the existence of a truth that is for all time.  Like Harding, I support the idea of historical relativism, the conception that truth changes over time.  Though I prefer not to use the language of “objectivity” at all, because I believe it comes with too many problematic connotations, I do appreciate the perspective behind Harding’s notion of “strong objectivity,” based on the idea that there is a multiplicity of truths and that all knowledge is politically and socially located.  This idea of “strong objectivity” is the basis for standpoint theory.  Standpoint theory asserts that knowledge comes from different positions in a stratified society.  For example, a white woman has vastly different knowledge and perspectives than a black man.  An academic geologist and a gold miner have different understandings of the same environment phenomenon.  I agree with Harding’s assertion that different forms of knowledge have been valued differently by society.  Particularly through science, the standpoints of the majority group have been preferred.  Harding privileges the standpoints of marginalized, believing they have a special strength as they can point to specific weaknesses in mainstream knowledge creation and do not have a vested interest in the status quo.

The epistemology of “situated knowledges” by Haraway has much in common with standpoint theory.  The “god trick” is used to critique traditional notions of objectivity; this is perhaps what I identify with most in situated knowledges.  By claiming unsituated knowledge, scientists portray themselves as somehow above and beyond the world, holders of a Truth that comes from outside the world.  Science presents itself as timeless and speaking from no location.  But this is impossible.  People are people and, as such, are situated politically, culturally, socially, etc. at every moment in time.  The biggest difference between situated knowledges and standpoint theory is Haraway’s assertion of the necessity of having multiple partial knowledges present at the table.  The marginalized should be there, yes, but so should everyone else.  For proponents of situated knowledge, standpoint theory runs the risk of romanticizing the poor; I agree with this strongly.  But Haraway, as well, uses the language of “objectivity,” arguing that we should see objectivity not as disengagement but about the recognition of mutual and unequal structuring.

Traditional objectivity is, I believe, misguided, and I will not use such language in formulating this research project.  Rather, this research is based on a view of the world that recognizes and values the multiplicity of knowledges, the many ways humans can “know” something.

The Roles and Goals of Research as a Feminist

My identity as a feminist does not impact only my understanding of knowledge, but also my understanding of the roles and goals of research and the most appropriate and effective methodologies.  As a feminist, I have formulated many principles of research that are important to me based on the writings and theories of scholars such as Reinharz[2], Harding,[3] Kirsch,[4] and de Vault.[5]  The following personal principles of research are listed in no particular order.

1.     Research should critique and add to previous scholarship, especially when that previous scholarship is nonfeminist.

2.     Research should question disciplinary and traditional boundaries.

3.     Research should incorporate all aspects of life, including the private and the “everyday.”

4.     Research should value the experience of the collective as well as the individual.

5.     Research should be reflexive, spontaneous and reactionary when useful.

6.     Research should seek out partial knowledge, valuing and defining it as such.

7.     Research should benefit the individual(s) and communit(ies) being researched, focusing on advocacy.

8.     Research should build relationships.

9.     Research should seek to maximize gains and minimize harms.

10.  Research should represent the great spectrum of human diversity.

11.  Research should give a voice to the voiceless.

12.  Research should create social change.

13.  Research should recognize and treat the researcher as an individual.

14.  Research should be interactive.

15.  Research should be inclusive.

16.  Research should level hierarchies.

These principles guide my research topics and methodologies, as you will see below.

Research Questions and Intent

The methodologies described below are intended to gather information needed to understand the following research questions:

1.     How does involvement in international environmental projects influence the perceptions of conflict for Israeli, Palestinian, and Jordanian youth and their families?

2.     How does involvement in environmental activism alter the perspectives of adults?

3.     How can environmental cooperation encourage or instigate other forms of cooperation?

4.     How do the impacts of environmental involvement vary across age, sex, gender, religion, nationality, and education?

