Doctoral Dissertation Research: Scarcity and Cooperation? A Social Network Analysis of Two Chilika Lake Communities in Orissa, India

人口压力和资源短缺导致环境安全理论家认为，快速的社会变革可能引发地方层面的不稳定和冲突。乔治亚大学的一名文化人类学家的这篇论文将探讨印度奥里萨邦的一个沿海泻湖——Chilika湖上虾类养殖的存在与当地种姓制度中获取资源的变化和社会变化之间的关系。通过探索和比较该湖泊水产养殖和非水产养殖部门的社会网络，本论文的研究将着眼于种姓关系，以检验资源稀缺可能导致地方层面上更大合作的论点。资源稀缺可能会鼓励合作，因为扩大社区资源基础存在既得利益和竞争优势。社区渔场最近和历史的变化将通过基于地理信息系统（GIS）的参与性制图活动来模拟。结合现有的普查数据，预计这将表明该湖水产养殖部门的资源基础正在缩小。社会网络数据将使用正式和非正式访谈技术收集。还将使用照片提取和专门的计算机软件来模拟和比较湖泊两个部分基于种姓和次种姓的个人网络。湖泊水产养殖部门不同种姓成员之间社会互动的增加将表明种姓禁令的侵蚀和合作的增加。这项研究的更广泛的影响是，通过测试人类引起的环境稀缺必然导致冲突的概念，它将为决策者提供一个模型，以确定可能被社会分割和容易发生冲突的地区。此外，该项目极大地促进了年轻社会科学家的教育。

Population pressures and resource scarcity have led environmental security theorists to argue that rapid social change may trigger instability and conflict at the local level. This dissertation research by a cultural anthropologist from the University of Georgia, will explore how the presence of shrimp aquaculture in Chilika Lake - a coastal lagoon in Orissa, India - is associated with changes in access to resources and social changes within the local caste system. By exploring and comparing social networks in aquaculture and non-aquaculture sectors of the lake, this dissertation research will look at caste relations to test the thesis that resource scarcity may lead to greater cooperation at the local level. Resource scarcity may encourage cooperation because of the vested interest and competitive advantage that exists in expanding a community's resource base. Recent and historical changes in community fishing grounds will be modeled through participatory mapping exercises based on a Geographic Information System (GIS). Together with available census data, this is expected to demonstrate a shrinking resource base in the aquaculture sector of the lake. Social network data will be collected using formal and informal interviewing techniques. Photo-elicitation and specialized computer software will also be employed to model and compare personal networks based on caste and subcaste in both sectors of the lake. An increase in social interaction between members of different castes in the aquaculture sector of the lake will demonstrate the erosion of caste prohibitions and the existence of increased cooperation.The broader impact of this research is that by testing the notion that human-induced environmental scarcity necessarily leads to conflict, it will provide a model for policymakers to identify areas that may be socially segmented and conflict-prone. In addition the project materially advances the education of a young social scientist.