Doctoral Dissertation Research: Miskitu Governance and Forestry in Alamikamba, Nicaragua

在世界许多地方，与全球市场的持续增长和相互联系有关的经济活动的变化对当地居民产生了深远的影响。对一些人群来说，全球导向的经济活动创造了新的机会；对另一些人来说，变革的力量是不利的。几乎在每一个案例中，不断变化的经济制度都伴随着这些群体赖以生存的社会、文化和政治环境的变化。这个博士论文研究项目将研究尼加拉瓜北大西洋自治区（RAAN）一个米斯基图伐木村的恢复力和变化，因为它致力于提高全球木材市场的采伐率。虽然尼加拉瓜拥有美洲一些最先进的土著自决立法，但由于体制、经济、生态和政治状况，侵犯文化和土地权利的行为仍然司空见惯。正如在许多其他地方一样，越来越多的跨国抽离和政治权力下放进程导致社会和政治上在多个尺度上构成的身份的广泛转变。本研究将调查影响Alamikamba村木材开采的市政、区域、国家和全球机构的结构和功能。本次调查的核心将是村长老理事会，这是一个传统但充满活力的资源管理机构。一些当地行动者最近成为跨国公司在土著公共土地上扩大森林开采的渠道，而其他社区成员也反对这些力量。虽然对Alamikamba内部的异质性很敏感，但本研究质疑了普遍存在的学术假设，即分散决策本质上促进了授权和地方控制。为了实现这一目标，该项目将结合档案、调查、访谈、民族志（实地考察、口述历史、参与观察）和社区测绘等方法。长老理事会的文件和更广泛的村庄决策过程将扩大对土著自治和社区森林管理的了解，包括对共有财产土地和资源的管理。将尼加拉瓜同西半球其他权力下放的多民族国家，如巴西、加拿大、哥伦比亚、墨西哥和巴拿马进行比较，将对发展和资源管理理论作出宝贵的贡献。通过对森林开采前沿的一个村庄的考察，这与拉丁美洲许多其他内部殖民化前沿相似，研究将展示决策、权力和治理方面的过渡过程，这些过程广泛影响当地生态和土著文化。通过分析环境管理权的下放，本项目将进一步加强地理学与政治学、政策研究、发展研究和农村社会学等相关领域之间的网络。作为博士论文研究改进奖，该奖项还将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个强大的独立研究生涯。

In many parts of the world, changes in economic activity associated with the continued growth and interconnection of global markets have had profound impacts on local residents. For some groups of people, globally oriented economic activity has created new opportunities; for others, the forces of change have been adverse. In nearly every case, changing economic systems have been accompanied by changes in the social, cultural, and political milieu within which the groups have operated. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the resiliency and change in a Miskitu logging village in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) of Nicaragua as it engages in increasing rates of harvesting for the global lumber market. While Nicaragua has some of the most advanced indigenous self-determination legislation in the Americas, violations of cultural and land rights remain commonplace due to the institutional, economic, ecological, and political landscape. As in numerous other locations, increasing multinational extraction and processes of political decentralization have resulted in extensive shifts in socially and politically constructed identities at multiple scales. This research will investigate the structure and function of municipal, regional, national, and global institutions that influence lumber extraction from the village of Alamikamba. At the core of this investigation will be the village Elder Council, a traditional but dynamic institution for resource management. Some local actors recently became conduits through which multinational companies expand forest extraction from communal indigenous land, while other community members opposed these same forces. While sensitive to heterogeneity within Alamikamba, this study questions prevailing academic assumptions that decentralized decision making inherently fosters empowerment and local control. To achieve this goal, this project will combine archival, survey, interview, ethnographic (field walks, oral histories, participant observation), and community mapping methods.Documentation of the Elder Council and wider village decision-making processes will amplify understanding of indigenous self-governance and community-based forest management, including the administration of common property land and resources. The comparison of Nicaragua with other decentralizing, multiethnic countries in the hemisphere, such as Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Panama, will provide valuable contributions to development and resource management theory. Through the examination of a village on the forest extraction frontier, which is similar to many other internal colonization fronts in Latin America, the research will demonstrate processes of transition in decision-making, power, and governance that broadly influence the local ecology and indigenous cultures. By analyzing the devolution of environmental management authority, this project will further strengthen networks between geography and related fields such as political science, policy studies, development studies, and rural sociology. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.