Friends of the Earth Middle East has previously presented evaluation methodologies for their “Good Water Neighbors” initiative at a conference in Washington, D.C. organized by the Alliance for Peacebuilding and the United State Institute for Peace called “Peacebuilding Evaluation Evidence Summit.”  This case study was one of nine projects chosen to showcase organizations’ data collection and evaluation.[6]  This involvement illustrates FoEME’s willingness to and appreciation for engaging in evaluative programs.  This research project intends to be an extension of the “Good Water Neighbors” evaluation program, expanding upon it in the “Good Water Neighbors” endeavor and exploring other initiatives of FoEME’s.

The results of this research will be made available first and foremost to Friends of the Earth Middle East, for use by their offices in improving programs, highlighting efficacy to funding sources, etc.  In addition to being used in my dissertation, the results of this research will be used in policy proposals for FoEME and other peacebuilding non-governmental organizations.  I also intend to present the outcomes at conferences similar to the “Peacebuilding Evaluation Evidence Summit” and allow FoEME’s other staff and interns to do the same.

Methodologies

Good research requires strong relationships and serious investment; thus, this research will be multi-stage in its approach and incorporate multiple methods.  Multiple stages include an initial introduction to the organization in 2010, a six-month internship in 2015, and a full year of field research during my doctoral program.  Triangulation, involving quantitative and qualitative methods, will be used to include the greatest number of voices in the research.

This project builds from original contact of the researcher with Friends of the Earth Middle East in summer 2010 during study abroad programs to Israel sponsored by the Michigan State University Office of Study Abroad and Jewish Studies Program.  I was instructed by Eric Aronoff (“Nature, Culture, and Environmental Sustainability in a Green Israel”), Yael Aronoff (“Israeli Politics and Society”), and David Mendelson (“The Emergence of the Modern Jewish State”).  I lived and traveled in Israel for seven weeks, speaking with a variety of people and seeing most of the country’s currently held territory.  My study included an exploration of the relationships between the state of Israel, the environmental and ecological realities, and various political, social, and cultural organizations.  My field notes and experiences informed the majority of the background for this study; occurrences and interactions that took place during the field experience helped to shape the focus of the study.

Field notes and a blog post from the day illustrate my initial impressions of the organization under study.

Field Notes on Israeli Study Abroad

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

FoEME (Friends of the Earth Middle East) guide: “Peace is knowing the other.”

FoEME Gender Roles: the Israeli office has a male manager, the rest of the office staff (including administrators) are female.  There are more men in Palestine, but fairly gender-balanced.  The guide believes there are more Palestinian men involved in the communities as well.  However, the guide did not discuss the teachers and students involved in their education program…Also missing the perspective of a woman on which genders are better represented.

Blog Post on “A Spartan in Israel: Rebecca in Israel”

Tuesday, June 15, 2010

FoEME

Friends of the Earth Middle East was generated over ten years ago as a joint project between Israel, Palestine, and Jordan.  Originally, its creator saw an opportunity with the peace wrought by the Oslo Accords to start looking at environmental sustainability.  With the breakdown of the peace process, though, this turned on its head: Environmental sustainability projects were now a road to peace.  FoEME now does a variety of educational, advocacy, and sustainability projects focused on joint needs (wastewater treatment, conservation of regional water sources, etc.).  It’s been very successful.  A particularly joyful story: In one region, FoEME’s advocacy halted construction of the Barrier in a section that would have cut off a peaceful Palestinian village from a nearby Israeli area – neighborhoods that had been previously friendly.  Rather than arguing on the basis of human rights, illegal construction, etc. (arguments which have been made before but have not carried the day), FoEME argued against the construction on ecological grounds.  And they won!

My involvement with FoEME has continued on a superficial level through my undergraduate years, in occasionally checking the organization’s website for news and stories.  But before I engage in more serious and explicit research work, I believe I need to ground myself more fully in an understanding of the organization’s day to day activities and priorities.

