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I am a cultural anthropologist specializing in ecological and environmental anthropology. Currently, I am working in the Graduate School of the University of Georgia to advance interdisciplinary and innovative efforts in graduate education, and this year we launched an interdisciplinary doctoral program in Integrative Conservation. I also work with the Center for Integrative Conservation Research (CICR) at UGA. My work at CICR examines the role of the social sciences in informing and driving conservation decision-making and explores how integrative approaches can improve conservation practice. My dissertation research centered on the implementation of the European Union's Habitats Directive in the French Basque province of Xiberoa (Soule). This directive creates a pan-European network of sites, Natura 2000, to be managed for ecological, social, and economic sustainability. Up to this point, however, it has been strongly resisted by local land mangers and resource users. My dissertation explains the context of that resistance, discusses the particularities of implementing a conservation project in an area with a strong common property regime, and examines conceptualizations of success among various actors. This project forms part of a collaboration between the Coweeta Long-Term Ecological Research site and the Identités, Territoires, Expressions, Mobilités lab at the University of Pau. My research interests include political ecology, politics and production of knowledge, collective management of common-pool resources, and conservation policy and practice. I have conducted research in Costa Rica, Uganda, the southeastern United States, and France, and will soon be working in Peru. I am also planning a collaborative project with ecologist Dr. Krista Jacobsen to study how the farmers of Xiberoa are adapting their agricultural and pastoral practices to their changing environmental and social contexts, particularly declining populations, changing policy terrain, and climate change. |
Center for Integrative Conservation Research American Anthropological Association Ecological and Environmental Anthropology |
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