In early 2022, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) released its sixth evaluation report on the state of the global climate crisis. For the first time in thirty years global exploitation and colonial dominance was mentioned not only as a "driver of the climate crisis", but also as an ongoing element that exacerbates societies vulnerability to it. However, existing literature that specifically addresses the relationship between colonialism, climate change and women's vulnerability is relatively small and scattered. For these reasons, a multidisciplinary research review (scoping review) was conducted, in order to map the extent of "colonialism" as a contributing factor to women's increased vulnerability in relation to climate change and climate-related disasters. This study brings together literature from different research disciplines to examine how and under what circumstances colonialism is highlighted as an explanatory factor for women's increased vulnerability, as well as in Global North and Global South. The results shows that although the legacy of colonialism is manifested in different ways in different contexts, women's increased vulnerability may be linked to the reproduction of racism and hegemonic social structures with roots in colonial dominance. Finally, it is emphasized that this research overview should be seen as a complement to future studies, with the aim of minimizing women's vulnerability to climate induced disasters in the long term. Future attempts to address individuals' vulnerability should therefore apply a postcolonial lens to understand the specific societal dynamics in a particular context which may worsen the ability of certain groups to deal with the negative consequences of climate change.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:umu-197954 |
| Date | January 2022 |
| Creators | Fladvad, Tora |
| Publisher | Umeå universitet, Statsvetenskapliga institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | Swedish |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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