‘Culture – Connect – Community’: Researching Local Challenges around the World

In this virtual exhibition for Global Week 2025, we highlight three research projects we have been involved in that examine how communities come together in unique ways to face contemporary challenges. The first focuses on research on food sovereignty with farmers in rural areas in Mexico, the second on the participation of children and youth in local governance in Zimbabwe and Zambia, and the third on the rescue of Rohingya refugees by fishermen in Aceh, Indonesia.

These projects highlight different ways in which we are connected across cultures and communities.

Tradition and science: Sharing the seeds of knowledge to grow a better one

By Andrea Olmos, PhD Candidate

Huentle: Presenting Gifts to Mother Earth

I took this photo on a Food Sovereignty Festival held in December last year as part of the closing phase of a research project working with farmers from rural communities in Mexico to support their Food Sovereignty.

Researchers, academics, and farmers worked and shared their knowledge and experiences together in order to achieve the project’s goal. This photo captures the moment when farmers, academics and researchers perform a native ritual called ‘huentle’ in which they offer products as a gift to Mother Earth. Farmers placed seeds and food they grew, academics and researchers placed books co-authored with farmers. This moment not only highlights the connection between farmers, academics, and researchers, but also their deep bond with nature.

As a researcher, I think we have the capacity to forge connections that bring change and build a better world. 

Fostering Child-Focused Cities

By Lynne Cairns, PhD Candidate

Visual notes from discussions on child and youth participation in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia (photo by the CFC Research Team)

This is a photo from an impact-focused research project called 'Let's Get Together and Make Change' in which we explored the challenges and opportunities for child and youth participation which included a practice exchange in Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe and Livingstone, Zambia.

We met with practitioners working with children, who we consider to be the true guardians of child participation, and a colleague of mine made notes in pictures (see image above) to capture the exchanges. In this research, we explored the contextual and structural challenges that influence the inclusion and empowerment of children and youth in local (political) affairs. This led us to develop a new analytical framework to foster the Child-Focused Cities Agenda worldwide.

It has been the most profound privilege to be part of this incredible group of researchers, witnessing how ideas take shape and lead to real impact. This group has fostered a truly unique international and interdisciplinary space—one of belonging, curiosity, and shared purpose. As we move forward, we are already collaborating on our next steps to develop contextually sensitive approaches that uphold and respect children’s rights in their social, physical, and relational worlds.

“The sea that divide us connects us”: Rescuing refugees in distress

Alice Nah, Associate Professor

Fishermen rescue Rohingya refugees in Aceh, Indonesia (by Taufik Rafael)

This picture won first prize in a photo competition held in March 2023 as a public engagement activity in the British Academy- funded interdisciplinary research project ‘The Verandah of Protection: Violence, History, and the Protection of Rohingya Refugees in Aceh and Beyond’.

In this project, we examine how cultural and legal heritage matters in the rescue of Rohingyas in Aceh, Indonesia. The Panglima La'ôt, Commanders of the Sea, are an institution established during the reign of Sultan Iskandar Muda (circa 1607-1636) that continue to enforce Hukôm Adat La'ôt, customary maritime law, which oblige fishermen to rescue all life at sea. Rescues of Rohingya refugees are both an expression of Hukôm Adat La'ôt and the Acehnese cultural norm of Pemulia Jamee, the welcoming of guests. However, these rescues have brought fishermen into confrontation with the police and immigration authorities, with some prosecuted for their rescues.

Through this project, we explored how different regimes of power signify rescues at sea, and thus, the meaning and value of life itself.

For more information on the Department of Sociology’s research areas, see here.