Looking for interviewees for caving diss

[wetdirt31]

Hiya everyone,

I’m currently doing my undergraduate diss and looking for interview participants. The working title is ‘how do caving huts shape access and belonging in the British countryside’. It’s (hopefully) going to cover geographical themes such as insider/outsider cultures and the nature/culture binary, and broader themes such as the right to roam.

Something that made me want to conduct this research was seeing caving described as “disabilities other” in the article ‘Karsty and miserable: Dark humor in the subsurface geopoetics of caving’ while knowing and hearing stories about disabled cavers. I have found the caving community to be extremely inclusive, despite the stereotypes of adventure sports, and want to see if this is a shared experience and possibly why that is and its impacts.

I also recently watched a documentary on the right to roam. This got me thinking about how land access is often controlled by/different for cavers. So that’s another connection I’d like to look at.

I would like to conduct some interviews walking around the hut, however I am also able to do interviews on teams/zoom. Participants will be able to opt out at any stage of the research and informed consent forms will be collected. Anyone can put themselves forward for an interview, as long as you are a caver! Interviews will take place between July-September.

I hope this all makes sense. It’s very much at the beginning stages of being planned and researched.

If anyone would be interested in being interviewed or would like some more info please let me know. I would really appreciate it.

 

[Brains]

Search this forum for discussion about CROW, Countryside Right of Way legislation for a variety of views that may shape some of your questions. I rarely use huts these days, but can have a chat if you want

 

[JoshW]

Hi wetdirt, feel free to ping me with details to my CNCC email: inclusivity@cncc.org.uk

Always happy to chat accessibility in the outdoors/caving etc.

 

[Pitlamp]

PM me with your email address and I'll send you some information about a quite incredible disabled caver I used to know, associated with the NPC's HQ in the Dales, which may be of interest.

 

[anticrawling]

Will participants be named or anonymous? Are you planning on publishing this anywhere?

 

[Badlad]

Josh is your man for advice on access related to inclusivity.

On a more broader access scope you may find Rob Middleton's dissertation on "An investigation into the reasons for, and perceptions of access restrictions to caves and recreational mines within the mainland Britain" useful. It's dated 2018 at Sheffield Hallam and makes interesting reading.

On general CRoW access for caves I can supply some documents from my time as BCA CRoW Liason Officer or you could try BCAs National Access Group.

Good luck

 

[JoshW]

Josh is your man for advice on access related to inclusivity.

On a more broader access scope you may find Rob Middleton's dissertation on "An investigation into the reasons for, and perceptions of access restrictions to caves and recreational mines within the mainland Britain" useful. It's dated 2018 at Sheffield Hallam and makes interesting reading.

On general CRoW access for caves I can supply some documents from my time as BCA CRoW Liason Officer or you could try BCAs National Access Group.

Good luck

Thanks badlad

I interviewed Rob at camp 5 Mulu quite a few years back and really enjoyed getting his thoughts on access etc. I really should do something with it at some point.

 

[mrodoc]

I would be interested to see Rob Middleton's paper. Has it been published? My take on access and attitude to cavers is that familiarity breeds tolerance. If there are few caves in an area land owners often have a distorted image gleaned from press reports. Devon is a prime example. The Forest of Dean appears to be an exception but I am sure somebody can explain why there appear to an outsider not to be problems with dig

 

[Badlad]

"...familiarity breeds tolerance." This works both ways. Cavers who are familiar with restrictive access arrangements do become tolerant of them. Those who aren't so familiar wonder at the need. In my experience in dealing with landowners I found it is often individuals or caving groups themselves who advise landowners to adopt more restrictive access arrangements than necessary. This can be for a variety of reasons.

I don't know if Rob's dissertation is publicly available but I did have a copy of it somewhere.

 

[caving_fox]

Josh is your man for advice on access related to inclusivity.

On a more broader access scope you may find Rob Middleton's dissertation on "An investigation into the reasons for, and perceptions of access restrictions to caves and recreational mines within the mainland Britain" useful. It's dated 2018 at Sheffield Hallam and makes interesting reading.

On general CRoW access for caves I can supply some documents from my time as BCA CRoW Liason Officer or you could try BCAs National Access Group.

Good luck

Google suggests it's recorded in the British Caving Library. But the status is "not loanable"

LOCATION ITEMS​

Adsetts Library​

Available , Theses ; Thesis no. 28770 (LEVEL 1)

1 available, (1 copy, 0 requests)




Item in place
Not loanable
Barcode: 1021674796

If anyone finds a DOI link for it, I can often access these for people, even if they're in paywall journals.