Doctoral Dissertation Research: Reciprocity, Collective Action, and Political Inequalities in Post-Disaster Resettlements in Andean Ecuador

博士生阿尔伯特·J·法斯（南佛罗里达大学），在琳达·M博士的指导下。怀特福德将研究灾害、流离失所和重新安置的过程如何影响集体行动传统和不平等的地方权力结构，以及这些传统和结构如何影响这些传统和结构。将特别注意非正式交换关系与活动后生存之间可能存在的联系。了解灾害应对和恢复的微观过程对于未来设计和实施有效的灾害应对至关重要。研究将在厄瓜多尔高原进行，因为活跃的volanoes重新安置提供了一个理想的机会来研究这些过程。研究人员将部分集中在传统的社区劳工团体（称为“mingas”）。初步研究表明，在灾害引起的重新安置社区中，合作、相互支持的做法与不平等的权力关系之间存在紧张关系。 可以假定，其他灾后环境中也存在这种动态，这可能会影响重新安置的个人获得救灾和发展资源。研究人员将收集定性和定量数据来解决两个首要研究问题：（1）互惠的文化实践在灾难和重新安置过程中受到多大程度的侵蚀？(2)在何种程度上利用互惠的文化习俗对灾害和重新安置过程中的资源分配施加影响？将通过与90名参与者和关键信息提供者进行非结构化和半结构化访谈、审查关键活动出席情况的公开记录以及参与者在公开会议和日常生活中的观察来收集数据。第一个目标是确定重新安置后是否继续互惠和社区劳动。第二个目标是确定参与互惠和社区劳动的不同方式是否与集体决策的不同影响程度有关。这项研究很重要，因为在自然灾害和人为灾害发生后，快速而经济的救援反应是必不可少的。了解如何与现有的文化习俗合作而不是对抗，将使这些努力更加有效和高效。研究结果将有助于灾害文化的多尺度和跨尺度理论的发展。资助这项研究也支持研究生的教育。

Doctoral student Albert J. Faas (University of South Florida), with the guidance of Dr. Linda M. Whiteford, will undertake research on how processes of disaster, displacement, and resettlement affect and are affected by both traditions of collective action and unequal local power structures. Particular attention will be paid to possible links between informal exchange relationships and post-event survival. Understanding the micro-processes of disaster response and recovery is critical to the future design and implementation of effective disaster responses.The research will be conducted in highland Ecuador where relocation because of active volanoes offers an ideal opportunity to examine these processes. The researcher will focus in part on traditional communal labor groups (called "mingas"). Preliminary research has suggested that there is a tension between cooperative, mutual support practices and unequal power relations in disaster-induced resettlement communities. This dynamic, which can be presumed to exist in other post-disaster contexts as well, may affect resettled individuals' access to disaster relief and development resources. The researcher will collect qualitative and quantitative data to address two overarching research questions: (1) To what extent are cultural practices of reciprocity eroded in the disaster and resettlement process? (2) To what extent are cultural practices of reciprocity leveraged to exert influence over the distribution of resources in the disaster and resettlement process? Data will be gathered through unstructured and semi-structured interviews with 90 participants and key informants, the examination of public records of attendance at key events, and participant observation at public meetings and in daily life. The first goal is to determine whether or not reciprocity and communal labor continue after resettlement. The second goal is to determine if different ways of participating in reciprocity and communal labor are associated with different degrees of influence in collective decision-making.The research is important because in the aftermath of both natural and manmade disasters quick but economical relief responses are essential. Understanding how to work with rather than against existing cultural practices will make such efforts both more effective and more efficient. Findings from the research will contribute to the growing body of multi-scale and inter-scalar theory of disaster cultures. Funding this research also supports the education of a graduate student.