Doctoral Dissertation Research: Evaluating what Factors Contribute to Effectiveness in Heritage Commercialization

遗产商业化经常被作为土著社区发展的一项重要战略加以推广。文化是土著社区减贫的关键资源，这一观点已经变得如此普遍，以至于一些组织，如美国国际开发署，世界银行和美洲开发银行，迫使民族国家参与这些倡议。尽管这些发展计划十分普遍，但目标社区仍然面临着高贫困和脆弱性指数。这项研究旨在了解为什么这种不平等仍然根深蒂固，以及这种根深蒂固的现象在社区之间是如何变化的。该项目培训学生掌握经验性科学数据收集和分析方法，将在三种不同情况下测试目前对这种基于遗产的发展举措的投资是否有助于或阻碍经济福利目标。除了为培训一名人类学研究生提供资金外，该项目还将通过向对发展和减轻贫穷工作感兴趣的组织广泛传播其研究结果来提高科学认识，安娜·哈泽曼将在肯塔基州大学莫妮卡·乌德瓦迪博士的监督下探讨参与遗产商业化和发展工作是否有助于经济福利。这项研究将在位于洪都拉斯西南部的三个Lenca社区进行，选择这些社区是因为它们广泛参与发展倡议。研究员在该区域进行了初步的实地考察，熟悉了国家立法和发展机构，并自2008年以来与当地知情人建立了重要联系。研究员将对每个社区进行长时间访问，在访问期间，她将通过访谈、调查和个人陈述收集信息，以便从经验上探索和确定土著妇女及其社区如何应对和谈判她们参与发展干预措施。这项研究的结果将确定关于遗产和文化的公共政策作为地方发展的驱动力的重要性，这有时是贫穷社区唯一的生存手段。他们还将深入了解当代国家政府和跨国组织的政治和经济议程如何影响对少数民族/少数民族人民，他们的生计和发展的关注程度。

Heritage commercialization has frequently been promoted as a critical strategy for development in indigenous communities. The view that culture is a critical resource for poverty alleviation among indigenous communities has become so widespread that some organizations, such as the U.S. Agency for International Development, the World Bank, and the Inter-American Development Bank, compel nation-states to participate in these initiatives. Despite the prevalence of such development schemes, the communities targeted continue to face high indices of poverty and vulnerability. This research sets out to understand why such inequalities remain entrenched, and how that entrenchment varies among communities. This project, which trains a student in the methods of empirical, scientific data collection and analysis, will test whether current investments in such heritage-based development initiatives contribute to or impede economic welfare objectives in three different contexts. In addition to providing funding for the training of a graduate student in anthropology, the project would enhance scientific understanding by broadly disseminating its findings to organizations interested in development and poverty alleviation efforts.Ana Hasemann, under the supervision of Dr. Monica Udvardy of the University of Kentucky, will explore whether participation in heritage commercialization and development efforts contributes to economic welfare. This research will be conducted in three Lenca communities located in Southwest Honduras, which are chosen because of their extensive participation in development initiatives. The researcher has engaged in preliminary fieldwork in the region, has gained familiarity with national legislation and development bureaucracy, and has acquired significant contacts with local informants since 2008. The researcher will conduct prolonged visits in each community, during which she will collect information through interviews, surveys, and personal narratives, in order to empirically explore and identify how indigenous women and their communities respond to and negotiate their participation in development interventions. Findings from this research will ascertain the importance of public policy on heritage and culture as driving forces in local development, which is sometimes the only means of survival for poor communities. They will also provide insight into how the political and economic agendas of contemporary national governments and transnational organizations influence the degree of attention paid to ethnic/minority peoples, their livelihoods, and their development.