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In this episode, co-hosts Jessica Oddy and Patricia Maguire speak with Elise Denis-Ramirez, Amparo Gonzalez, and Jana Vasil’eva about their FPAR as PhD students advancing gender and reproductive justice, public policy in gender, and agriculture, and the creation and support of grassroots organising with unpaid, long term care workers.
Elise Denis-Ramirez is a feminist researcher and consultant who works in gender and reproductive justice research and advocacy. Her expertise covers sexual and reproductive health, abortion rights, gender-based violence, and youth-led approaches across regions including Latin America, east and west Africa, the Middle East, and North Africa. Elise is committed to engaging in FPAR and project work that is creative, gender transformative, and intersectional. Elise is a doctoral researcher at the Open University with a focus on feminist approaches. Her PhD explores the complexities of sexuality, autonomy, and abortion in Chile through co-production with young women. This research is carried out in partnership with the IPPF and the IPPF Americas and Caribbean office.
Amparo Gonzalez is a social worker who is prominent in social research and the development of social policies and programs. She is completing her PhD in public policy at the University of Birmingham in the UK. Amparo has a deep passion for issues related to gender, participatory research, governance, and agriculture, especially in public policy. Her research has resulted in innovative initiatives, promoting sustainability and community engagement. She has also represented gender interests to government to advocate for equality and diverse policies in the workplace. In addition, she has developed evidence-based frameworks to promote organizational integrity and inclusion in major institutions and companies.
Jana Vasil’eva's PhD research at the Latin American Faculty for Social Sciences supports the creation of grassroots organizational efforts of unpaid, long term care workers who provide 24/7 care to families and community members. This project arose at the start of the coronavirus pandemic which exacerbated the care crisis that is a daily matter for most caregivers. Jana uses an FPAR approach which combines creative languages, such as podcasts, photography, and creative writing with dialogical spaces of learning, which has brought together iterative circles of caregivers from 25 states in Mexico, as well as Chile, Peru, Argentina, and Colombia. Jana has also worked in local and international organizations, focusing on areas of social inequalities, gender based violence, and feminist economics.
This conversation explores the inspiration behind grassroots organizing of unpaid caregivers in Mexico (04:58); Broad organizational efforts of caregivers in Latin America (09:08); FPAR exploring sexuality autonomy and abortion in Chile through creative co-production with young people (13:55); Motivation for researching women's experiences in small-scale agriculture (19:41); the role of PAR in supporting the efforts of unpaid care workers and advancing care policies within Mexico and other Latin American countries (23:33); PAR as a force of change for small women farmers and agriculturalists (32:59); The potential of PAR for young people regarding the complexities of sexuality, autonomy, and abortion in Chile (36:51); Navigating the challenges and joys of doing PAR (41:33); Challenges at home institutions recognizing PAR and FPAR as a valid approach to knowledge creation (46:47); Trust building and advice for researchers (52:03); Risks as feminist participatory researchers (58:28); and Advancement in FPAR (01:04:27).
Learn more about our guests, their work, and references mentioned in the episode at our companion site https://www.parfemtrailblazers.net/ This episode is co-hosted by Jessica Oddy and Patricia Maguire and produced by Vanessa Gold, Shikha Diwakar, and Kavya Harshitha Jidugu. Music is by ZakharValaha from Pixabay.
