Nature and Society Relations Commons^™

Casual Killing In The Home: Ecological Citizenship And The Micro-Geopolitics Of Mosquito Cohabitation, Orlando Woods, Junxi Qian

Research Collection College of Integrative Studies

This article explores how the visceral acts of being bitten by and killing mosquitoes can underpin the formation of ecological citizenship. This form of citizenship is premised on human-nature entanglement and raises questions concerning how the rights and responsibilities stemming from such entanglement become distributed across the public and private domains. As a space in which mosquito cohabitation is contested daily, the home is a key site through which ecological citizenship can be forged and theoretical debates concerning urban political ecology can be extended. Human-mosquito entanglements in the home can reveal the limits of public pest management strategies, the partiality …

Planification Against Extractivism: Towards A Democratic Agroecological Planification Against Agrarian Capitalism In A Estrada (Galicia, Spain), Jacobo Rivas Sanmartín, Rubén Camilo Lois González, Paula Noya Vázquez

Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis

This article analyses the expansion of vineyards in the parish of San Xiao de Vea, in the municipality of A Estrada (Galicia, Spain), as a concrete manifestation of extractive agrarian restructuring under contemporary capitalism. Drawing on land-use data, socio-metabolic indicators, and qualitative testimonies, it shows how financialization, speculative land practices, and state selectivity reorganize rural space, degrade mixed farming systems, and intensify contradictions between capital accumulation and the ecological and social conditions of reproduction. The article argues that existing green planning frameworks, shaped by market logics and technocratic indicators, are structurally incapable of confronting these dynamics. As an alternative, it …

Tracing The Flow Of Value In Ecotourism: A Case Study Of Lekki Conservation Center, Lagos, Nigeria, Queen Oluwatobi Olafadehan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study examines the flow of value in ecotourism at Lekki Conservation Center (LCC) in Lagos, Nigeria, using a political ecology framework to analyze how economic benefits, participation opportunities, and environmental impacts are distributed among different community groups. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with 16 community members, participant observation, and photographic documentation, the study investigates how surrounding communities perceive and experience ecotourism, how revenue is understood to be distributed, and in what ways communities are included in or excluded from conservation decision-making. The findings reveal that ecotourism at LCC generates benefits that are unevenly distributed, that community participation in governance remains …

Urban Sacred Grove: A Visioning For Collective Care, Preservation, Environmental Justice, And Resilience, Oluwadara A. Ojugbele

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

My capstone explores how the concept of sacred groves—a community-based practice of conserving forest areas for cultural, spiritual, or religious purposes—can be reimagined as a framework for urban environmental stewardship and community care. Sacred groves have historically varied across time and place but consistently serve as protected spaces that honor divine forces, ancestors, and community values. In the Yoruba context, groves demarcate lush forests as abodes for oriṣas (divine forces) and spiritual beings, often containing shrines and artifacts that embody cultural beliefs. My capstone draws on the sacred grove concept and aims to illustrate how urban communities might adopt sacred …

Erosion And Accretion: Mobilities Of Sand, People, And Memory At Queer Riis Beach, Jah Elyse Sayers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The People’s Beach at Jacob Riis Park on the Rockaway Peninsula of Queens, New York, is a vibrant place of queer and trans public-space placemaking—and especially Black and working class queer and trans placemaking. A distinct queer ecology emerges in the interplay of the dynamic movement of the barrier island, queer and trans—especially queer and trans Afro-diasporic—mobilities. This queer ecology, while articulated with, also defies and exceeds logics and workings of private property. In response to a convergence of pressures on Black, queer, trans, and working-class placemaking on the beach site in the 2020s, beachgoers have mobilized longstanding provisional socialities …

A Pedra Da Aldeia: Reativações Waiwai Entre A Antropologia E A Arqueologia De Longa Duração, Carlos Machado Dias Jr., Kanhera Renato Xerew, Alexandre Aniceto Souza, Jaime Xamen Wai Wai, Justino Sarmento Rezende, Claide De Paula Moraes

