Exploring Knowledge of Climate Variability in Bangladesh : A Cultural Psychological Inquiry into Processes of Knowing

Abstract

A growing body of research documents the effects of climate change on human systems, and highlights the importance of developing mitigation and adaptation strategies. To understand the effects of climate change on human systems, we need to gain insight into the human experience of climate change, or indeed climate variability; the fickle weather we live with. This paper presents an independent empirical study that was undertaken as part of the interdisciplinary research project TRACKS (Transforming Climate Knowledge with and for Society) that looks at the impact of climate variability on communities in northeast Bangladesh. The present study investigates the construction of climate knowledge in the context of rural Bangladeshi culture, looking particularly at processes of knowing. The study applies a cultural psychological approach to narrative-based interviews with community actors gathered by the TRACKS project. The study s findings revealed that personal experiences with weather was the most common avenue for knowing. Existing knowledge systems, such as the seasonal calendar aided participants in reasoning and sense making about changes, and elders, media outlets and science formed the most trusted sources of climate information. The study s result were viewed in light of cultural psychological theory: thereby the cultural triad, and illustrate the need to look at cultural and contextual factors when investigating how people come to construct and build climate knowledge. Participants also expressed a need for additional information, and possible limitations of local knowledge systems are discussed. This study aims to exemplify how interdisciplinary research on climate change may be necessary to solve multifaceted climate challenges and the very important role research on human systems have in mitigation and adaptation to climate change.