Community Group: Cothrom Ltd

Researchers: Katriona McGlade, Climate Change Researcher (University of East Anglia) and Katharine Macfarlane, Creative Writer.

Location: Uist, Western Isles

Using speculative fiction and creative writing as a tool for engaging community members in local climate change issues and their relationship to them

Katriona McGlade, Researcher at University of East Anglia, working with Cothrom, said: 

I think this project has given greater weight to my conversations with colleagues about the importance of slow, ethically committed and caring research. As a broader outcome of this overall activity, I have become involved with [other researchers taking part in the programme]. We are now in the process of working with a small group of researchers to develop a protocol for this kind of greater ethical behaviour in research with communities.

Phase 1 community-led research project

Cothrom Ltd is a community learning and development organisation in South Uist in the Western Isles, inspired by the Gaelic word for ‘opportunity’ (cothrom).

In phase 1, they worked with social scientist and climate researcher Katriona McGlade (University of East Anglia) and writer Katharine Macfarlane to create the Sgeul ri Teachd / Future Story project, supporting the creation.

Using speculative fiction through a number of community based writing workshops, they encouraged participants to explore possible futures of climate changes locally, with common themes cutting across seven separate story contributions.

Capacity Building Project

In Phase 2 the capacity building grant helped them to bring the participants back together for a celebration event to bring the project to a culmination and to explore possible ways forward.

The grant also allowed them to print and hand make the stories as a physical output, which they did so collectively round a table in a way that was reminiscent of the traditional act of 'waulking the tweed', where groups of women would collectively finish the tweed.

They also co-developed materials for distribution through Open Book, a Scotland-wide network of shared reading and creative writing.

Research impacts

Cothrom found that the project provided an outlet for existing concerns about climate change, leading to an energised discussion and positive solutions. They also found that working with the researcher had helped people to look wider and to be bolder or braver in developing their vision of the future, as well as being more experimental in their vision for future social structures.

Community Development Tutor Alison Stockwell also acknowledged the impact that the project had on community engagement and inclusion, noting that many of the participants felt they were part of their community in ways they’d never experienced before and felt much more connected. 

This slower method of community engagement with research has also influenced how researcher Katriona McGlade has approached her work more generally, leading to the development of a community-researcher ethics protocol.