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

O artigo analisa um episódio ocorrido na comunidade waiwai do Jatapuzinho, na Terra Indígena Trombetas-Mapuera, envolvendo o encontro do professor Renato Kanhera Waiwai com um antigo Pote de Pedra encontrado às margens do rio Jatapuzinho durante um período de estiagem. A partir de uma experiência etnográfica conduzida pelo próprio Kanhera, os autores refletem sobre os efeitos cosmopolíticos, históricos e ontológicos mobilizados pelo artefacto, articulando antropologia, arqueologia e perspectivas indígenas em um exercício de escrita coletiva. O texto argumenta que o Pote de Pedra não constitui apenas um vestígio arqueológico, mas um agente ativo na reativação de memórias, sonhos, narrativas e …

On The Brink Of Silence: Ethnographic Perspectives On Hunting And Forest Life Among The Awa Guajá In Eastern Amazonia, Uirá Garcia

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

The central theme of this article basically resides in the relationship established by indigenous peoples between their hunting practices and the forest. Indigenous ways of connecting ‘hunting’ and ‘forest’ necessarily pass through other modes of knowing, only marginally – if it all – dependent on vision. On the contrary, sounds, smells and even dreams are, for many South American indigenous collectives, more trustworthy indices than what the eye sees. This article divides into two parts. In the first, I set out the main ideas related to the anthropological study of hunting in Amazonia at a conceptual level. In the second, …

El Amor En Los Tiempos Del Caucho. Pactos Matrimoniales Y Trabajo Coercitivo Entre Awajún Y Patrones En La Amazonía Peruana, Silvia Romio

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Este trabajo presenta un análisis etnohistórico de los cambios en la jefatura awajún del Alto Marañón a inicios del siglo XX, centrándose en sus relaciones de dependencia, poder y trabajo forzoso con los comerciantes mestizos, en su mayoría patrones del caucho establecidos en la zona. El ensayo describe la transformación gradual de las relaciones cotidianas con estos foráneos, quienes pasaron de ser simples aliados comerciales a convertirse en capitanes y, finalmente, en yernos-patrones mediante el matrimonio con una o más hijas del jefe indígena. A través de la figura del yerno-patrón, se produjo una progresiva incorporación del “blanco” a …

Tùn-Scene And A-Futurism: Biomythography, Opacity, And Posthuman Imagination, Minglu Du

Masters Theses

Grounded in the author’s position as a Chinese feminist, this thesis examines how East Asian women, as well as East Asian-coded femininity more broadly, are objectified and othered within futurist visual culture in the age of artificial intelligence. Through an engagement with ornamentalism, techno-Orientalism, and posthumanism1 , it argues that the persistent figure of the feminized humanoid cyborg continues to reproduce colonial and patriarchal structures of desire, rendering marginalized bodies as fetishized and violable surfaces. In response, the thesis develops Tùn-Scene, a biomythographic artistic framework and the first experiment in what the author provisionally names A-Futurism. Drawing on Donna Haraway’s …

Building Collaborative Capacity For Coexistence With The Montana Beaver Working Group, Shane Randle

Graduate Student Portfolios, Professional Papers, and Capstone Projects

Despite beavers’ recent surge in popularity, prevailing negative attitudes and the persistence of beaver removal practices remain obstacles for those advocating living with beavers. The Montana Beaver Working Group (BWG) advances beavers’ role in ecological and community resilience through members’ collaborative efforts, including beaver-related restoration and conflict resolution projects. Bringing together people with diverse values and perspectives, the BWG builds collective understanding, develops a holistic vision for beavers in Montana, and supports members in pursuing it. As the group’s impacts and membership have grown, so too has their need to adapt. For my Civic Engagement Project, I strengthened the BWG’s …

On The Paleontology Of Belize, Alson Ovando

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Paleontology can be considered an underrepresented and emerging area of science in Belize. A primary aim of this thesis is to provide a background of paleontology in Belize and present the first comprehensive study of Quaternary vertebrate fossils known from the country. Quaternary fossil sites across Belize include caves, rivers, and sinkholes. In addition to reviewing and assessing material from known sites, this thesis presents new information and discoveries that were made while investigating Belize’s Quaternary fossil record. This thesis also includes a geospatial model depicting ecoregions in Belize during the last glacial maximum. Overall, the results presented here demonstrate …

Toward An Integrative Anthropological Ecology; Pluralism, Power, And Socioecological Futures, Komang Ariyanto

Wacana, Journal of the Humanities of Indonesia

No abstract provided.

