Doctoral Dissertation Research: Community Responses to Local Resource Extraction

博士论文研究：社区对当地资源开采的反应

• 批准号: 1154030
• 负责人: Mary Anglin
• 金额: $ 1.67万
• 依托单位: University of Kentucky Research Foundation
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2012-03-01 至 2013-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1154030&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Community; Responses

University of Kentucky doctoral student Julie Shepherd-Powell, with the guidance of Dr. Mary Anglin, will conduct ethnographic research on variability in community responses to local natural resource extraction. The primary research questions are: (1) In this context, how do residents conceptualize and understand the meaning of "environment;" (2) How do residents articulate and respond to environmental concerns? Preliminary research suggests that many residents position themselves somewhere between the two sides of the debate, a situation whose causes and consequences are not well understood. Findings from this research will have broad application that will extend beyond the particular case to be studied.The research will be conducted in the central Appalachian region of the United States. This is a good site to study response diversity because for many people living in this region, coal extraction falls into a grey area. Mountaintop removal creates local pollution and other environmental challenges, but it also provides some of the only living-wage jobs in an economically depressed area. The researcher will conduct 12 months of fieldwork in a community in southwest Virginia. The community is the site of both mountaintop removal mining and underground coal mining, so comparative data can be collection. The researcher will collect data by focusing on responses to a grassroots campaign to reduce resource extraction pollution. She will employ a range of social science research methods including semi-structured interviews with community residents and organizers, participant observation at community events, and archival research at state environmental and mining regulatory agencies. Findings from this research will advance scientific understanding of complex socio-environmental issues and elucidate some of the economic, social, and cultural contexts that can produce diverse responses and make environmental problems hard to resolve. A particular contribution of this project will be to learn more about the space of public discussion and understanding that may develop between straight opposition and support of environmental issues. Funding this research also supports the education of a social scientist.

肯塔基大学博士生朱莉·谢泼德·鲍威尔将在玛丽·安格林博士的指导下，对社区对当地自然资源开采反应的变异性进行人种学研究。主要的研究问题是：(1)在这种情况下，居民如何概念化和理解“环境”的含义；(2)居民如何表达和回应环境问题？初步研究表明，许多居民将自己置身于辩论的双方之间，这种情况的原因和后果尚不清楚。这项研究的结果将具有广泛的应用范围，不仅限于要研究的特定案例。研究将在美国阿巴拉契亚中部地区进行。这是一个研究响应多样性的好地方，因为对于生活在该地区的许多人来说，煤炭开采属于灰色地带。山顶的拆除带来了当地的污染和其他环境挑战，但它也提供了一些在经济低迷地区仅有的、能维持生计的工作岗位。这位研究人员将在弗吉尼亚州西南部的一个社区进行为期12个月的实地考察。该社区既是山顶拆除开采的现场，也是地下采煤的地点，因此可以收集比较数据。研究人员将通过关注减少资源开采污染的草根运动的反应来收集数据。她将采用一系列社会科学研究方法，包括对社区居民和组织者的半结构化访谈，社区活动的参与者观察，以及州环境和矿业监管机构的档案研究。这项研究的发现将促进对复杂的社会环境问题的科学理解，并阐明一些可能产生不同反应并使环境问题难以解决的经济、社会和文化背景。这个项目的一个特别贡献将是更多地了解公众讨论和理解的空间，这种空间可能在直截了当的反对和支持环境问题之间发展。资助这项研究还支持社会科学家的教育。