Doctoral Dissertation Research: Political Ecologies of Value: Tourism & Social Conflict in Baja California Sur, Mexico

University Of Kentucky Research Foundation, Lexington KY

Investigators

Abstract

University of Kentucky doctoral candidate Ryan Anderson, supervised by Dr. Sarah Lyon, will undertake research on the local ecological effects of conflicts about development projects. Anderson will focus on tensions that may arise between economic values, on the one hand, and moral and cultural values on the others. He will carry out the research on the East Cape of Baja California Sur, Mexico, where preliminary research indicates that a large-scale development project has residents deeply divided. The research is designed to explore connections between the social production of cultural, ethical, and economic value and how people use, understand, exploit, and shape the geographic and ecological spaces in which they live. Anderson will conduct 12 months of ethnographic fieldwork with two communities in the region. He will employ a multi-faceted research design that includes participant observation, open-ended and semi-structured interviews, GPS mapping, and photographic documentation. These data will allow him to 1) document the range of resident responses; 2) understand the relationship between competing social values and design and use of tourism destinations; and 3) and identify connections between the larger political economy of tourism and local impacts on culture, society, and access to critical resources such as public space and water. Findings from this research will contribute to social scientific understanding of how different kinds of values affect and are affected by local economic development projects and tourism projects in particular. In addition to supporting the training of a social scientist, this research will be significant for community members, academics, and policymakers at both the local and global level.