Body Mapping With Care: Decolonising Climate Change Research With Fisherwomen in Coastal Indonesia

ABSTRACT

Although climate change research has increasingly incorporated lived experiences, situated knowledges and gendered analyses of vulnerability, growing discussions have called for more responsible research practices that are meaningful to communities affected by the climate crisis. In this article, I discuss body mapping as a feminist participatory method for understanding the embodied knowledges and everyday experiences of coastal women and fisherwomen in relation to climate change. Drawing on seven months of fieldwork in three tidal flood‐affected villages in Demak, Central Java, Indonesia, I examine how body mapping enabled participants to articulate, visually and narratively, the gendered impacts of tidal flooding. I argue that body mapping, when grounded in an ethics of care, functions not only as a creative participatory method but also as a feminist and decolonial methodological practice that centres participants' voices, well‐being and authority. I demonstrate the importance of reflecting on researcher positionality, involving participants from the design stage, attending carefully to ethical principles, safety and potential risks, embracing diverse dynamics and ensuring that knowledge is co‐produced in meaningful, collaborative ways. In doing so, I contribute to ongoing discussions on feminist geographical methodologies while advancing emerging debates on creative methodologies, by demonstrating how body mapping with care strengthens feminist and decolonial climate research practice and praxis in coastal Indonesia and elsewhere.