Doctoral Dissertation Research: Risk Minimization through Social Networks

罗格斯大学博士生K.在Lee Cronk博士的指导下，Padmini Iyer将调查乌干达的农牧民如何利用他们的社交网络来管理他们动荡的生态和政治环境所带来的风险。在这项研究中考察的牧民在历史上从事牲畜和粮食交换的关系，进行了隐含的义务，以帮助交换伙伴在困难，如干旱，牲畜疾病，和袭击。交换网络在弥补粮食短缺等短期损失和通过重建畜群确保长期可持续性方面发挥了突出作用。然而，由于武装抢牛、军事干预和其他大规模的变化，如牲畜损失、经济多样化和群体内关系不稳定，缓冲风险的社交网络变得脆弱。因此，该项目将研究社会和经济变化如何影响个人和社区层面的风险管理能力。研究者将透过访谈与社会网络分析，收集质性与量性资料，以探讨三个主要问题：（1）财富、地理位置、亲属关系等变数如何影响个人的交换伙伴网络？(2)社区（家庭群）的社会网络特性如何影响其风险最小化的能力？(3)当前交换体系的基本规范在多大程度上不同于或类似于前几代人的规范？通过综合人类学、经济学和历史学数据，该项目将促进我们对农牧民当代风险管理的理解。该项目还将调查大规模的变化如何影响制度化的交换规范，以及个人行为在多大程度上偏离这些规范。随着牧民社区在数十年的武装袭击后开始恢复群体间关系，牧民面临着牲畜大量损失和贫困等严重问题。该项目产生的信息将有助于指导有关牲畜管理、社区发展、冲突解决和粮食安全的政策。

Rutgers University doctoral student K. Padmini Iyer, under the guidance of Dr. Lee Cronk, will investigate how agropastoralists of Uganda use their social networks to manage the risks posed by their volatile ecological and political environments. The pastoralists examined in this study have historically engaged in livestock and food exchange relationships that carried an implicit obligation to assist exchange partners during hardships such as drought, livestock disease, and raiding. Exchange networks played a prominent role in recouping short-term losses such as food shortage, and in ensuring long-term sustainability through rebuilding herds. However, as a result of armed cattle raiding, military intervention, and other large-scale changes, such as livestock loss, economic diversification, and destabilized intragroup relations, the risk-buffering social networks have become weak. This project will thus examine how social and economic changes influence the ability to manage risk at the individual and neighborhood levels. The researcher will collect qualitative and quantitative data through interviews and social network analysis to address three main questions: (1)How do such variables as wealth, geographic location, and kin relation influence an individual's personal network of exchange partners?; (2) How do the social network properties of a neighborhood (cluster of households) influence its ability to minimize risk?; (3) To what extent do the norms underlying the current system of exchange differ or resemble the norms of the previous generations?By synthesizing anthropological, economic, and historical data, this project will advance our understanding of contemporary risk management among agropastoralists. The project will also investigate how large-scale changes have affected institutionalized norms of exchange, and to what extent individuals' behavior depart from these norms. As pastoral communities begin to restore intergroup relations after decades of armed raiding, herders are faced with such critical issues as widespread livestock loss and poverty. Information generated from this project will aid in guiding policy on livestock management, community development, conflict resolution, and food security.