Below The Rows, Beyond The Roots: An Art Exhibition Depicting Agriculture Across The Globe, Maggie Enoch

Honors Theses and Capstones

In Below the Rows, Beyond the Roots, artist Maggie Enoch creates multimedia works inspired by her exposure to diverse agricultural systems and perspectives while studying geography and sustainable agriculture/food systems around the world. By integrating complex histories with the contemporary realities of farming, Maggie paints vivid pictures of the power of food in this five-piece exhibition.

Cultivating Diversity In Sustainable Food Systems: Black Farming And Lived Experience In Rural Southern Ontario, Kadeem Jerofy Morgan-Adamson Mr.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

This research examines the lived experiences of Black food growers in rural Southern Ontario to understand how their perspectives challenge dominant narratives of rurality and inform broader discussions on food sovereignty in Canada. Grounded in postcolonial theory, the study highlights how historical dispossession and persistent inequities shape the access of Black communities to land and resources. Using a mixed-methods approach that includes surveys, semi-structured interviews, and reflexive journaling within a community-based research framework, the study documents the barriers Black food growers face. These include limited land access, insufficient funding, inadequate training pathways, and experiences of racial isolation in rural contexts. …

Repairing Estranged Death: Care, Politics And Ecology In The Us Funeral Industry, Cecilia Catherine Rodriguez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The industrialization of death practices in the US has separated humanity from natural cycles while centering white settler colonial norms that marginalize other cultural ways of caring for the dead. Through necropolitics, the contemporary death industry embodies capitalist values of commodification and a monopolization of care, separating death from community and its ecological cycles. Black and Indigenous feminist knowledges understand death as not a discrete event but instead as an ongoing process that shapes our relationships with both the human and more-than-human worlds. Engaging with feminist political ecologies, I extend a conversation about care and repair to contemporary death practices …

Perceptions And Metaperceptions Of Bison In The West, Riley Rush Comstock

Undergraduate Theses, Professional Papers, and Capstone Artifacts

Effective coexistence between wildlife populations and the people that live with them requires an understanding of how people feel toward the species and their management. Bison occupy a unique place in conservation history and management. Once extirpated across nearly all of their range and only recently introduced to areas outside of large tracts of federal land, they are now a jurisdictionally challenged species, with varying management paradigms across a patchwork of landowners and managers. Recent research has shown how activating different social identities can distort people’s attitudes toward species. Here, I explore whether activating urban and rural identities distorts people’s …

Mountain Communities During A Time Of War: A Case Study Of The Hutsul Region In The Carpathian Mountains Of Ukraine, Pavlo Rybaruk

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis investigates the ethno-ecological technologies employed by the Hutsul people within the highland agrarian economy of the Carpathian Mountains. Over centuries, the Hutsuls have developed ethno-ecological technologies that maintain ecological integrity while supporting community livelihoods.

The study addresses three primary research questions: What are the most important ethno-ecological technologies of the Hutsul highland economy? How might these traditional ethno-ecological practices be applied to economic, agricultural, and tourism development in the Hutsul region? How might these traditional ethno-ecological practices be combined with contemporary approaches to encourage sustainable development in the region?

The research explores the devastating impact of the Russian …

Ädeeja: Origem Dos Alimentos Cultivados E Práticas Alimentares Ye’Kwana, Viviane Cajusuanaima Rocha (Povo Ye’Kwana)

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

O artigo explora a ligação entre a cosmologia do povo Ye’kwana e suas práticas alimentares tradicionais, com base no conceito central de ädeeja, que representa os alimentos cultivados. Esse termo abrange mais do que a ideia de comida — ele carrega uma dimensão cosmológica e relacional, conectando humanos, espíritos, plantas e o território. Está ligado a uma rede de relações entre humanos, espíritos vegetais e saberes ancestrais. Representa a comida como elo com o cosmos, reforçando a interdependência entre os seres. Minha análise mostra que, para os Ye’kwana, alimentar-se é um ato cósmico, enraizado em narrativas, cantos e relações …

Prosperando Con Otros: Paisajes Multiespecie Y Producción De Alimentos En El Caribe Colombiano, América Larraín

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Este artículo es resultado de un proyecto de investigación asociado a la producción de alimentos en una comunidad arhuaca en las tierras bajas de la Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Se describen algunas experiencias de la implementación del proyecto, destacando los aspectos relacionados con la articulación entre las técnicas derivadas de la agroacuicultura integrada y la cosmovisión arhuaca. Con este artículo, se espera contribuir a la reflexión sobre cómo las cosmologías indígenas se materializan en prácticas concretas, que en este caso específico podrían pensarse en el marco de lo que se ha llamado el Buen Vivir.

