Entanglements of climate change and conflict: climate change adaptation in post-war Sri Lanka

这个项目是关于气候变化、冲突以及它们如何在战后的斯里兰卡纠缠在一起。目前还没有对受国内冲突影响的社区的气候变化的社会生活或适应过程进行民族志研究。这项研究将通过对斯里兰卡干旱地区气候变化适应干预的民族志研究来解决这个问题。斯里兰卡干旱地区是一个种族冲突尚未解决的地方，已经经历了气候变化的影响。这项研究将形成气候变化人类学、风险和危险理论（Beck 2007; Douglas 1992）、斯里兰卡“种族”冲突分析（Tambiah 1986）和考虑灾难政治化的文学（Simpson 2014）之间的联系。在这样做的过程中，它试图超越西方现有的“否认生活”的民族志描述（Norgaard 2011）和全球南方对气候变化的文化解释（Lipset 2011; Rudiak-Gould 2013）。研究问题1)在暴力冲突之后，泰米尔人和僧伽罗人如何看待气候变化的风险？2)在适应过程中，民族冲突会在多大程度上凝聚或消散？3)冲突的遗产将以何种方式影响适应政策？研究方法和时间表干旱地区的混合种族社区目前正被3800万美元的干预作为目标，这些社区将构成本研究的背景。这项干预由斯里兰卡政府发起，由绿色气候基金和联合国开发计划署共同资助。总体而言，该计划旨在“加强干旱地区小农对气候变化和极端事件的抵御能力”（联合国开发计划署，2017年），并强调民族间合作的必要性。在SOAS攻读人类学研究方法硕士期间，我一直在完善我的研究问题，并接受进一步的方法训练。我也一直在学习僧伽罗语和泰米尔语。在斯里兰卡2-3个月的实地工作将部署以下方法，对应于上述研究问题。1)在科伦坡接受了两个月的语言培训后，我将花七个月的时间在两个干预目标社区进行民族志实地调查：一个在阿努拉德普勒地区，那里的僧伽罗人占多数，另一个在瓦武尼亚，那里的泰米尔人占多数。通过对日常生活的参与观察和对僧伽罗和泰米尔村民的深入访谈，研究将集中在个人和集体对冲突的记忆、该地区农村发展的历史、对气候变化的看法，以及对过去创伤的记忆如何塑造对气候风险的看法。2)通过参与合作社社区适应活动并研究社区内的管理，将在民族志上研究种族紧张在适应过程中凝聚的程度。3)剩余的三个月将用于参与观察科伦坡的政策制定。我将参加环保非政府组织和政策制定者的研讨会和圆桌会议，研究政策文件，采访当地的环保活动家和气候科学家。第3-4年，我将撰写我的调查结果，并将其传播给科伦坡的利益相关者和更广泛的发展社区。这项研究的结果将与当地的政策制定者直接相关，例如斯里兰卡政府的马哈威利发展与环境部、当地的实施非政府组织和国际发展机构（IWMI、绿色气候基金、联合国开发计划署）。我将在设计阶段让这些参与者参与进来，目的是让他们成为项目的利益相关者，并实现项目的结果。

This project is about climate change, conflict and how they are entangled in post-war Sri Lanka. There are currently no ethnographic studies of the social life of climate change, or the process of adaptation, in communities affected by civil conflict. This study will address this through ethnographic research of a climate change adaptation intervention in Sri Lanka's Dry Zone - a site of unresolved ethnic conflict, already experiencing the effects of climate change. This research will form links between the anthropology of climate change, theorisations of risk and danger (Beck 2007; Douglas 1992), analyses of Sri Lanka's 'ethnic' conflict (Tambiah 1986) and literature considering the politicisation of disaster (Simpson 2014). In doing so, it seeks to move beyond existing ethnographic accounts of 'living in denial' in the West (Norgaard 2011) and culturally-bound interpretations of climate change in the Global South (Lipset 2011; Rudiak-Gould 2013). Research Questions 1) How is the risk of climate change perceived by Tamil and Sinhalese Sri Lankans in the wake of a violent conflict? 2) To what extent will ethnic conflict coalesce around, or be dissipated by, the process of adaptation? 3) In what ways will the legacies of the conflict shape adaptation policy? Methodology and Timetable of Research Mixed-ethnic communities in the Dry Zone that are currently being targeted by a $38,000,000 intervention will form the context of this study. This intervention was initiated by the Sri Lankan government and is co-funded by the Green Climate Fund and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Broadly, it aims to 'strengthen the resilience of smallholder farmers in the Dry Zone to climate variability and extreme events' (UNDP 2017), with emphasis on the necessity of inter-ethnic co-operation. Year 1 I have been refining my research questions and receiving further methods training during the MA in Anthropological Research Methods at SOAS. I have also been learning Sinhala and Tamil. Years 2-3 12 months of fieldwork in Sri Lanka will deploy the following methods, corresponding to the research questions outlined above. 1) After two months of language training in Colombo, I will spend seven months conducting ethnographic fieldwork in two communities targeted by the intervention: one in the district of Anuradhapura, where the Sinhalese form the ethnic majority, and one in Vavuniya, where the Tamils do. Through participant observation of daily life and in-depth interviews with Sinhalese and Tamil villagers, research will focus on individual and collective memories of the conflict, the history of rural development in the area, perceptions of the changing climate, and the ways in which memories of past traumas shape the perception of climate-based risk. 2) By taking part in co-operative community adaptation activities and studying their management within the community, the extent to which ethnic tension coalesces around the process of adaptation will be studied ethnographically. 3) The remaining three months will be spent conducting participant observation of policymaking in Colombo. I will attend workshops and roundtable events for environmental NGOs and policymakers, study policy documents, and interview local environmental activists and climate scientists. Years 3-4 I will write-up my findings and disseminate them to stakeholders in Colombo and the wider development community. The findings of this study will be of direct relevance to local policymakers such as the Sri Lankan government's Ministry of Mahaweli Development and Environment, local implementing NGOs and international development agencies (IWMI, Green Climate Fund, United Nations Development Programme). I will engage these actors during the design phase, with the aim that they become stakeholders in the project and implements its finings.