Doctoral Dissertation Research: Risk Minimization through Social Networks

罗格斯大学博士生K.Padmini Iyer将在Lee Cronk博士的指导下，研究乌干达的农牧民如何利用他们的社会网络来管理其动荡的生态和政治环境带来的风险。这项研究中考察的牧民历史上一直从事牲畜和食物交换关系，这种关系隐含着在干旱、牲畜疾病和抢劫等困难时期帮助交换伙伴的义务。交易所网络在弥补粮食短缺等短期损失以及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，由于武装抢劫牛只、军事干预以及其他大规模变化，如牲畜损失、经济多元化和集团内关系不稳定，缓冲风险的社会网络变得薄弱。因此，本项目将研究社会和经济变化如何影响个人和邻里层面的风险管理能力。研究人员将通过访谈和社会网络分析收集定性和定量数据，以解决三个主要问题：(1)财富、地理位置和亲属关系等变量如何影响个人的交换伙伴个人网络？(2)社区(家庭集群)的社会网络属性如何影响其将风险降至最低的能力？(3)当前交换制度的规范在多大程度上与前几代人的规范不同或相似？通过综合人类学、经济学和历史数据，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，以及个人的行为在多大程度上偏离了这些规范。随着牧民社区在经历了数十年的武装袭击后开始恢复族群间的关系，牧民们面临着广泛的牲畜损失和贫困等严重问题。该项目产生的信息将有助于指导牲畜管理、社区发展、冲突解决和粮食安全方面的政策。

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.