Dissertation Research: Disequibrium Cultural Ecology Assessing Unstable Human Environment Interactions

这篇论文的研究项目涉及威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校土地资源专业的一名学生，他研究了马达加斯加西南部狩猎-采集者对玉米地不可逆转的砍伐动态。该项目将分析将人类生态系统从一种相对稳定的模式驱动到另一种模式的不平衡过程，以及这种转变对干旱森林中人与环境相互作用的影响。这项研究将考虑文化认同、环境知识、资源使用和现金市场参与方面的变化。具体目标是建立跨越50年历史时期的森林土地利用和森林砍伐的空间和时间模式，探索这种模式在区域、国家和国际各级的政治、经济和历史背景，研究玉米种植与当地政治、文化机构和资源利用的相互作用。方法包括参与观察、航空照片和卫星图像的分析以及快速的农村人种学评估。该项目将有助于生态人类学的理论和方法、马达加斯加的人种学以及在世界各地类似情况下对环境保护的理解。

This dissertation research project involves a student of Land Resources from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying the dynamics of irreversible deforestation for maize fields by hunter-gatherers of southwest Madagascar. The project will analyze the processes of disequilibrium which drive the human ecosystem from one pattern of relative stability to another, and the impacts of this transition on the human-environmental interactions in the arid forest. The study will consider changes in cultural identity, environmental knowledge, resource use and cash market participation. The specific goals are to establish the spatial and temporal patterns of land use and deforestation in the forest spanning a fifty year historical period, to explore the political, economic and historical context of the patterns at the regional, national and international levels, to study the interaction of maize cultivation and local politics, cultural institutions and resource use. Methods include participant observation, analysis of aerial photographs and satellite imagery, and rapid ethnographic rural appraisal. The project will contribute to ecological anthropology theory and methods, to Malagasy ethnography, and to understanding of environmental conservation in similar situations throughout the world.