A Participatory Action Research Using Affective Mapping to Promote Forest Commoning

Abstract

Community-based forest policies are being implemented all around the world, but the engagement of local communities is not always ideal. This research article seeks to explore the role of affective relations in incentivising participation. It narrates the Participatory Action Research (PAR) conducted in a rural community (Ansiães, north Portugal) with low levels of participation. Ansiães is a mountainous parish district with a baldio (a historical common land) of 2,500 ha that underwent strong state interventions during the last century, followed by a progressive withdrawal, loss of employment and rural abandonment. Inspired by a post-structuralist approach to PAR, the research facilitated an affective mapping involving commoners in identifying the most significative memories and sites in their communal territory, as well as a large community event with a video exhibition and community actions. The PAR approach allowed to better understand and mobilise community affective relations around the forest-baldio promoting collective experiences of ''being-in-common''. This shaped the way participants perceived their baldio and their roles and responsibilities towards it, yet it did not change the existing patterns of participation. We call for more research investigating the opportunities of PAR, in combination with creative methods, in generating experiences of togetherness that can motivate commoning. Our study points to the importance of unveiling both the joy and the suffering associated with our relations to nature across generations.