Doctoral Dissertation Research: Effects of Increased Market Participation on Adaptive Capacity and Resilience in Rural Samoa

佐治亚大学博士生J·布伦特·维克斯将在唐纳德·R·纳尔逊博士的指导下进行研究，以调查市场一体化对萨摩亚法拉卢波村农民从干旱中恢复的能力的影响，干旱对维持生计的生计有重大影响。从历史上看，应对干旱和其他环境事件的能力取决于与共同财产管理有关的社会机构。然而，在过去50年里，萨摩亚各地农村的人们增加了他们对全球市场的参与，减少了他们对传统社会机构的参与。不断变化的背景提供了一个机会，以了解经济发展和市场参与增加对家庭及其成员从环境事件中恢复和适应的影响。使用各种定量和定性的人种学方法，如半结构化访谈、焦点小组讨论、问卷调查和家庭调查，以产生经验数据并检验假设。研究方法还将用于记录萨摩亚村民从最近的干旱中恢复并适应生态变化的经验。这项研究还将解决从主位(内部)而不是理性(外部专家)的角度评估韧性这一具有智力挑战性的问题。这项研究将有助于从理论上理解更多的市场参与对适应能力和韧性认知的影响。这项研究还将通过使用主位而不是动态的测量来定义和衡量社会生态复原力，从而有助于研究复原力的方法，这可以为全球面临类似干旱和其他环境事件的社区的救灾工作和规划措施提供信息。资助这项研究还有助于培养一名社会科学家。

University of Georgia doctoral candidate J. Brent Vickers, supervised by Dr. Donald R. Nelson, will undertake research to investigate the effects of market integration on the ability of farmers in the village of Falealupo, Samoa, to recover from droughts, which have significant consequences for subsistence-based livelihoods. Historically, the capacity to respond to droughts and other environmental events depended on social institutions related to common property management. Over the last fifty years, however, people in rural villages throughout Samoa have increased their participation in the global market and decreased their participation in traditional social institutions. The changing context presents an opportunity to understand the effects of economic development and increased market participation on households and their members when recovering from, and adapting to, environmental events.Using a variety of quantitative and qualitative ethnographic methods, such as semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, questionnaires, and household surveys to produce empirical data and to test hypotheses. The research methods will also be used to document experiences of Samoan villagers recovering from recent droughts and adapting to ecological change. The research will also address the intellectually challenging problem of assessing resilience from an emic (insider) rather than an etic (outside expert) perspective.The research will contribute to the theoretical understanding of the effects of increased market participation on adaptive capacity and perceptions of resilience. The research will also contribute to resilience research methodology by using emic, rather than etic, measurements to define and measure social-ecological resilience, which could inform relief efforts and planning measures in communities facing similar droughts and other environmental events around the globe. Funding this research also contributes to the training of a social scientist.