Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Community-Based Research Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Community-Based Research

Socio-Economic Resilience Of Natural Resource Dependent Communities, Gabrielle Sherman Aug 2022

Socio-Economic Resilience Of Natural Resource Dependent Communities, Gabrielle Sherman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Resilience is described as the ability of a system to absorb shocks and stressors while retaining functionality. Within the context of communities, shocks may consist of disruptive events such as recession, natural disaster, local losses of industry, and social unrest. Resilience therefore is the ability of a community to continuously support human well-being in the aftermath of such an event. Although it is observable that certain communities perform this function better than others following a shock, no exact measurement of resilience exists. Instead, its presence is implied through the measurement of proxies known to contribute to socio-economic condition as well …


Climate Care: Pathways For Coastal Community Resilience, Jessica Reilly-Moman Dec 2021

Climate Care: Pathways For Coastal Community Resilience, Jessica Reilly-Moman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Climate change increasingly impacts coasts worldwide. The ability of coastal ecosystems and the human communities who are part of them to absorb disturbance and maintain function or transform, or resilience, is of critical importance to managing these impacts. However, to date, climate resilience largely has focused on biophysical impacts and technocratic solutions, while issues of social and environmental justice and human well-being become more acute and entrenched. Consequently, I ask: How can coastal communities cope with climate change? To answer this question, I leverage traditional, emergent, and novel social research methods in Mexico, Central America, and Maine. Using ethnography, interviews, …


Social-Ecological Heterogeneity Shapes Resilience Of Small-Scale Fisheries: An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of The Mexican Chocolate Clam Fishery In Loreto, Mexico, Kara E. Pellowe Aug 2019

Social-Ecological Heterogeneity Shapes Resilience Of Small-Scale Fisheries: An Interdisciplinary Analysis Of The Mexican Chocolate Clam Fishery In Loreto, Mexico, Kara E. Pellowe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

All benefits provided by natural systems are embedded within coupled social-ecological systems (SESs). Fisheries are clear examples of SESs: through fishing, humans affect ecosystem structure and functioning, and in turn, receive benefits, including sustenance, employment, and cultural value. Resilience, the ability to maintain structure and function in the face of change, is key to sustaining the social and ecological components of fisheries-related SESs and their interactions. Many factors contribute to resilience, including heterogeneity. By identifying heterogeneity in these complex systems, we are better able to understand the capacity of fishery-related SESs to adapt to change, and contribute to management that …


Grassroots Diplomacy And Vernacular Law: The Discourse Of Food Sovereignty In Maine, John Welton May 2017

Grassroots Diplomacy And Vernacular Law: The Discourse Of Food Sovereignty In Maine, John Welton

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis studies the discourse of food sovereignty in Maine, a coalition of small-scale farmers, consumers, and citizens building an alternative food system based on a distributed form of production, processing, selling, purchasing, and consumption. This distribution occurs at the municipal level through the enactment of ordinances. Using critical-rhetorical field methods, I argue that the discourse of food sovereignty in Maine develops a ‘constitutive’ rhetoric that composes rural society through affective relationships. Advocates engage the industrial food system to both expose its systemic bias against small-scale farming and construct their own discourse of belonging. Based upon agrarian values such as …