Dissertation Research: Knowledge Networks and Tree Management In India

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SBR-9508550 This dissertation-improvement award will assist the Student's work in a village in northern India, where she will combine ethnographic methods and field measurement to investigate four sets of issues: (1) the relationships between the spatial patterns of indigenous versus non-indigenous knowledge of tree-management practices; (2) relationships between tree- management knowledge and the socio-economic and biophysical characteristics of the immediate area; (3) relationships between access to different sources of knowledge and gender and socio-economic status; (4) the effect of communication with non-village forest managers on the distribution of tree-management-knowledge application among villagers; and (5) ways in which individuals and households resolve discontinuities between knowledge received from different sources. The Student will undertake a resource and ownership survey, and participant observation and interviews to elicit tree-management knowledge and its sources. The Student will analyze these data via structured qualitative and quantitative methods. This case study should contribute to the scientific understanding of how practical knowledge is diffused and used, and thereby should contribute to practical attempts to diffuse "best-practice" techniques among local populations.