title: Situated knowledge of pathogenic landscapes in Ghana: Understanding the emergence of Buruli ulcer through qualitative analysis.
abstract: Successfully addressing neglected tropical diseases requires nuanced understandings of pathogenic landscapes that incorporate situated, contexualized community knowledge. In the case of Buruli ulcer (BU), the role of social science is vital to investigate complex human-environment interactions and navigate different ways of knowing. We analyze a set of qualitative data from our interdisciplinary project on BU in Ghana, drawing from participatory mapping, focus group discussions, semi-structured interviews, and open-ended survey questions to explore how people in endemic and non-endemic areas see themselves embedded in changing environmental and social landscapes. We pay particular attention to landscape disturbance through logging and small-scale alluvial gold mining. The results from our participatory research underscore the holistic nature of BU emergence in landscapes, encapsulated in partial and incomplete local descriptions, the relevance of collective learning to distill complexity, and the potential of rich qualitative data to inform quantitative landscape-disease models.
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA; Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA; School of Earth and Environment, University of Western Australia, M004, Crawley, WA, 6009, Australia. Electronic address: petra.tschakert@uwa.edu.edu.
authors.forename: Petra
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Tschakert
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA; Institute for Resources, Environment, and Sustainability (IRES), University of British Columbia, Vancouver, BC, V6T 1Z4, Canada. Electronic address: vinnyricciardi@gmail.com.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Ricciardi
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA; Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. Electronic address: smithwick@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Erica
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Smithwick
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. Electronic address: mrm5236@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Mario
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Machado
authors.affiliation: Department of Geography, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ, 08854-8045, USA. Electronic address: david.ferring@rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ferring
authors.affiliation: Department of Human Ecology, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, 08901-8520, USA. Electronic address: hausermann@aesop.rutgers.edu.
authors.forename: Heidi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Hausermann
authors.affiliation: Center for Science and the Schools, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16802, USA. Electronic address: leahbug@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Leah
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bug
mesh_terms: D054312:Buruli Ulcer / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology*; D004777:Environment; D005869:Ghana / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D019359:Knowledge; D000067572:Miners / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008906:Mining / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D019911:Mycobacterium ulcerans / Q000472:pathogenicity; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012111:Residence Characteristics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D012424:Rural Population / Q000706:statistics & numerical data
keywords: Buruli ulcer; Ghana; Gold mining; Neglected tropical diseases; Participatory research; Pathogenic landscapes; Situated knowledge; Social sciences