Doctoral Dissertation Research: Cultural Conceptions of the Nature and Management of Solid Waste

固体废物的监测、处理和处置是与经济发展和人口增长相关的许多艰巨挑战之一。 世界各地的废物管理做法差异很大。文化、社会制度、经济、政治，甚至宗教都会影响什么是垃圾，什么样的场地和方法被认为适合垃圾处理，以及如何激励人们遵守法规。适当的废物管理对于维持生态系统服务和保护公众健康至关重要，但成功的解决方案需要的不仅仅是改进的技术。在这个研究项目中，威斯康星州大学的博士生王波在周永明博士的指导下，将成为第一批研究人员之一，研究影响固体废物管理的许多因素如何在非西方背景下聚集在一起。研究人员将前往中国西南部的云南省，在三个地点进行为期12个月的民族志调查：两个山村，旅游和朝圣的神圣宗教场所产生了大量的固体废物，在同一地区，一个新建立的现代垃圾填埋场，雇用了数百名当地人从事这一新行业。在这三个地点，固体废物与人们的日常生活密切相关。 该项目主要依靠参与者的观察和访谈，将阐明（1）游客、朝圣者、政府工作人员以及环境和宗教团体对废物和非废物的看法;（2）废物如何影响圣地和旅游业的划定，以及如何受到圣地和旅游业的划定的影响。 这项研究的结果将有助于发展跨文化有效的理论，说明人类如何理解自己在自然和物质世界中的作用，并为制定有效的全球固体废物管理计划提供急需的信息。

The monitoring, treatment, and disposition of solid waste is one of the many daunting challenges associated with economic development and population growth. Waste management practices vary widely around the world. Culture, social systems, economics, politics, and even religion affect what is classified as waste in the first place, what sites and methods are deemed suitable for waste disposal, and how people can be motivated to comply with regulations. Appropriate waste management is critical to sustaining eco-system services and protecting public health but successful solutions require more than improved technology.In this research project, University of Wisconsin doctoral student Bo Wang, with the guidance of Dr. Yongming Zhou, will become one of the first researchers to look at how the many factors affecting solid waste management come together in a non-Western context. The researcher will travel to Yunnan Province in Southwest China to carry out a 12 month, ethnographic investigation in three sites: two mountain villages where tourism and pilgrimage to a sacred religious site have generated large amounts of solid waste and, in the same region, a newly established modern landfill that employs hundreds of local people in this new industry. In all three sites, solid waste is intimately intertwined with people's daily lives. Relying primarily on participant observation and interviews, the project will elucidate (1) what tourists, pilgrims, government staff, and environmental and religious groups conceive of as waste and not-waste; and (2) how waste affects and is affected by the delineation of sacred sites and tourism. Findings from this research will contribute to developing cross-culturally valid theories of how human beings understand their role in the natural and material world as well as provide critically needed information for the development of effective global programs for solid waste management.