In 2016 BAF partnered with the Centre for Sustainability: Agriculture, Food, Energy and Environment at the University of Otago to begin research unpacking the lived experience of rural communities. Our research was led by Dr Ann Pomeroy and began with an exploration of Taranaki communities before expanding to compare these experiences with those of other rural communities across New Zealand and withn existing rural research. So far four research reports have been completed with later reports being delivered through further partnerships with the NZ Geographical Society and Massey University’s School of People, Environment and Planning.
Dr Pomeroy has juts completed an article in the Journal of Sociology titled “Reframing the rural experience in Aotearoa New Zealand: Incorporating the voices of the marginalised”. The article picks up a theme that emerged within the previous reports that rural sociological attention in New Zealand has focused on the people and communities associated with land and resource-based assets, with little attention to the rural majority not engaged in primary production.
A copy of this latest article can be read at this link Pomeroy 2021 reframing rural experience