Doctoral Dissertation Research: Indigenous Resilience and Grassroots Ecotourism Development

土著社区越来越多地转向文化和环境旅游，作为资源开采的一种发展和经济选择。生态旅游对历史上被边缘化的社区尤其有希望，这些社区拥有深厚的文化知识和独特的生态特征，并寻求尊重文化知识和保护这些资源的社区发展途径。参与生态旅游开发的社区成员如何选择他们向游客强调的文化和环境要素？生态旅游项目是否反映了更广泛的社区理想和身份？这些观点在社区内是如何变化的？本博士论文研究探讨了生态旅游发展与北美土著社区社会环境弹性之间的交集。该研究测试了跨学科的社会环境弹性理论的适用性，这些理论涉及土著背景下的人与环境关系。它还培养一名博士论文学生在文化人类学的理论和方法，工作将广泛分发给学术观众，社区利益相关者和公众。该项目有三个主要目标；1)调查土著生态旅游协调员和附属机构如何根据他们的想法发展生态旅游基础设施，使其在社区中具有弹性；2)研究生态旅游规划内外社区成员的传统生存和土地实践，以及它们反映社区理想和身份的程度；3)探索不同世代的社区成员如何在面对生态旅游驱动和其他方式的社区变化时构建自己的身份和未来。该研究涉及民族志方法，包括半结构化访谈、参与性观察和基于社区的参与性研讨会。该研究促进了对土著知识在生态系统科学、生态旅游发展和可持续性中的作用的理解。该项目还测试了经常用于描述社会生态系统弹性的理论是否在土著社会生态系统和土著系统参与者的观点中有效。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。

Indigenous communities are increasingly turning toward cultural and environmental tourism as a development and economic alternative to resource extraction. Ecotourism is particularly promising to historically marginalized communities who possess deep cultural knowledge and unique ecological features and seek avenues of community development that honor that cultural knowledge and preserve those resources. How do community members involved with ecotourism development make choices about the elements of their culture and environment they emphasize to visitors? Are ecotourism programs reflective of broader community ideals and identity, and how do these perspectives vary within the community? This doctoral dissertation research explores the intersection between ecotourism development and socio-environmental resilience in a North American Indigenous community. The research tests the applicability of theories on socio-environmental resilience used across disciplines dealing with human-environment relations to Indigenous contexts. It also trains a doctoral dissertation student in theory and methods in cultural anthropology and the work will be distributed broadly to academic audiences, community stakeholders, and the public. This project has three main objectives; 1) to investigate how indigenous ecotourism coordinators and affiliates develop ecotourism infrastructure in relation to their ideas of what should be made resilient in their communities; 2) to examine the traditional subsistence and land-based practices of community members both in and outside of ecotourism programming and the degree to which they reflect community ideals and identity; and 3) to explore how different generations of community members construct their identities and futures in the face of community change both ecotourism-driven and otherwise. The research involves ethnographic methods, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and community based participatory workshops. The research advances understanding about the role of Indigenous knowledge in ecosystem science, ecotourism development, and sustainability. This project also tests whether theories about frequently used to characterize the resilience of socio-ecological systems have efficacy within Indigenous socio-ecological systems and the perspectives of Indigenous system participants.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.