Chinese entrepreneurs, whose population has been steadily growing since the Reform and Open Up in 1978, are a diverse group of people. Though previous research has analysed Chinese entrepreneurs by special cases, few have conducted a nationally representative study of their typology. And even fewer have analysed the life outcomes of the different types of entrepreneurs. Relying on two waves of the panel data from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) and with the technique of sequence analysis, for the first time, we explored the heterogeneous career trajectories of Chinese entrepreneurs and their corresponding life outcomes. We successfully depicted four unique entrepreneurial trajectories in China since the 1950s, which are necessity entrepreneurs, employee entrepreneurs, persistent entrepreneurs and farmer entrepreneurs. Our empirical results can support both the cumulative disadvantage theory and the set-point theory in health-related studies. Among all the entrepreneurs, farmer entrepreneurs have the worst self-rated health in the long run, which supports the cumulative disadvantage theory. At the same time, all types of entrepreneurs have similar depressive symptoms and economic returns, which supports the set-point theory.
This concluding chapter discusses learning about using participatory methodologies to research freedom of religion and belief (FoRB), their strengths for researching this topic, how have they been applied and adapted in context, their limitations and ethical issues. Second, it discusses what the use of PMs has revealed about the nature of FoRB that other methods do not capture. It highlights the potential for participatory methods to surface how religious inequalities intersect with other drivers of marginalization.
This paper discusses the fieldwork experiences of using participatory methods in studying religious minorities in Plateau State, specifically, male Christians in Bassa local government area of the state. The research, conducted for CREID between February and April 2021, among communities perpetually vulnerable to violent conflict and now the COVID-19 epidemic, helped provide an insight into their experiences and coping mechanisms. This chapter primarily discusses the author’s experience and his views on using specifically the ‘River (or Road) of Life’ and the Participatory Rural Appraisal (PRA) Matrix Ranking. The uniqueness of the participatory method is in its intentional use of the visual to help the respondent create a more vivid picture of his/her experiences, using their own picturesque details. Furthermore, the Matrix Ranking provides a minor but efficiently clear set of quantities, which can postulate a mixed-method approach. The research helped the author to acknowledge the impact of his subjectivity on field research, and how new and innovative approaches help one to overcome these subjectivities.
In this chapter, Zeri – a Yazidi activist from Bashiqa, Iraq – reflects on her experience and learning from using participatory methods to research with women of religious minorities in the region. Yazidi communities in Bashiqa and Bahzani, northern Iraq, have experienced significant marginalization on account of their religious identity, including in access to education, healthcare and employment. In the research, Zeri explored with Yazidi women how intersecting inequalities impact their positions and roles in relation to the state, social justice and development policy and practice. She highlights how the methods build confidence among the women.
This chapter reflects on experiences of accompanying activists – as peer researchers – through processes of undertaking participatory research on the intersections of religious and gender marginalization. It details methods and learning for supporting peer researchers from religious minorities in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq to conduct, analyse and present their research. Consequently, it highlights the importance of cultivating relationships and trust, and how this might be modelled during workshops and through the process of accompaniment, as well as within peer-support and writing groups. Such approaches enable greater depth and nuance in relation to freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) within these contexts and communities and to the gendered dimensions of religious marginalization as it is experienced on the ground.
This chapter examines the experience of employing participatory methods with a group of Dalit Muslim women in Bangalore from the perspective of the facilitator, Laila Khan, and reflects on how these methods might contribute to the generation of knowledge about the intersecting vulnerabilities of minorities. Such vulnerabilities include restrictions on the freedom of religion or belief (FoRB) imposed on the poor in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Laila Khan and Fatima Qureshi, two Muslim teachers from the local school, served as facilitators for two participatory research exercises: the ‘River of Life’ drawing exercise and the ‘participant ranking’ exercise. Five Dalit Muslim women were invited to talk about living through the pandemic.
This book brings together reflections, knowledge and learning about the daily experiences of religiously marginalized groups in Iraq, India, Pakistan and Nigeria – countries where religious pluralism is circumscribed. It showcases the participatory methodologies implemented by its international team of contributors and highlights the relevance of using visual, dialogic and creative methods for engaging with participants on intersecting inequalities.
Including a careful consideration of the ethics and limitations of participatory research with religiously marginalized groups, the book reflects on the implications for people’s agency when research creates space for them to reflect on their realities in a group setting and uses methods which put their own experience and analysis at the centre of the process.
This book brings together reflections, knowledge and learning about the daily experiences of religiously marginalized groups in Iraq, India, Pakistan and Nigeria – countries where religious pluralism is circumscribed. It showcases the participatory methodologies implemented by its international team of contributors and highlights the relevance of using visual, dialogic and creative methods for engaging with participants on intersecting inequalities.
Including a careful consideration of the ethics and limitations of participatory research with religiously marginalized groups, the book reflects on the implications for people’s agency when research creates space for them to reflect on their realities in a group setting and uses methods which put their own experience and analysis at the centre of the process.
This chapter presents the key lessons learned during participatory action research (PAR) carried out by the Al-Khoei Foundation and HIVE Pakistan conducted between January 2020 to March 2020 in the Christian minority communities in Lahore and Islamabad. The research enabled us to explore nuanced community perspectives related to intersectional marginalization faced by minority communities, especially minority women. A key finding was the interplay of poverty and religious identity that manifests in diverse forms of discrimination and social exclusion in the everyday lives of the minority communities.
Peer researchers from within the communities collected narrative-based stories of social exclusion and marginalization and conducted matrix ranking – where communities ranked the level of stigma as well as deprivation they faced while accessing public goods. These findings informed the implementation phase of the project that aimed to address the underlying inequalities by fostering community-based solutions to the most pressing issues at hand.
