Doctoral Dissertation Research: Reciprocity, Collective Action, and Political Inequalities in Post-Disaster Resettlements in Andean Ecuador

博士生Albert J. Faas（南佛罗里达大学）将在Linda M. Whiteford博士的指导下，研究灾难、流离失所和重新安置的过程如何影响集体行动的传统和不平等的地方权力结构。将特别注意非正式交流关系与事件后生存之间的可能联系。了解灾难响应和恢复的微观过程对未来设计和实施有效的灾难响应至关重要。这项研究将在厄瓜多尔高地进行，在那里，由于活火山的迁移为研究这些过程提供了一个理想的机会。研究人员将部分关注传统的公共劳动群体（称为mingas）。初步研究表明，在灾害引起的重新安置社区中，合作、相互支持的做法与不平等的权力关系之间存在紧张关系。这种动态可以假定在其他灾后情况下也存在，可能影响重新安置的个人获得救灾和发展资源的机会。研究人员将收集定性和定量数据，以解决两个主要的研究问题：(1)在灾难和重新安置过程中，互惠的文化习俗在多大程度上受到侵蚀？(2)在灾难和安置过程中，互惠的文化习俗在多大程度上影响了资源的分配？数据的收集将通过对90名参与者和主要线人的非结构化和半结构化访谈，审查出席重要活动的公开记录，以及参与者在公共会议和日常生活中的观察。第一个目标是确定重新安置后是否继续互惠和共同劳动。第二个目标是确定参与互惠和公共劳动的不同方式是否与集体决策中不同程度的影响有关。这项研究很重要，因为在自然灾害和人为灾害之后，快速而经济的救援反应是必不可少的。了解如何配合而不是反对现有的文化习俗，将使这些努力更有效、更有效率。研究结果将有助于灾害文化的多尺度和跨尺度理论的发展。资助这项研究也支持了研究生的教育。

Doctoral student Albert J. Faas (University of South Florida), with the guidance of Dr. Linda M. Whiteford, will undertake research on how processes of disaster, displacement, and resettlement affect and are affected by both traditions of collective action and unequal local power structures. Particular attention will be paid to possible links between informal exchange relationships and post-event survival. Understanding the micro-processes of disaster response and recovery is critical to the future design and implementation of effective disaster responses.The research will be conducted in highland Ecuador where relocation because of active volanoes offers an ideal opportunity to examine these processes. The researcher will focus in part on traditional communal labor groups (called "mingas"). Preliminary research has suggested that there is a tension between cooperative, mutual support practices and unequal power relations in disaster-induced resettlement communities. This dynamic, which can be presumed to exist in other post-disaster contexts as well, may affect resettled individuals' access to disaster relief and development resources. The researcher will collect qualitative and quantitative data to address two overarching research questions: (1) To what extent are cultural practices of reciprocity eroded in the disaster and resettlement process? (2) To what extent are cultural practices of reciprocity leveraged to exert influence over the distribution of resources in the disaster and resettlement process? Data will be gathered through unstructured and semi-structured interviews with 90 participants and key informants, the examination of public records of attendance at key events, and participant observation at public meetings and in daily life. The first goal is to determine whether or not reciprocity and communal labor continue after resettlement. The second goal is to determine if different ways of participating in reciprocity and communal labor are associated with different degrees of influence in collective decision-making.The research is important because in the aftermath of both natural and manmade disasters quick but economical relief responses are essential. Understanding how to work with rather than against existing cultural practices will make such efforts both more effective and more efficient. Findings from the research will contribute to the growing body of multi-scale and inter-scalar theory of disaster cultures. Funding this research also supports the education of a graduate student.