Winner

Critical Epistemologies Across Borders [CEAB]

Team

• Professor Nuala Finnegan, Professor of Latin American Studies, Dean of Undergraduate and Postgraduate Studies, PI on CEAB project.
• Blanca Escudero Fontán, Research Assistant on CEAB project.
• Dr Céire Broderick, Lecturer in Latin American Studies and Researcher on CEAB.
• Dr Carlos Garrido Castellano, Senior Lecturer in Latin American Studies and Researcher on CEAB UCC team.
• Dr Cara Levey, Senior Lecturer in Latin American Studies and Researcher on CEAB UCC team.

Affiliation: School of Languages, Literatures and Cultures

Purpose of Research

The primary purpose of Critical Epistemologies Across Borders (CEAB) is to remove barriers to women’s participation in cross-border discussions of Ireland’s future and reassess women’s grassroot socio-economic and political knowledges in discussions of political transition. Through direct collaboration with 160 women from 16 grassroots collectives, the project provides space to discuss issues of common concern on constitutional matters for women in relation to the theme of a shared island through the prism of difference and historical division. These spaces promote inclusive and safe forms of dialogue, while gathering invaluable data to transform policy around these issues in both jurisdictions. 

Led by Professor Nuala Finnegan, with Blanca Escudero Fontán, Drs Céire Broderick, Carlos Garrido Castellano and Cara Levey (UCC) and Professor Fidelma Ashe, with Eilish Rooney and Joanna McMinn (Ulster University) the project responds to the urgent problems of gender equality, wider inequality and institution and peacebuilding in the context of Brexit and broader issues of inequality and exclusion. International research has highlighted gendered exclusions in constitutional transitions and the representation of women in constitutional change remains alarmingly low (Suteu and Bell 2018).

Research Activities in 2023

By bringing women from all sectors of society into the centre of these debates in a series of 8 residential workshops (4 in 2023, detailed below) and in the development of didactic and interactive materials, the CEAB project engages directly with a number of the SDGs, specifically No. 5 ‘Gender Equality’, No 10 ‘Reduced Inequalities’ and No 16 ‘Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions’, pioneering novel methodologies that address the institutional failings around gender representation. To support the achievement of these SDGs and progress UCC’s leadership in this area in 2023, the research team undertook the following activities:

• Co-creation of four workshops together with community partners, responding to the particular needs of the women involved in each workshop. These workshops (held in June, July, October 2023) were facilitated in neutral, inclusive spaces, along the border that posed no cultural, political, or geographical challenge to participants. This was particularly important to ensure the participation of hard-to-reach communities, such as migrant women participating who could not travel to the other side of the border. Travel, food and accommodation were covered for all participating.
• All the workshops facilitated open, yet structured discussions around 5 pillars of gender (1. Political 2. Social/Cultural 3. Economic 4. Affective and 5 Security), while each workshop was then organised around a specific theme.  The four workshops focused on topics that were chosen by the groups of women participating in them. They included: security, widening participation, health(care), and the role of civic society. The format was based on sharing knowledge, learning through existing knowledges and developing new knowledges.
• Civic education resources were created during and subsequent to each workshop. Link available below (See Impact).
• Collaboration on this project, facilitated cooperation beyond the residential workshops with the groups involved, with some who met during these workshops, staying in touch and later collaborating on shared initiatives and funding bids for projects that were important to their members.

Description of SDG Impact

The team has facilitated the:

• Inclusion of 96 women from marginalised communities in constitutional discussions (national, targets 5.1, 10.2, 16.6).
• Bridging dialogue around a shared island across communities (international, targets 10.2, 16.6).
• Collection of data on women’s priorities related to a shared island (national, targets 5.5, 5.c).
• Agenda setting around constitutionalism and minority rights (international, targets 5.1, 5.5, 5.c, 10.2, 16.7.2).
• Development of civic education resources (international, targets 5.5, 10.2, 16.6).
• Sustained engagement with hard-to-reach communities (community, national, targets 5.5, 5.c, 10.2).
• Created a bridge between experts and grassroot communities (community, national, target 5.5).
• Made reusable resources available (community, national, international, targets 5.5, 10.2, 16.6).
• Briefings to politicians, NGOs, journalists and communities (national, international, target 16.6).
• Bridge-building N/S relationships between women’s groups developed during the workshops; the team expects these relationships to embed further as the research continues to strengthen collaboration in and between individuals, community groups and higher education institutions (community, national).
• The team has raised the importance of gender equality vis-a-vis constitutional change. Researchers have informed a range of audiences of findings and promoted networks of excellence and partnerships of scale for research, innovation and development (national and international).  

Preliminary findings demonstrate that:

1. Women from Ireland and migrant communities want to be included in constitutional discussions but are often excluded.
2. Women hold conflicting views on the national question, but similar views on priorities
3. Bringing knowledges from women’s struggles in Latin America into conversations about the island unlocks comparisons and helps to imagine futures informed by global contexts.
4. Implications are local, national and international, and impact the SDGs directly.

Dissemination of Preliminary Findings

• Finnegan, Levey, Broderick – “Engaged Communities Research: Synergising Latin America and Ireland,” Queens University Belfast, 29 March 2023;
• Broderick and Finnegan shared creative methods and International Case Studies approaches at Reimaginings and Reconstructions: Ireland, Latin America and the Caribbean in Times of Change and Uncertainty, University of Galway 21-23 June 2023.

Targets

• 5.1: End all forms of discrimination against all women and girls everywhere.
• 5.5: Ensure women’s full and effective participation and equal opportunities for leadership at all levels of decision-making in political, economic and public life.
• 5.c: Adopt and strengthen sound policies and enforceable legislation for the promotion of gender equality and the empowerment of all women and girls at all levels.
• 10.2: By 2030, empower and promote the social, economic and political inclusion of all, irrespective of age, sex, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status.
• 16.6: Develop effective, accountable and transparent institutions at all levels.

Resources

• Website with publicly available civic education resources
• Engage public via CEAB’s official social media
• CEAB website