Doctoral Dissertation Research: Hydropower Development and Indigenous Youth Agency

该项目调查了一个由土著青年领导的社会运动，以保护一个受到水电开发威胁的神圣保护区。在地理学中，关于环境社会运动的重要工作已经完成，特别是在政治生态学的子学科中。然而，土著青年和社交媒体技术在这些运动中的作用相对来说没有得到充分的理论阐述。社交媒体技术和年轻人与之互动的方式正在迅速改变这些运动的组织方式、与国家当局互动的方式以及在国内和国际上建立支持网络的方式。这些互动对于分析边缘化少数群体在与国家谈判其权利时所采用的策略非常重要。该项目的智力价值在于探索土著青年如何通过与国家赞助的水电项目、社交媒体技术和全球土著政治的互动成为政治主体。更具体地说，本研究将探讨三个问题：土著青年如何主张新的政治身份？在水电开发和土著青年活动的交叉点上，开辟了哪些富有成效的政治行动空间？国家主导的技术和本土行动主义如何相互作用和相互适应？这项研究将使用混合方法来回答这些问题-采访政府官员，土著青年（支持和反对水电），对保护区的人种学观察以及参与性纪录片和摄影。将对数据进行分析，以了解国家和非国家行为者意见的分歧和趋同。纪录片项目将提供丰富的视觉资料，以了解保留地的文化生活和土著青年不断变化的政治身份。这项研究将提供宝贵的洞察力青年机构，自然资源的斗争和不断变化的政治身份和边缘化群体的索赔。研究网站设在东喜马拉雅锡金，印度。虽然这项研究是针对特定区域的，但它具有广泛的影响，因为在拉丁美洲、亚洲和非洲的几个不同背景下，土著人和边缘化问题也得到了回应。这项研究的结果将通过这些领域的主要期刊广泛传播给地理学、南亚研究、喜马拉雅研究和政治生态学的学术受众。这些调查结果将与与类似边缘化社区密切合作的环境组织和活动家团体分享。这项研究完成后，视听材料将在当地电影摄影师的帮助下汇编成一部简短的纪录片，并与更广泛的观众分享。研究人员还计划与当地组织密切合作，鼓励在社区内开展视听媒体项目，并将其用作社区成员和其他研究人员的教育和研究工具。由于水电开发的广泛的政治和社会后果，研究人员希望在地方和国家层面上产生政策层面的辩论。在大学内，研究人员计划鼓励参与性的研究方法，使用视觉媒体的本科生和研究生班。最后，作为博士论文研究改进奖，该项目将提供支持，使有前途的学生建立一个独立的研究生涯。

This DDRI project investigates a social movement led by indigenous youth to protect a sacred reserve threatened by hydropower development. Within geography, significant work has been done with regards to environmental social movements especially within the sub-discipline of political ecology. However the role of indigenous youth and social media technology in these movements is relatively under-theorized. Social media technology and the way young people interact with it is rapidly changing how these movements organize, interact with state authorities and build networks of support nationally and internationally. These interactions are important in analyzing strategies employed by marginalized minority groups in negotiating their rights with the state. The intellectual merit of this project lies in its exploration of how indigenous youth become political subjects through their interactions with state sponsored hydropower projects, social media technology and global indigenous politics. More specifically this research will explore three questions: How are indigenous youth asserting new political identities? What productive spaces of political action have opened up at the intersection of hydropower development and indigenous youth activism? How do state-led technology and indigenous activism interact with and adapt to each other? This research will use a mix-methods approach to answer these question- interviews with government officials, indigenous youth (both pro and anti-hydropower), ethnographic observation of the reserve and participatory documentary and photography. Data will be analyzed for the divergence and convergence of opinions of state and non-state actors. The documentary project will provide rich visual data into the cultural life of the reserve and shifting political identities of indigenous youth. This research will offer valuable insight into youth agency, natural resource struggles and shifting political identities and claims of marginalized groups.The research site is based in the Eastern Himalayan state of Sikkim, India. While the research is region specific it has widespread implications as questions of indigeneity and marginalization are being echoed in several different contexts in Latin America, Asia and Africa. Findings from this study will be widely disseminated to academic audiences in Geography, South Asian Studies, Himalayan Studies and Political Ecology through key journals in these fields. These findings will be shared with environmental organizations and activist groups working closely with similarly marginalized communities. Upon completion of this research audio-visual materials will be compiled into a short documentary with the help of a local cinematographer and be shared with broader audiences. The researcher also plans to work closely with local organizations to encourage audio-visual media projects within the community and its use as an educational and research tool for both community members and other researchers. Due to the wide-ranging political and social consequences of hydropower development the researcher hopes to generate policy level debate at both the local and national level. Within the university the researcher plans to encourage participatory research methodologies using visual media for undergraduate and graduate classes. And finally as a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this project will provide support to enable a promising student to establish an independent research career.