To help make my research work more informed, I will first engage in a six month internship at the Friends of the Earth Middle East after obtaining my Masters of Science degrees in environmental science at the University of East Anglia and the University of Oxford.  FoEME requests that interns have two years’ worth of experience in the professional field and/or are currently completing or have completed their masters, so this internship will come at the right time.  This internship will give me a good chance to forge relationships with the communities I hope to research with, giving me a better idea of FoEME’s institutional practices and ongoing projects.

A number of internships are available; however, the position as FoEME’s Social Media Intern will give me the greatest access to all of FoEME’s staff and events.  As the social media intern, I would:

·      Be supervised by the Director of Friends of the Earth Middle East (the only of the interns to be directly supervised by the Director);

·      Be responsible for managing FoEME’s blog, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, etc.;

·      Attend FoEME events to document them for social media;

·      Assist FoEME staff in submitting and posting through social media outlets; and

·      Serve as a bridge between FoEME and external social media outlets such as The Green Prophet, Green Change, and The Huffington Post.[7]

Out of all the potential internship projects, this internship is the one most able to provide me with a working knowledge of FoEME’s multiple projects.  I would travel a great deal between projects, alternately working in FoEME’s Israeli, Jordanian, and Palestinian offices as well as the field.

My involvement as the social media intern would have an additional advantage in terms of future research.  Because I would be collecting and releasing stories for publication online, in newspapers and the like, I could use many of the anecdotes and data collected during my internship in later research without IRB approval at the time of the internship, provided I do not use more information than is published in the press releases.  Where I wanted to include quotations and specific details later in research, I could get in contact with the individuals in question and ask for permission or a reflective interview about that event once I am affiliated with a PhD program and have IRB approval for the more substantial and purposeful fieldwork period.

The most substantive part of my multi-stage encounter with Friends of the Earth Middle East will be a yearlong research experience during my doctoral program.  This will be the only one of my multiple experiences with Friends of the Earth Middle East during which I am explicitly doing research; this is done purposefully because I believe in the need to foster relationships and that prior experience with a community can help to better shape and inform research goals and methodologies.  As a result of my internship with FoEME, the research methodologies may well (and should!) change at least slightly, as I build into them my enhanced knowledge of the organization.  Below, though, is a beginning draft of my methodologies for the fieldwork year.

During my year of fieldwork, I will be fully engaged with Friends of the Middle East through participant observation in both its offices and its projects.  FoEME has forty-five paid staff; its hundreds of volunteers are involved mostly in its “Good Water Neighbors” (GWN) community program.   Each regional office (one per country involved, located in Amman, Jordan; Bethlehem, Palestine; and Tel Aviv, Israel) has a director.  I will know the majority of staff and a good number of volunteers, thanks to my experience interning with FoEME.  Though I will not officially be staff during my fieldwork year, I hope to continue these strong relationships and plan to regularly be in the office, involved with and observing the day-to-day workings of FoEME.  I will also regularly be engaged with FoEME’s programming, working to clean up parks, foster dialogue at Town Halls, etc.

Additionally, I hope to make use of FoEME’s research interns during my time as research assistants.  Friends of the Earth Middle East regularly takes on research interns to help project managers in research relevant to the project.  These interns and FoEME’s regular volunteers will be helpful in providing several ready possibilities for research assistants to increase capacity in interviewing and conducting other forms of research.  A total of four research assistants will be sought to maximize research capacity while ensuring I am able to adequately supervise and mentor all assistants.  To help with questions of translation and cultural sensitivities, I will seek to have at least one research assistant from Israel, Jordan, and Palestine, with the fourth potentially being an international citizen through FoEME’s internship program.  I will also seek to have a diversity of ages and genders represented.

A word about language: At the time of fieldwork, I will be proficient in Arabic with a good deal of exposure to Hebrew.  Many Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians, are fluent in or at least have a working grasp of English, so language will generally not be an issue.  My research assistants will be chosen based on translation abilities so that this resource exists in the research team when it is needed.

These relationships and human capital resources will make the following research methods more likely to yield helpful results.

