Hydrosocial territories of climate governance: an interdisciplinary examination of the Indigenous-hydropower nexus

该奖项的全部或部分资金来自《2021年美国救援计划法案》(公法117-2)。该奖项是作为NSF的社会、行为和经济学博士后研究奖学金计划(SPRF)的一部分提供的。SPRF计划的目标是为学术界、工业界或私营部门和政府的科学职业生涯培养有前途的、早期职业博士水平的科学家。SPRF奖项包括在知名科学家的赞助下进行两年的培训，并鼓励博士后研究员进行独立研究。国家科学基金会致力于促进科学界所有阶层的科学家参与其研究方案和活动，包括那些来自代表性不足的群体的科学家；博士后阶段被认为是实现这一目标的专业发展的一个重要水平。每个博士后研究员都必须解决推动各自学科领域向前发展的重要科学问题。在北亚利桑那大学Denielle Perry博士的赞助下，这一博士后奖学金奖项支持一位早期职业科学家，在他们通过气候话语的背景下研究土著人民和水电开发的有争议的性质。鉴于水电现在作为全球气候缓解战略的主导作用，以及水电项目对土著人民、他们的土地和文化产生的级联社会生态影响，这项研究势在必行。该项目旨在对土著-水电关系做出更细微的理解，并更广泛地提供更全面的视角，了解多尺度气候治理中的决策过程。具体地说，这一博士后研究项目涉及想象、空间/地点和水社会领域的学术研究，以回答以下问题：土著想象、气候变化话语和水电开发之间的动态互动和反馈是什么？为解决这一问题，该项目在气候和水电会议上以及在拟议的水电项目威胁到土著社区的美国西部地区采用了混合方法、人种学研究。数据收集的方法包括访谈、焦点小组、参与者观察和政策研究。这项研究的结果将被用来直接为政策变化提供实际建议，以制定更公平的气候缓解战略。这一奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This award is funded in whole or in part under the American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 (Public Law 117-2).This award was provided as part of NSF's Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (SPRF) program. The goal of the SPRF program is to prepare promising, early career doctoral-level scientists for scientific careers in academia, industry or private sector, and government. SPRF awards involve two years of training under the sponsorship of established scientists and encourage Postdoctoral Fellows to perform independent research. NSF seeks to promote the participation of scientists from all segments of the scientific community, including those from underrepresented groups, in its research programs and activities; the postdoctoral period is considered to be an important level of professional development in attaining this goal. Each Postdoctoral Fellow must address important scientific questions that advance their respective disciplinary fields. Under the sponsorship of Dr. Denielle Perry at Northern Arizona University, this postdoctoral fellowship award supports an early career scientist investigating the contested nature of Indigenous peoples and hydropower development as they converge through the context of climate discourse. This study is imperative given the dominant role hydropower now plays as a global climate mitigation strategy and the cascading social-ecological impacts that hydropower projects have on Indigenous peoples, their lands, and cultures. This project aims to contribute a more nuanced understanding of this Indigenous-hydropower nexus and more broadly, offer a more complete perspective of decision-making processes within multi-scaler climate governance.Specifically, this postdoctoral research project engages scholarship on imaginaries, space/place, and hydrosocial territories to answer the following question: What are the dynamic interactions and feedbacks between Indigenous imaginaries, climate change discourse, and hydropower development? To address this question, the project employs mixed-methods, ethnographic research at climate and hydropower conferences, as well as in the Western United States where proposed hydropower projects threaten Indigenous communities. Methods for data collection include interviews, focus groups, participant observation, and policy research. The results of this study will be used to directly inform practical suggestions for policy changes to develop more equitable climate mitigation strategies.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.