How Social Enterprise Projects Can Support the Development of Relational Ethics Towards Improving Indigenous Women’s Health in the Anthropocene. a Case Study from North-Eastern Uganda.
Various evidence suggests that increasing women's income intensifies their work burden leading to greater health issues. Other studies propose that economic empowerment is necessary to autonomy. However, this research seeks to understand how SEP impact on Iteso women’s health through supporting relational values rather than encouraging individuality.
The study draws on a qualitative approach using bricolage, rapid- ethnography, and autoethnography as methodologies due to their adherence with the Afrocentric values which guided the research. The research presents narratives from 63 semi-structured interviews, autoethnographic extracts, photographs, and artwork. Analysis of the findings was conducted through a conceptual framework combining elements of intersectionality, new materialism and Indigenous Knowledge.
The results of this research demonstrate that women in Teso are subjugated to anthropocentric issues relating to climate change such as malaria, along with non-communicable illnesses concerning mental health. Alongside increasing poverty, the climate emergency has fractured masculinities resulting in increased gender-based violence in its many forms.
The enterprise projects provide resources which lessen violence and improve health. The values of the participants reflect an ethics of care encouraging relationality; within the SEP participants plant trees, harvest water, share resources and engage in music, dance, and drama. However, this research also demonstrates the need involve men in enterprise projects. This research contributes to existing knowledge on issues of gender and development within majority world settings. It reveals the propensity for SEP, based on relational values, to improve community health in marginalised areas.