Event Surveys

This research will depend mostly on surveys with a combination of quantitative and qualitative, open- and close-ended questions, that will be used to measure how opinions and understandings of the conflict and environmental peacebuilding changes as a result of FoEME’s programming.  This survey will be disseminated at all FoEME events.  Because the survey includes the research information and informed consent components and is written rather than oral, they can be distributed even when neither a research assistant nor I am present.  Through demographic information collection and questions regarding environmental and other peacebuilding involvement, these surveys help to answer all of my research questions.

The consent form as well as pre- and post-event surveys are given below.

Research Participant Information and Consent Form

Friends of the Earth Middle East

1.  EXPLANATION OF THE RESEARCH:

• You are being asked to participate in a research study about the efficacy of Friends of the Earth Middle East’s (FoEME) programming.  Your responses will help FoEME improve programming and help Rebecca Farnum with doctoral research she is completing to help her meet the requirement for a PhD in anthropology.
• If you agree to participate, the researcher(s) will ask you to complete the following survey(s) or answer questions in an interview.  You can respond with as little or as much information as you would like.

2. Your rights to participate, say no, or withdraw:

• Participation in this research project is completely voluntary.  You have the right to say no. You may change your mind at any time and withdraw. You may choose not to answer specific questions or to stop participating at any time.

3.  Contact Information for Questions and Concerns:   

If you have concerns or questions about this study, such as scientific issues, how to do any part of it, or to report an injury, please contact the researcher Rebecca Farnum (becca.farnum@gmail.com, 269-719-0442).

4.  Documentation of Informed consent.

You indicate your voluntary agreement to participate by completing these surveys or interviews.

Event Survey

Friends of the Earth Middle East

For general questions and comments, please contact Rebecca Farnum (becca.farnum@gmail.com, 269-719-0442).

1.     Tell us more about yourself.

Age:                 ____<18                      ____18-30       ____31-55       ____55+
Sex:                  ____Female     ____Male        ____Other: _________________________
Gender:           ____Woman    ____Man        ____Other: _________________________
Religion:          ____Christian ____Jewish     ____Muslim   Other: __________________
Nationality:     ____Israeli      ____Jordanian ____Palestinian           ____Other: ________
Education:       ____None       ____Primary   ____Secondary           ____College+

Answer questions 2-7 BEFORE the event.

2.     What brings you to this event? In other words, what do you hope to learn more about?

3.     How would you rate FoEME’s activities, given what you currently know?

____1 (poor)   ____2 (fair)     ____3 (good)      ____4 (great)    ____5 (superb)

4.     How optimistic are you about Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian peace?

____1 (not at all)   ____2 (not much) ____3 (neutral)   ____4 (somewhat) ____5 (very)

5.     Do you know what environmental peacebuilding is?

____Yes          ____No

If yes, how effective you do think environmental peacebuilding is?

____1 (not at all)   ____2 (not much) ____3 (neutral)   ____4 (somewhat) ____5 (very)

6.     Are you involved in peacebuilding efforts?

____Yes          ____No

7.     If you wanted to be involved in peacebuilding efforts, would you know how to do so?

____Yes          ____No

Answer questions 8-16 AFTER the event.

8.     How would you rate FoEME’s activities, given what you now know?

____1 (poor)   ____2 (fair)     ____3 (good)      ____4 (great)    ____5 (superb)

9.     How optimistic are you about Israeli-Palestinian-Jordanian peace after this event?

____1 (not at all)   ____2 (not much) ____3 (neutral)   ____4 (somewhat) ____5 (very)

10.  Do you think you learned something more about environmental peacebuilding?

____Yes          ____No

How effective you do think environmental peacebuilding is?

