Doctoral Dissertation Research: Miskitu Governance and Forestry in Alamikamba, Nicaragua

University Of Texas At Austin, Austin TX

Investigators

Abstract

In many parts of the world, changes in economic activity associated with the continued growth and interconnection of global markets have had profound impacts on local residents. For some groups of people, globally oriented economic activity has created new opportunities; for others, the forces of change have been adverse. In nearly every case, changing economic systems have been accompanied by changes in the social, cultural, and political milieu within which the groups have operated. This doctoral dissertation research project will examine the resiliency and change in a Miskitu logging village in the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) of Nicaragua as it engages in increasing rates of harvesting for the global lumber market. While Nicaragua has some of the most advanced indigenous self-determination legislation in the Americas, violations of cultural and land rights remain commonplace due to the institutional, economic, ecological, and political landscape. As in numerous other locations, increasing multinational extraction and processes of political decentralization have resulted in extensive shifts in socially and politically constructed identities at multiple scales. This research will investigate the structure and function of municipal, regional, national, and global institutions that influence lumber extraction from the village of Alamikamba. At the core of this investigation will be the village Elder Council, a traditional but dynamic institution for resource management. Some local actors recently became conduits through which multinational companies expand forest extraction from communal indigenous land, while other community members opposed these same forces. While sensitive to heterogeneity within Alamikamba, this study questions prevailing academic assumptions that decentralized decision making inherently fosters empowerment and local control. To achieve this goal, this project will combine archival, survey, interview, ethnographic (field walks, oral histories, participant observation), and community mapping methods. Documentation of the Elder Council and wider village decision-making processes will amplify understanding of indigenous self-governance and community-based forest management, including the administration of common property land and resources. The comparison of Nicaragua with other decentralizing, multiethnic countries in the hemisphere, such as Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Mexico, and Panama, will provide valuable contributions to development and resource management theory. Through the examination of a village on the forest extraction frontier, which is similar to many other internal colonization fronts in Latin America, the research will demonstrate processes of transition in decision-making, power, and governance that broadly influence the local ecology and indigenous cultures. By analyzing the devolution of environmental management authority, this project will further strengthen networks between geography and related fields such as political science, policy studies, development studies, and rural sociology. As a Doctoral Dissertation Research Improvement award, this award also will provide support to enable a promising student to establish a strong independent research career.