Research Diaries- #2

Post 2: 24th January 2024- Travel agencies (Bahala na!) & interpretivism

Iloilo City, Western Visayas, Philippines

Feeling much better about everything at the moment, I’m still stuck in this academic space with a wee little project all by myself (would much rather be in a project team and support a fun group!) but hey it is what it is for now. I emailed all the practitioners/managers I met the last times I worked here but no replies yet, obviously, they are busy with their jobs! I am trying to get the fieldwork instruments prepared but I spend most of my time dealing with the useless travel agency (calling them at my own cost for them to say we can’t help as its night time in Sweden), trying to submit receipts and calling the Swedish Social Insurance Agency because of bureaucratic issues with the University. Every year, every month, it gets more and more difficult to do the type of research I do and now especially with the family in tow. We do not fit in the box. I stay with local families while in field- which the travel agency can’t provide, I use my project money for not-yet-approved costs – like Hiligaynon lessons, I submit hundreds of hand written receipts etc. I’m difficult! But honestly the University (State University so its state money) makes it so hard to do empirical research based in the Majority World, especially with the contracts they make with massive for-profit corporate travel agencies who do not provide the support needed, add a third party to the mix your forced to deal with (on top of the airline because they ask you to deal with the airline to get your own refunds back) and charge you “contact fees” for breathing close to them. It’s not the amazing HR team at my work- it’s the rules from above. 

But ANYWAY, I’m doing a lot of reading on plain language interviewing, relational interviewing and interpretive approaches as that’s what our first work package entails. As I read about the commitments and ethics of this type of research it feels very familiar, although I hadn’t put words on it before. I know it’s like “UH MORE interviews from this Western Chick in Small-Scale Fisheries” but the deeper I read and prepare the more I feel the interpretive methods (dyadic interviews and life histories) we chose make sense. 

Understanding patronage (the phenomenon of interest for us) or the Suki system as it’s often known here in the Philippines, from the perspective of Western Visayan marine resource users is important (I think!) because it prioritises the thoughts and experiences of fishers/traders/buyers/brokers i.e. those within the system/relationships. This can create knowledge that’s perhaps more relevant for the area as it reflects the sociocultural reality of society (Who will/can use the knowledge though?!? Let’s be realistic). If we understand decisions and thoughts around the suki system in context then we can maybe more effectively piece together or explain behaviour around/within patronage through culturally derived categories/definitions/descriptions. Essentially, my hope is we highlight other meanings of patronage beyond the more “simplified” (abridged maybe a better word?) views of managers, policy makers or some studies e.g. patrons are exploitative and this link should be broken/replaced by cooperatives. However, with the multiple meanings of suki relations that exist maybe we can create a better space for fishery governance to take on patronage and its role in adaptation processes e.g. to climate change, pandemics, new market linkages, typhoons, resource changes. Although patronage is very well studied in fishery markets its role in responding to change is not- Patron of the seas wants to see how it might influence fishing or trading households deal with shocks or events. Ultimately I think it’s ethically important to build bottom-up conceptions of patronage in small-scale systems that are marginalised, face various challenges to their social-ecological wellbeing and are entrenched in Western colonial legacies-  which includes me pottering around their tropical beaches with two kids and a Portuguese partner!

For more info on this project see Patron of the Seas home page here