Doctoral Dissertation Research in Geography and Regional Science

在整个发展中国家，政府已经制定了大型灌溉项目和新的土地政策，以期增加粮食产量。虽然这一目标往往已经实现，但这些政策的后果是破坏了传统的土地所有制做法，并使土地本身的质量下降。本博士论文研究项目将分析塞内加尔北部达姆加省塞内加尔河流域的权属制度变迁与土地退化过程。将利用各种数据来源，包括出版的和档案记录、实地观察、土壤试验、家谱研究、航空照片、访谈和口述历史，记录和分析权属变化和土地退化的模式。对自然条件以及历史和文化属性进行定性分析，将有助于改进和检验侧重于个人和群体如何与土地和有关自然资源联系并就其作出决定的模式。这项研究将提供一个结构良好、记录充分的案例研究，说明从事耕作和畜牧活动的人如何对土地保有制度的变化作出反应。本案例研究将加强对该课题的理论理解，并为有前途的研究生提供一个很好的机会来扩展和完善她的基本研究技能。

Throughout the developing world, governments have instituted large irrigation projects and new land policies in hopes of increasing food production. Although this goal often has been achieved, a consequence of these policies has been a disruption of traditional land-tenure practices and a degradation in the quality of the land itself. This doctoral dissertation research project will analyze the processes of tenure-system change and land degradation in the Senegal River Valley of Damga province in northern Senegal. Patterns of tenure change and land degradation will be documented and analyzed using a variety of data sources, including published and archival records, field observations, soil tests, geneological studies, aerial photographs, interviews, and oral histories. Qualitative analyses of physical conditions and of historical and cultural attributes will permit refinement and testing of a model that focuses on how individuals and groups relate to and make decisions about land and related natural resources. This research will provide a well-constructed and thoroughly documented case study of how persons engaged in cultivation and pastoral activities respond to changes in land-tenure systems. This case study will enhance theoretical understandings about this topic, and it will provide an excellent opportunity for a promising graduate student to expand and refine her basic research skills.