____1 (not at all)   ____2 (not much) ____3 (neutral)   ____4 (somewhat) ____5 (very)

11.  Are you involved in peacebuilding efforts?

____Yes          ____No

12.  If you wanted to be involved in peacebuilding efforts, would you know how to do so?

____Yes          ____No

13.  How would you rate this event?

____1 (poor)   ____2 (fair)     ____3 (good)      ____4 (great)    ____5 (superb)

14.  What was the most important thing you learned today?

15.  Will you do anything differently as a result of this event?

16.  Please share any other comments or suggestions for FoEME or the researcher.

Interviews

Friends of the Earth Middle East has empowered some sixteen hundred (1,600) youth “Water Trustees” who “have undertaken weekly or bi-weekly environmental education activities and have learned about regional water issues from the ‘WaterCare’ program.”[8]  Seventy youth have been trained together in joint campaigns around the shared water resources of the Mountain Aquifer, the Jordan River, and the Dead Sea.[9]  Friends of the Earth Middle East believes that empowering these young Water Trustees challenges them to be more active in their communities and believe in the possibility of a positive future with their neighbors.  To better understand the efficacy of these international youth training and educational programs, I will conduct in-depth interviews with a sample of the Water Trustees as well as their families.

Invitations to FoEME’s entire group of youth Water Trustees will be sent, asking they and their families to consider participating in some research about their participation in the program.  Participation would include about two hours of the family’s time, including separate (i.e., private) interviews with the youth Water Trustee, at least one parent or guardian, and an invitation to other parents/guardians, siblings, and close friends and relatives to also take part.  Based on the response rate, the research team will either interview all those willing or take a random sample of the respondents to interview.  If the number of those families willing to participate exceeds the capacity of the researchers to conduct in-person interviews, the interview questions will be sent to families who have not been randomly selected for in-person research visits so that respondents have the chance to give their input in writing.  While written and oral interviews are likely to yield very different kinds of results, I believe it is important to include as many voices as possible, particularly if those voices have asked to be included.  Once a person indicates willingness to participate in research, then, it is the responsibility of the researcher to ensure they have the chance to do so.  While written interviews are suboptimal, they are better than the alternative of nothing when resources such as time and money do not allow for extensive in-person contact.  My target is for about fifty family interviews (which would be in reality 2+ interviews per family, for a total of probably one hundred fifty or so); this works to ten families per researcher with my research assistants included.  This is probably most realistic looking at time limits of the research assistants, who will likely have other jobs, and the time that will be required to obtain the numerous permissions necessary and deal with scheduling.

These interviews will be semistructured,[10] with a short list of general questions to ensure are answered but flexibility about the order of questions and willingness to asking probing questions off script as appropriate.  Flexibility and responsivity are core values of this research; however, because research assistants will also be conducting some of these interviews, some structuring is required.  The list of questions also allows for dissemination and completion in writing when necessary.

Again, since research assistants will be conducting some of these interviews, the interviews will be recorded whenever possible.  The research team will ask for consent to be recorded when scheduling the interview; if respondents do not give their consent to being vocally recorded, two members of the research team will go to the interview so that one is able to focus on the conversation while the other takes detailed notes.

The list of questions to be included in these interviews, in no particular order, is given below.  The parenthetical note beside the question indicates whether the question will be asked to the youth Water Trustee, parent/guardian/sibling/etc., or both/all.

1.     Why did you become involved in FoEME?  (youth)

2.     Do you think your perceptions of the conflict and your neighbors have changed since you started working with FoEME?  How?  (youth)

3.     What is one thing you think would further peace?  (all)

4.     If you could tell the Israeli Prime Minister one thing, what would it be?  (all)

a.     The Palestinian Authority?  (all)

b.     The King of Jordan?  (all)

5.     What is your favorite thing about working with FoEME?  (all)

6.     What is your understanding of what [youth Water Trustee] does with FoEME?  (family and friends)

7.     What have you learned since [youth Water Trustee] became a Water Trustee?  (family and friends)

8.     Do you have a favorite story about or something you learned through your/[youth Water Trustee’s] involvement in FoEME?  (all)

These questions will be used to guide conversation in the interview.  As a feminist researcher, I strongly believe that interviews should not simply be a pumping of information from people, but instead a mutually beneficial conversation for all persons.  I will stress this with my research assistants, encouraging them to let the respondents talk as much or as little as they would like in response to each question.  Additionally, when probing questions seems as though they would help, they will be asked.  While there is a limited amount of time in which to conduct interviews, whenever possible, seeming tangents will be allowed to run on, as I believe the researcher’s role as a listener and validator of experience is part of their payback to the researched, and tangents can in fact yield some of the greatest insights.

