A Drone Photo-Elicitation Approach to Researching Legal Pluralism in Natural Resource Access

Abstract

Legal pluralism has lived implications for access to natural resources for different people and identities in society. Current methods for researching the implications of legal pluralism and natural resource access have largely relied on conventional qualitative approaches including in-depth interviews, focus group discussions, and ethnographic immersion. While conventional qualitative methods may reveal structures, processes, and motives, they are ineffective in spatializing and visualizing how access plays out in space and time. This paper proposes drone photo-elicitation as a method that combines the strengths of conventional qualitative methods with drone-based aerial imagery. We argue that a drone photo-elicitation approach advances the methodological toolbox in natural resource research while provoking deeper conversations about access differentiation and how these are spatially reflected.

Keywords:

• Drones
• drone photo-elicitation
• legal pluralism
• methods
• natural resources

Acknowledgments

We thank the editorial team of SNR and the three anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions on the earlier version of this manuscript. We are grateful to Awudu Adamu and Augustine Bagre for their assistance during the fieldwork. Our sincere appreciation to all the irrigators and chiefs in all the four communities who opened up to tell their experiences with water insecurity. Special thanks to Matthew Taylor, Alajandro Ceron, and Hillary Harman for their feedback during the research design stage.

Notes

1 Customary laws refer to indigenous norms, rules set and taboos that have been established and reinforced through tradition and socialization, which chiefs and elders of clans use to administer affairs in their territory.

Additional information

Funding

Funding was partially provided by the Rural and Africa Specialty Groups of the American Association of Geographers, the Harold Fund at the University of Denver, and the American Geographical Society.