Doctoral Dissertation Research: Intersections of worldviews in the co-management of environmental resources

全世界数以百万计的人依赖于生物多样性的海洋栖息地。这些重要的栖息地受到各种压力，因此正在严重退化。他们应该如何管理？在管理它们的使用和保护它们方面，哪些框架最有效？这项博士论文研究考察了自然资源合作共同管理的政治动态，以及土著和其他框架在推动管理战略方面的交叉。这项研究测试了文化人类学的理论，以了解在动态的生态环境中，与环境的不同关系是如何表达和解决的。它培养了一名科学文化人类学的理论和方法方面的博士论文学生，这部作品将广泛传播给学术和非学术受众。这项研究追求三个目标：1)比较土著和非土著自然资源保护者对人与环境关系的理解；2)检查对关系的不同理解是如何被纳入共同管理政策和实践的；3)检查相关的政治动态。它使用了人种学方法，包括半结构化访谈、参与者观察和社会生态网络分析。这项工作开发了一个新的分析框架，将不同的世界观纳入到人与环境关系的分析中。这项工作还有助于我们了解如何在共同管理安排中优先考虑不同的观点和目标，最终为制定让当地社区参与可持续资源管理的政策提供信息。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。

Millions of people worldwide are dependent on biodiverse marine habitats. These important habitats are subject to a variety of stresses and are thus experiencing severe degradation. How should they be managed? What frameworks are most effective in managing their use and in their conservation? This doctoral dissertation research examines the political dynamics of collaborative co-management of natural resources and the intersections of indigenous and other frameworks in driving management strategies. The research tests theories in cultural anthropology to understand how different relationships with the environment are expressed and resolved in dynamic ecological settings. It trains a doctoral dissertation student in theory and methods in scientific cultural anthropology and the work will be disseminated broadly to academic and non-academic audiences. This research pursues three objectives: 1) to compare understandings of human-environment relationality among indigenous and non-indigenous conservationists; 2) to examine how different understandings of relationality are incorporated into co-management policy and practice; and 3) to examine associated political dynamics. It uses ethnographic methods, including semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and social-ecological network analysis. The work develops a new analytical framework for incorporating different worldviews into the analysis of human-environment relationships. The work also contributes to our knowledge of how different perspectives and objectives are prioritized in co-management arrangements, ultimately informing the development of policy that engages local communities in sustainable resource management.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.