Reversing the Gaze: Knowledge Stories and the Struggles for Community Land Rights in Scotland

这项研究独特地采用了来自全球南方的知识和经验，作为一个新的视角，我们通过它来审查社区土地权利作为实现苏格兰及其他地区可持续发展的手段的进步性质。我们的研究认为，社区土地权利不仅是一个地理上有界限的概念，而且是一种土地所有权和实践形式，在以市场为主导的全球政治经济中，这种形式经常被认为是“落后的”。该项目旨在为苏格兰和更广泛的英国的农业和可持续土地管理的未来产生新的和关键的见解。该研究将研究有争议的概念，如“可持续发展”，“公正过渡”的土地使用结果和苏格兰土地立法和辩论中的包容性问题。为了回答这些问题，该项目将采用参与式行动研究、深度访谈、摄影技巧、研讨会、展览和对话等方式，探索社区土地权利斗争中的其他思想和知识。我们的目标是揭示嵌入在社区土地实践中的知识类型。例如，照片将揭示有关土地使用和所有权的知识，包括人类功能，生活质量，以及苏格兰社区土地权利斗争中的福祉性质。此外，作为一种研究苏格兰土地改革的新方法，我们将依赖于社会运动大众大学的方法论指导方针，这将涉及对社区土地的广泛知识和实践的批判性评估和估价。这一进程是赋予权力的，因为它认识到存在许多可能的知识形式，需要使它们易于理解，以便它们能够有助于构建可持续土地利用的可行替代方案。此外，我们的研究方法将社区成员视为知识的共同调查者和保管人，因为他们可视化并创造了自我反思的人工制品，并记录了他们的日常现实和对土地的依恋。这项研究为就公平获取和控制自然资源，包括可持续土地利用等问题相互学习创造了背景和机会。该研究将涉及来自苏格兰、坦桑尼亚和南非的九名有意选择的社区土地活动家，他们将参与苏格兰土地改革之旅所产生的知识，并为其提供新的见解。我们认为，通过对公平和可持续土地使用实践的潜在重要性的共同理解，可以建立苏格兰社区土地斗争与全球南方国家土地斗争之间的协同作用。可以说，苏格兰争取社区土地权利的斗争类似于坦桑尼亚和南非等国家几十年来为争取土地权利而进行的斗争。在许多情况下，这些关于土地权利的争论是由于人们越来越意识到以权利为基础推动土地改革、可持续性、气候变化和环境保护。通过这些知识合作生产过程，我们的项目将旨在实现以下目标：(i)促进对社区土地权利作为可持续发展途径的作用的批判性理解，并为渐进产权的理论观点做出贡献；支持致力于实现可持续土地权的实践团体，加强南北研究合作；（iii）促进苏格兰、英国和更广泛的国际背景下可持续和包容性土地政策的政策制定，最后，（iv）通过策划的实体和在线展览，提高公众对土地改革和社区土地所有权的认识，作为私有财产所有权模式的替代方案。

This research uniquely employs knowledge and experiences from the global South as a fresh lens through which we review the progressive nature of community land rights as a means for achieving sustainable development in Scotland and beyond. Our research views community land rights not only as a geographically-bounded concept but as a form of land ownership and practice that has often been perceived as 'backward' within a predominantly market-driven global political economy. The project aims to generate new and critical insights into the future of agriculture and sustainable land management in Scotland and the wider UK. The research will examine contested concepts such as 'sustainable development', the land-use outcomes of the 'just transition' and questions of inclusivity within Scottish land legislation and debates. To answer these questions, the project will involve participatory action research, in-depth interviews, photo-elicitation techniques, workshops, exhibitions, and dialogues to explore alternative ideas and knowledge within the struggles for community land rights. We aim to reveal the types of knowledge embedded in community land practices. For example, photographs will uncover knowledge about land use and ownership, including human functions, quality of life, and the nature of well-being within the struggles for community land rights in Scotland. Additionally, as a novel approach to research on land reform in Scotland, we will rely on the methodological guidelines from the Popular University of Social Movements, which will involve the critical evaluation and valorisation of the wide range of knowledge and practices on community land. This process is empowering because it recognises the existence of many possible forms of knowledge that need to be made legible so that they can contribute to constructing a viable alternative to sustainable land use. Furthermore, our research approach considers community members as co-investigators and custodians of knowledge as they visualise and create self-reflective artefacts and records of their everyday realities and attachments to land. The study creates contexts and opportunities for mutual learning on questions about equitable access to and control over natural resources, including sustainable land use. The research will involve nine purposively-selected community land activists from Scotland, Tanzania, and South Africa to engage with and provide new insights into the knowledge generated from Scotland's land reform journey. We believe synergies between Scotland's community land struggles and those in the global South can be established through a shared understanding of the potential importance of equitable and sustainable land-use practices. Arguably, Scotland's struggle for community land rights is analogous to struggles for land rights waged over many decades in countries like Tanzania and South Africa. In many cases, these contestations over land rights are informed by increased awareness of a rights-based push for land reforms, sustainability, climate change and environmental protection. Through these knowledge co-production processes, our project will aim to achieve the following: (i) To progress a critical understanding of the role of community land rights as a route to sustainable development and contribute to theoretical perspectives on progressive property rights; (ii) To support a community of practice working towards sustainable land rights and strengthen North-South research cooperation; (iii) To contribute to policy development on sustainable and inclusive land policies in Scotland, the UK, and broader international contexts, and finally, (iv) To raise public awareness of land reform and community land ownership as an alternative to private property ownership models through curated physical and online exhibitions.