Dissertation Research: Disequibrium Cultural Ecology Assessing Unstable Human Environment Interactions

本论文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，研究马达加斯加西南部狩猎采集者对玉米田的不可逆砍伐动态。该项目将分析促使人类生态系统从一种相对稳定模式转变为另一种相对稳定模式的不平衡过程，以及这种转变对干旱森林中人类与环境相互作用的影响。该研究将考虑文化认同、环境知识、资源利用和现金市场参与的变化。具体目标是建立跨越50年历史时期的土地利用和森林砍伐的时空格局，探索区域、国家和国际层面的政治、经济和历史背景，研究玉米种植与地方政治、文化制度和资源利用的相互作用。方法包括参与性观察、航空照片和卫星图像分析以及快速农村人种学评估。该项目将有助于生态人类学的理论和方法、马达加斯加民族志以及对世界各地类似情况下的环境保护的理解。

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.