Doctoral Dissertation Research: Indigenous Resilience and Grassroots Ecotourism Development

土著社区越来越多地将文化和环境旅游作为资源开采的发展和经济替代办法。对于那些拥有深厚的文化知识和独特的生态特征，并寻求尊重这种文化知识和保护这些资源的社区发展途径的历史边缘化社区来说，生态旅游特别有希望。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元素？生态旅游项目是否反映了更广泛的社区理想和认同，以及这些观点在社区内有何不同？这项博士论文研究探索了北美土著社区生态旅游发展和社会环境复原力之间的交集。这项研究测试了社会环境复原力理论在处理人与环境关系的各学科与土著环境之间的适用性。它还在文化人类学的理论和方法方面培训一名博士论文学生，这项工作将广泛分发给学术受众、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关于应使其社区具有复原力的想法发展生态旅游基础设施；2)审查社区成员在生态旅游方案内和之外的传统生存和陆上做法，以及这些做法在多大程度上反映了社区的理想和特性；3)探讨不同世代的社区成员如何在生态旅游驱动和其他方面的社区变化中构建其特性和未来。研究涉及人种学方法，包括半结构化访谈、参与者观察和基于社区的参与性研讨会。这项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方面的作用的理解。该项目还测试了经常被用来描述社会生态系统复原力的理论是否在土著社会生态系统和土著系统参与者的视角下有效。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。

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.