Hydrosocial territories of climate governance: an interdisciplinary examination of the Indigenous-hydropower nexus

该奖项的全部或部分资金根据《2021 年美国救援计划法案》（公法 117-2）提供。该奖项是 NSF 社会、行为和经济科学博士后研究奖学金 (SPRF) 计划的一部分。 SPRF 项目的目标是为学术界、工业界或私营部门以及政府的科学职业培养有前途的早期职业博士级科学家。 SPRF 奖项包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。 NSF 致力于促进科学界各个领域的科学家（包括来自代表性不足群体的科学家）参与其研究计划和活动；博士后时期被认为是实现这一目标的重要专业发展阶段。每个博士后研究员必须解决推动各自学科领域发展的重要科学问题。在北亚利桑那大学 Denielle Perry 博士的赞助下，该博士后奖学金为一位早期职业科学家提供支持，以调查土著人民和水电开发在气候话语背景下汇聚的争议本质。鉴于水电目前在全球气候减缓战略中发挥着主导作用，以及水电项目对原住民、他们的土地和文化产生的级联社会生态影响，这项研究势在必行。该项目旨在对这种土著与水电关系做出更细致的理解，并更广泛地提供多尺度气候治理中决策过程的更完整视角。具体来说，这个博士后研究项目利用想象、空间/地点和水社会领域的学术知识来回答以下问题：土著想象、气候变化话语和水电开发之间的动态相互作用和反馈是什么？为了解决这个问题，该项目采用了混合方法，在气候和水电会议以及美国西部地区进行了人种学研究，那里拟议的水电项目威胁着土著社区。数据收集方法包括访谈、焦点小组、参与观察和政策研究。这项研究的结果将用于直接为政策变化提供实际建议，以制定更公平的气候缓解战略。该奖项反映了 NSF 的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Denielle Perry at Northern Arizona University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the contested nature of Indigenous peoples and hydropower development as they converge through the context of climate discourse. This study is imperative given the dominant role hydropower now plays as a global climate mitigation strategy and the cascading social-ecological impacts that hydropower projects have on Indigenous peoples, their lands, and cultures. This project aims to contribute a more nuanced understanding of this Indigenous-hydropower nexus and more broadly, offer a more complete perspective of decision-making processes within multi-scaler climate governance.Specifically, this postdoctoral research project engages scholarship on imaginaries, space/place, and hydrosocial territories to answer the following question: What are the dynamic interactions and feedbacks between Indigenous imaginaries, climate change discourse, and hydropower development? To address this question, the project employs mixed-methods, ethnographic research at climate and hydropower conferences, as well as in the Western United States where proposed hydropower projects threaten Indigenous communities. Methods for data collection include interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and policy research. The results of this study will be used to directly inform practical suggestions for policy changes to develop more equitable climate mitigation strategies.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.