Doctoral Dissertation Research: Scarcity and Cooperation? A Social Network Analysis of Two Chilika Lake Communities in Orissa, India

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Population pressures and resource scarcity have led environmental security theorists to argue that rapid social change may trigger instability and conflict at the local level. This dissertation research by a cultural anthropologist from the University of Georgia, will explore how the presence of shrimp aquaculture in Chilika Lake - a coastal lagoon in Orissa, India - is associated with changes in access to resources and social changes within the local caste system. By exploring and comparing social networks in aquaculture and non-aquaculture sectors of the lake, this dissertation research will look at caste relations to test the thesis that resource scarcity may lead to greater cooperation at the local level. Resource scarcity may encourage cooperation because of the vested interest and competitive advantage that exists in expanding a community's resource base. Recent and historical changes in community fishing grounds will be modeled through participatory mapping exercises based on a Geographic Information System (GIS). Together with available census data, this is expected to demonstrate a shrinking resource base in the aquaculture sector of the lake. Social network data will be collected using formal and informal interviewing techniques. Photo-elicitation and specialized computer software will also be employed to model and compare personal networks based on caste and subcaste in both sectors of the lake. An increase in social interaction between members of different castes in the aquaculture sector of the lake will demonstrate the erosion of caste prohibitions and the existence of increased cooperation.The broader impact of this research is that by testing the notion that human-induced environmental scarcity necessarily leads to conflict, it will provide a model for policymakers to identify areas that may be socially segmented and conflict-prone. In addition the project materially advances the education of a young social scientist.