DDIG: Fluid Boundaries: Property, Conservation, and the Global in Andros Island, the Bahamas

研究生Sarah Wise在Bonnie McCay博士的指导下，将研究人们如何谈判在一个正在从地区管理的公地向国际管理的保护区转变的地区有争议的空间的所有权。2006年，自然保护协会与其他保护组织合作，提议在巴哈马的安德罗斯岛建立西区国家公园，将机构管理的规模从地方控制转变为国家和国际治理。这项研究将以语言为分析视角，探索居民如何理解、实践和谈论海洋资源的所有权和使用权。有三个中心目标：1)检查机构的出现，包括治理的行为和法律系统；2)记录人们如何根据不断变化的法律和社会条件参与和谈论注定要受到保护的地区；3)调查人们如何使用语言来谈判所有权的想法。在为期12个月的实地研究期间，研究人员将采用混合方法人种学方法，通过档案研究、参与者观察、访谈和参与性绘图，记录现有的和新出现的海洋保有权制度。研究人员将以科学家、仙女座居民、自然资源保护者和政府官员为重点，创建一个由95个人组成的样本框架。半结构化访谈将用于记录资源使用、获取和所有权模式、决策过程以及对国家工作队的看法。该项目将扩大关于保护区保护的社会科学研究，并有助于正在进行的关于环境决策对依赖这些资源的人的社会影响的辩论。这项研究的结果将适用于全球沿海社区，并将促进对话和更好地了解与重要海洋资源有关的社会和环境系统之间的关系。

Graduate student Sarah Wise, supervised by Dr. Bonnie McCay, will examine how people negotiate ownership of contested space in a region undergoing change from a regionally-managed commons to an internationally-governed protected area. In 2006, The Nature Conservancy, in partnership with other conservation organizations, proposed the West Side National Park (WSNP) on Andros Island, The Bahamas, changing the scale of institutional management from local control to national and international governance. Using language as an analytical lens, this research will explore how residents understand, practice, and talk about ownership of and access to sea resources. There are three central objectives: 1) to examine the emergence of institutions, including behavioral and legal systems of governance, 2) to document how people engage with and talk about the area destined for protection in light of changing legal and social conditions, and 3) to investigate how people use language to negotiate ideas of ownership. During 12 months of field research, the researcher will employ a mixed-methods ethnographic approach to document existing and emerging marine tenure systems through archival research, participant observation, interviews, and participatory mapping. Focusing on scientists, Androsian residents, conservationists, and government officials, the researcher will create a sampling frame of 95 individuals. Semi-structured interviews will be used to document resource use, access and ownership patterns, decision-making processes, and the perceptions of the WSNP. This project will extend social science scholarship on protected area conservation and contribute to ongoing debates about the social effects of environmental decision-making on the very people relying on these resources. Results of this research will be applicable to coastal communities globally, and will facilitate dialogue and greater understanding of the relationships between social and environmental systems concerning important marine resources.