Oral Histories

Friends of the Earth Middle East was founded in 1994; the Good Water Neighbors program was established in 2001.  When I do my fieldwork in 2018 or so, the youth involved in the organization’s early beginnings and the GWN initiative’s first programs will be in their 30s and 40s.  Some may have remained involved in FoEME or similar organizations; others will have no obvious and immediate connection to the environmental peacebuilding they did in decades past.  To get an idea of how involvement in FoEME’s international environmental programming affects the adults that the currently involved youth will become, I will conduct oral histories with some of FoEME’s early participants.  Part of my desire to use oral histories on this demographic is to question traditional assumptions about how old an individual needs to be to have a “life history.”  By asking fairly young adults to give an account of their full lives, even though those full lives are a great deal shorter than the research participants’ oral histories are typically used with, I will question traditional beliefs about “appropriate” methods.

Because oral histories can be particularly sensitive to who is conducting the history and their reactions to what is said, as well as being a great deal less scripted than prompted interviews, I hope to conduct all of the life histories myself.  I hope to complete around twenty, representing approximately one a week for the last half of year I will be in the field, allowing for the time necessary to track down participants and schedule a meeting time with them.

The prompt question will simply be “Can you tell me what led up to your involvement with FoEME and how that involvement this has or has not impacted your life directions since?”  I will give as few prompts as possible from that point, instead allowing the research participant to share with me what she or he finds relevant.  When necessary, though, prompts might ask questions about job choices, relationships with people from neighboring countries, perceptions of the conflict, etc.  Unlike most of the youth currently involved in FoEME, these individuals may well remember the hope and crushed optimism of the Oslo Accords and their failure; this may provide another strong fodder for reflection from the participant.

If time allows or I have trouble finding an adequate number of participants from FoEME’s early beginnings, life histories of FoEME’s current staff may also prove a treasure trove, allowing me to explore the factors that make a life or professional commitment to environmental peacebuilding possible.

These research methods will be ongoing and intersecting, happening at the same time and informing each other.  As a feminist, I believe in adopting the overall methodology as appropriate once on the field to better reflect the needs and suggestions of those being researched.  What is above reflects a beginning attempt to think through how I might go about answering the research questions posited, nothing more and nothing less.

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[1] Friends of the Earth Middle East.  “About Us.”  Accessed online 15 April 2012 at .

[2] Reinharz, Shulamit.  1992.  Feminist Methods in Social Research.  London and New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 240.

[3] Harding, Sandra, editor.  1987.  Feminism and Methodology. Bloomington and Indianapolis, IN: Indiana University Press.

[4] Kirsch, G.E.  1999.  Ethical Dilemmas in Feminist Research. Albany, NY: State University of New York Press.

[5] DeVault, Marjorie L.  1996.  “Talking Back to Sociology: Distinctive Contributions of Feminist Methodology.”  Annual Review of Sociology 22: 29-50.

[6] Friends of the Earth Middle East.  January 2012.  “Newsletter.”  Accessed online 24 April 2012 at .

[7] Friends of the Earth Middle East.  “FoEME’s International Internship Program.”  Accessed online 22 April 2012 at .

[8] Friends of the Earth Middle East.  “Good Water Neighbors.”  Accessed online 24 April 2012 at .

[9] Friends of the Earth Middle East.  “Good Water Neighbors.”  Accessed online 24 April 2012 at .

[10] Hesse-Biber, S. N. 2007. “The Practice of Feminist In-depth Interviewing.” In S. N. Hesse-Biber and P. L. Leavy (eds.), Feminist Research Practice: A Primer. Thousand Oaks, London and New Delhi: SAGE Publications, pp. 111-148.