Doctoral Dissertation Research: Changes in Land Ownership and Social Adaptation in Pastoral Communities

Changes in land ownership significantly impact pastoralist and agricultural communities across the world. This doctoral dissertation examines how communities adapt not just to environmental and resource effects but also to the social changes that accompany changes in land ownership. The investigators specifically study the various social networks and other mechanisms that pastoralist communities utilize as their societies move from conditions of communal to individual land ownership. The research trains a graduate student in scientific data collection and analysis and broadens the participation of underrepresented communities in science. Research findings will be shared through scientific publications and with policymakers to help develop sustainable and robust land management practices. To understand the impacts of land ownership on social connections, social cooperation, and local resource management, the investigators use both qualitative and quantitative data collection. This includes interviews, surveys, and group discussions. The data will be analyzed to test for various categories of demographic variability in adaptation and social resilience. The research results contribute to the science of resource and land management, environmental anthropology, and social adaptations to environmental change. 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.