Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Market Women in a Central African Forest Reserve: The Interface of Wildlife Commerce and Conservation

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Graduate student Lesley L. Daspit will work under the supervision of Dr. Melissa J. Remis to investigate the roles of women in the commerce and conservation of wildlife in the Dzanga-Sangha Dense Forest Reserve (RDS), Central African Republic (CAR). To date, the majority of research on wildlife trade in Central and West Africa has centered on men as hunters. Women's roles as wholesalers, market sellers, and restaurant owners have received little attention. Within the RDS, wildlife is an increasing component of women's livelihoods, despite indications of declining wildlife populations. The current research will focus on a group of market women in Bayanga, the largest population center associated with the RDS. It will also explore the relationships between market women's activities and broader conservation and development policies. The researcher will employ a combination of ethnographic field methods including participant observation and informal and semi-structured interviews, and surveys. In addition, interview and archival work will be conducted in Washington, DC, and in Bangui and Bayanga, CAR, with key personnel at World Wildlife Fund for Nature and the Bushmeat Crisis Task Force, to contextualize the links between experiences of women within African trade networks and the importance of gender in conservation monitoring and policy formulation. Findings from this research will elucidate women's roles in fluctuating economies of natural resources, highlighting how gender mediates access to and control of wildlife. Further, it will have implications for better conservation and development policies and practices by recognizing women as agents of environmental change and potential key players in a more sustainable use of wildlife. Finally, the research will contribute to the education of a graduate student.