Doctoral Dissertation Research: People, Land, and Water along the Lower Colorado River

博士论文研究：科罗拉多河下游沿线的人、土地和水

• 批准号: 1844157
• 负责人: William Cronon
• 金额: $ 1.8万
• 依托单位: University of Wisconsin-Madison
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-04-01 至 2021-03-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1844157&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; People; Land

This doctoral dissertation project analyzes how the use and development of rivers has shaped territory, society, and conflicts in borderlands. Paradoxically rivers fix political boundaries yet shift unpredictably across their floodplains, posing problems of jurisdiction and questions of international sovereignty. Additionally, governments manipulated rivers for irrigation, changing river channels so drastically that they no longer adhere to the boundaries they supposedly demarcate. This research examines how rivers have shaped landscapes of belonging and exclusion by focusing on socially differentiated river communities whose shared boundaries shifted when rivers shifted. In response, these communities formed alliances and negotiated conflicts among one another. The doctoral student will evaluate how communities are differentially impacted by contemporary water controversies such as drought and river restoration. Findings will be disseminated to water managers, conservation groups, and the public through publication of written materials in regional outlets and a broadly accessible book. Findings and oral history interviews will be converted into digital narratives to contribute to public debate about the contemporary legacy of past river use and development and can serve as instructional material in classrooms. Results will be shared with the relevant communities. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will provide support to enable a promising graduate student to establish an independent research career.Through its focus on the physical manifestation of boundaries, this project will reveal how power has been routed through rivers to shape landscapes of belonging and exclusion for different social communities. Integrating ideas from environmental history, political ecology, and borderlands studies, the doctoral student will investigate: (1) how river development in the form of dams, canals, and reservoirs made and re-made territorial boundaries separating Native American and African-American river communities; and (2) how these communities responded to shifting river boundaries through alliances, oppositions, and internal divisions to remain rooted to an increasingly managed landscape. National archival material will demonstrate how river development caused these boundaries to shift, while local archival collections and oral history interviews will demonstrate how these local communities responded in turn. Case studies will focus on communities that have been historically divided by changing boundaries set by this transnational, dynamic, and essential river.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

这个博士论文项目分析了河流的使用和开发如何塑造了边境地区的领土、社会和冲突。矛盾的是，河流确定了政治边界，却在洪泛平原上不可预测地移动，引发了管辖权和国际主权问题。此外，政府为了灌溉而操纵河流，如此剧烈地改变河道，以至于它们不再遵守它们应该划定的边界。本研究考察了河流如何塑造归属和排斥的景观，重点关注社会分化的河流社区，这些社区的共享边界在河流移动时发生了变化。作为回应，这些社区结成联盟，并在彼此之间协商冲突。博士生将评估当代水资源争议（如干旱和河流修复）对社区的不同影响。调查结果将通过在区域网点出版书面材料和广泛阅读的书籍，传播给水资源管理者、保护团体和公众。调查结果和口述历史访谈将被转换为数字叙事，以促进有关过去河流使用和开发的当代遗产的公众辩论，并可作为课堂上的教学材料。结果将与相关社区分享。作为博士论文研究进步奖，该项目将为有前途的研究生建立独立的研究生涯提供支持。通过对边界的物理表现的关注，该项目将揭示权力如何通过河流来塑造不同社会群体的归属和排斥景观。整合环境史、政治生态学和边境研究的思想，博士生将研究：(1)水坝、运河和水库形式的河流发展如何形成和重新形成将美洲原住民和非洲裔美国人河流社区分开的领土边界；(2)这些社区如何通过联盟、反对和内部分裂来应对河流边界的变化，以保持对日益管理的景观的扎根。国家档案材料将展示河流开发如何导致这些边界的转移，而当地档案收藏和口述历史访谈将展示这些当地社区如何回应。案例研究将侧重于历史上因这条跨国的、动态的、重要的河流所设定的不断变化的边界而分裂的社区。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。