As Donas Do Fogo: Parentesco, Práticas Alimentares E Luta Pela Terra Entre Os Kaiowa E Guarani, Lauriene Seraguza Olegário E Souza

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

Os Guarani e Kaiowa apresentam uma relação sofisticada entre as práticas alimentares e a recuperação de territórios tradicionais em Mato Grosso do Sul (Brasil), protagonizada cotidianamente por mulheres indígenas. As mulheres guarani e kaiowa consideram o fogo como uma referência da casa de residência de um núcleo familiar e a palavra se apresenta como potência em seu fazer político. Elas são as “donas do fogo”. Compartilhando suas próprias substâncias corporais e acumulando aprendizados adquiridos no cuidado com pessoas mais velhas da parentela, as mulheres reúnem um conjunto próprio de conhecimentos e ocupam posição de reconhecido destaque no parentesco guarani, habilitando-as …

The Matter Of Production And Forms Of Sharing: Transformations Of Food Economies In Lowland South America, Clarice Cohn, Diego Madi Dias, Adriana Athila

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This special issue of Tipití presents a critical examination of ‘food economies’ and their transformations within Indigenous communities in Lowland South America. Stemming from seminal ideas in its Anthropology that directly or indirectly discuss ‘food’ (and much of what goes along with it), this edited volume focuses on the materiality of relations as a strategic lens for understanding contemporary Indigenous lives and their transformations, according to how they are perceived by Indigenous peoples themselves and others such as health care professionals and the state. The articles explore how Indigenous foodways—from acquisition to consumption, including sharing and distribution—reveal key aspects …

Fermentative Processes Of The Agricultural Food System In The Upper Rio Negro: Ethnographic Notes On Feminine Knowledge, Intention, And Agency In The Production Of Fermented Beverages, Lorena França

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article examines the fermentative processes at the core of the agricultural food system of the Upper Rio Negro, northwestern Amazon, highlighting women’s technical and social agency in the production of fermented beverages such as caxiri. Based on ethnographic fieldwork conducted among Baniwa and Tukano families between 2018 and 2019, the study explores how fermentation constitutes not merely a biochemical transformation of matter but a sociotechnical language through which women express intention, alliance, and distinction. The paper analyzes in detail two cases of caxiri preparation, showing how women’s manipulation of manioc, tubers, saliva, and utensils configures embodied knowledge transmitted …

El Sistema Nainu De Agricultura Familiar: Semillas De La Memoria Social Y De La Autonomía Alimentaria En Gunayala (Panamá), Lenín Alfonso Morales, Geodisio Castillo, Diego Madi Dias

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

La presente investigación examina el sistema agroforestal familiar (nainu) del pueblo gunadule como un tejido de resistencia social, espiritual y ecológica frente a los procesos históricos y actuales de desposesión territorial y colapso climático. A partir de un enfoque etnográfico basado en métodos participativos y epistemologías indígenas, se analizan las prácticas, conocimientos y relaciones que sostienen la autonomía alimentaria y la regeneración del territorio en Gunayala. El estudio documenta los impactos de la transferencia tecnológica, la expansión de semillas híbridas y transgénicas, identificados como amenazas centrales para la continuidad de los cultivos tradicionales y la salvaguardia de semillas …

Rewilding The Built Environment: Navigating Economic, Political, And Social Barriers To Urban Ecological Restoration, Carly E. Smith

PANDION: The Osprey Journal of Research and Ideas

Urban rewilding offers a nature-based approach to restoring ecological processes in cities while advancing climate resilience, biodiversity, and public well-being. Unlike conventional green infrastructure, rewilding allows ecosystems to develop with minimal intervention, emphasizing succession, complexity, and long-term adaptability. This paper examines the political, economic, and social factors that frame how rewilding is understood and implemented in urban planning. Governmental frameworks often prioritize order, predictability, and short-term results, making it difficult to accommodate the uncertainty and ecological complexity that rewilding requires. Economic models struggle to capture its long-term value, frequently overlooking ecosystem services or reconciling competing land uses. Social perceptions of …

