U.S.- Czech Research on Knowledge Systems Affecting Rural Landscapes in the Czech Republic and the U.S. Midwest

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INT 9722539 Rikoon This U.S.-Czech project between J. Sandford Rikoon of the University of Missouri-Columbia and Miloslav Lapka of the Czech Institute of Landscape Ecology will feature a comparative analysis of the knowledge systems and knowledge communities of private farmers in two industrialized countries, the United States and the Czech Republic. Efforts will emphasize a synthesis of sociocultural and political economy approaches with the intent of contributing to a comprehensive and syncretic understanding of human behaviors impacting on the landscape. The overall collaboration will benefit from a multi-disciplinary, macro-level qualitative methodology employed by the Czechs and the U.S. participants' expertise in use of analytical tools such as geographic information systems for spatial representations of social, cultural, economic and environmental data. To better understand intersections between ecological, social and economic systems, the researchers have chosen a watershed as the primary unit of analysis. Results are expected to offer new insights into the dynamics associated with knowledge creation and may contribute to comparative methodologies for analyzing knowledge bases which, in this case, will pertain to human ecology. This project in sociology fulfills the program objective of advancing scientific knowledge by enabling leading experts in the Untied States and Eastern Europe to combine complementary talents and pool research resources in areas of strong mutual interest and competence. ??