Title: Doing environmental justice research: the challenges of operationalising conceptions of the 'environment' in field research interviews

Authors: Cheryl Teelucksingh

Addresses: Brock University, Canada

Abstract: Drawing on sixteen field research interviews in the community of Parkdale in Toronto (Canada), this paper examines the challenges of operationalizing broad conceptions of the ||environment|| as defined by the American environmental justice literature. I argue that, without an established environmental justice movement in communities such as Parkdale, a gap exists between environmental justice theory and environmental justice empirical reality. Based on the findings of the interviews, I conclude that in order to address the gap and to ensure the empirical credibility of environmental justice research, researchers need to be willing to further redefine environmental justice concepts, such as operational definitions of the ||environment||.

Keywords: Canada; environmental justice; operational definitions.

DOI: 10.1504/IER.2001.053886

Interdisciplinary Environmental Review, 2001 Vol.3 No.2, pp.98 - 117

Published online: 13 May 2013 *

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