A Cultural Mapping Of Local Knowledge For Flood And Landslide Mitigation In The Sendi Community, Mojokerto, East Java, Ahmad Mujahid Arrozy Arz, Abyoso Romadhoni Wicaksono Arw, Kusuma Sabrina Wardhani Skw, Lora Septrianda Putri

Masyarakat: Jurnal Sosiologi

This article investigated the irrigation sustainability and landslide prevention in the Sendi community, Mojokerto, East Java, by applying a cultural mapping approach to examine everyday practices through which local knowledge was enacted and produced, while linking the analysis to broader structural formations. The approach informed a participatory data collection process, that is also designed to protect the intangible cultural heritage of the community. The findings demonstrated how everyday practices function as an integral component of flood and landslide mitigation. This knowledge has been passed down through community archives since 1915 and included practices, such as planting local crops (bamboos and …

Rhetorics Of Encounter: Toward A Biocentric Theory Of Discourse, Matthew D. Whitaker

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

Encounters with more-than-human identities are transformative moments that stand to affect dispositional and bodily change in individuals. From close brushes with wild animals in National Parks to everyday interactions with local ecologies, encounters invite us to feel and think differently about the nature of our realities. In Rhetorics of Encounter: Toward a Biocentric Theory of Discourse, I draw from interdisciplinary perspectives to disrupt the idea of rhetoric as a representational medium, arguing that rhetoric occurs not just through textual exchanges of words and symbols, but through embodied moments of contact with other responsive beings. Invoking George Kennedy’s theory …

Living Heritage, Resilience And Ethically Informed Infrastructures In Malawi, Martha B. Lerski, Frank Puluputu Mwale

Publications and Research

Rooted in a rural community’s needs, this paper explores how historically, and ethically informed infrastructures can support community engagement towards identification, documentation, and dissemination of local, traditional, and indigenous knowledge relating to climate change. The paper examines climate adaptation and sustainability issues through the lenses of community organizing and Library & Information Science best practices. It draws on a growing body of literature identifying a role for expanded epistemological and subject discipline perspectives. While the impacts of climate on material culture are increasingly recognized, intangible, and biocultural heritage have not received as much attention. Living heritage traditions and knowledge systems …

Do Myths Ever Die? Social-Cultural Changes And Mythical Transformations In Indigenous Amazonia: A Dialogue With Peter Gow, Aparecida M. N. Vilaça

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This is the first Peter Gow Memorial Lecture, given at the University of St Andrews in February 2024. Based on the analysis of different versions of Wari’ myths (Rondônia, Brazil) collected over forty years, the paper has two central objectives. The first is to engage with Peter Gow’s analysis of the mythical transformations resulting from the historical changes experienced by the Piro/Yine Indigenous people of Peru. The second is to discuss Lévi-Strauss’s suggestion that a myth can “die” after successive transformations, exhausting itself, taking the form of romantic tale or legendary tradition.

An X-Ray Of Mẽbêngôkre Houses In Terms Of Matrimonial Alliance, Vanessa R. Lea, Leandro Mahalem De Lima

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

This article examines the matrimonial implications of the Houses, or matrihouses, of the Mẽtyktire subgroup of the Mẽbêngôkre (Kayapó-Jê) with the assistance of Puck (Program for the Use and Computation of Kinship Data) and Pajek software. In accordance with the greater legibility of graphics, statistical results have been converted into graphics whenever possible. The analysis is based on a revised version of a dataset spanning the years 1978 to 1982 and published on the site Kinsources. What began as a village census later morphed into genealogies, which served as the basis for the digital dataset. The matrihouses …

Ser Nhande’I Va’E, Da Concepção Aos Primeiros Passos: Uma Abordagem Etnográfica Sobre A Permanência, O Movimento E A Palavra, Maria Inês Ladeira

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

O evento do nascimento, assim como os ritos de passagem, são temas recorrentes na literatura etnográfica, com destaque aos resguardos, condutas e preceitos. Neste artigo, ao versar sobre o ato de nascer, refiro-me a alguns princípios referenciados na cosmologia guarani, na qual esse acontecimento é também um marcador – marco espaço/temporal – dos lugares habitados – isto é, ação de territorialização. Determinadas condutas pré e pós-parto são fundamentais para os Guarani Mbya e os Ava Guarani se socializarem com os demais viventes nas matas/terras que conformam seu território (Yvyrupa). A partir desse prisma, ressalto algumas propriedades e combinações …