Methodologies of intersectionality for disaster risk studies

Purpose – This article proposes an intersectional methodological framework for disaster risk studies inspired by Latin American feminist understandings of intersectionality. In recent years, within disaster risk studies, there has been an incipient dialogue concerning feminist epistemologies and methodologies to draw out vulnerability and capacities, but these have seldom engaged with methodologies of intersectionality. Based on a pilot project carried out with different neighborhoods and museums in the city of Quito, this article will contribute with a proposal of intersectionality methodologies for disaster risk studies. Design/methodology/approach – The development of the methodology followed a slow scholarship approach (Mountz et al., 2015), allowing ample time for drafting, consultation, and revision. This process included a careful and extended preparatory phase involving a wide range of actors, including university professors from the fields of geography, law, urban planning, public policy, history and disaster risk studies. Curators, museum professionals and coordinators of arts-based projects also contributed to reviewing the initial drafts. A core group of professors, curators and museum workers was consulted and participated throughout the entire process to ensure interdisciplinary engagement and continuity. Findings – We conclude that a methodology considered intersectional in disaster studies from a Latin American feminist understanding of intersectionality must be grounded in embodiment, slow scholarship, multi-sited research and a critical pedagogy of place. These elements, when brought together, support a more nuanced and relational understanding of disaster and risk – one shaped by the people who live it. Research limitations/implications – How is intersectionality present in the aforementioned methodology from a Latin American feminist decolonial perspective? And what practices do we recommend for other researchers, activists, and people experiencing disaster risk or working toward its prevention and mitigation from this perspective? The following discussion addresses these questions to propose an intersectional methodology based on the relationship between interdisciplinary approaches and slow scholarship, multi-sited research from critical geographies of place and collective embodiment. Practical implications – Intersectionality as a methodology operates at both individual and collective scales and across overlapping structures of inequality (Lutz, 2015). In our project, intersectionality emerged in methodological terms through a range of practices. An arts-based, participatory feminist approach, implemented by an interdisciplinary team, was central to developing an intersectional framework. The spatial dimension of the methodology – its multi-sited design – was crucial for anchoring an intersectional perspective in disaster risk studies from Latin American decolonial perspective. Intersectionality was not only introduced through the methodology – it was already embedded in many participants' lived realities. Social implications – While much of the intersectionality literature originates from U.S. Black feminisms (Crenshaw, 1989), this article aims to highlight how intersectionality is used in Latin America, particularly within decolonial feminist frameworks and networks (Viveros Vigoya, 2016). This responds to recent calls within disaster scholarship to move beyond the Western gaze, particularly in efforts to implement intersectionality in disaster work (Jean et al., 2023).For disaster and risk methodologies, this means being highly aware of where, how, and by whom knowledge is produced, while placing emphasis on intersectional, multisited and embodied approaches to understanding and constructing it. Originality/value – Intersectionality as a methodology has long posed a challenge for multi-disciplinary researchers. This article seeks to offer practitioners, activists and researchers in disaster risk studies an initial understanding of intersectionality. Given the diverse interpretations of intersectionality, this article specifically centers on Latin American feminist decolonial perspectives and praxis. The research team, based in Quito, Ecuador, developed the intersectional methodology presented here from this epistemic angle.