This is a clear and comprehensive summary of the course 'Communities, Conservation & Development' of Wageningen University. It has a total of 15 pages, encompassing all the relevant information of the lectures and articles in a clear and easy-to-understand overview.
Good luck with studying!
Communities, Conservation and Development -
Lectures
Key concepts
Origin of conservation
- The term ‘nature conservation’ came about in the 19th century
o There were more mobility options | better education | people had more free time
o Yellowstone model → creating landscapes of purpose
▪ (most) indigenous people out, white people in for (trophy) hunting or science
▪ Areas were used for production or conservation (wildlife tourism)
▪ Strict protection using fines and fences
o The Yellowstone model became a blueprint for nature conservation in the (especially
colonial) world
o Other forms of conservation: community-based conservation, species protection
(zoo’s), and nature-inclusive agriculture
Social theory key concepts
- Human-Environment Relations (HER) = research aiming to understand Ontology is not the same
how humans perceive, use, and modify their environment, and how as world view, since
environmental changes affect human responses
ontologies all consider a
- Paradigm = a basic belief system
o Guides disciplined inquiry | can encompass more than one specific different ‘world’, instead
form of explanation | has some fundamental elements of them being views on
o Fundamental elements of a paradigm: the same world
▪ Ontology – the nature of being/reality
▪ Epistemology – the nature of knowledge (e.g. objectivism vs subjectivism)
▪ Axiology – the nature of values and valuing
▪ Methodology – the prescribed way in which knowledge is accrued (e.g.
experimental)
Community-based conservation
- CBC emerged in the last 20-30 years. Roots:
o Call for social justice and environmental management
▪ More awareness/attention (in the West) for the theft of land from indigenous
people
▪ Indigenous people got to manage the environment they helped create through
their activities (hunting or whatever)
o Communities have more interest/knowledge/skill regarding nature management
o Neo-liberalism (states: “a part of tourism money should go to the locals because of
their agency in environmental management”)
o Coalition between locals and the ‘green movement’ (NGO’s) in 80s/90s
▪ In last decade it has been given extra strength through social media
- Clashes between small conservation (locals communities) and big conservation (ministries,
donor, INGOs like WWF) over CBC
o Big conservation: preservation oriented (strict protection, no touching just observing)
o Small conservation: situated decision-making, invisible to non-engaged, no office
, Euro-American and Non-Euro-American environmental narratives
- One of the oldest pieces of literature (the epic of Gilgamesh) is about servant Gilgamesh who
wants to solidify his name by ‘destroying the evil’, which entails going to a forest to cut down
trees and use those for building cities
- Nature-culture dualities are deeply ingrained in the Western world and can be traced back to
any era of Western history (comparison to palimpsest: reused piece of parchment carrying a
writing)
- We romanticize ‘the wild’ and ‘nature’, but it is only when you live with nature and
experience the limitations of comfort that you understand your relationship with the
environment
- The White Man’s Burden: celebration of colonialism, building god’s empire on earth with
whites. The white man’s burden knows two great divides: between themselves and nature, and
between themselves and groups of people who do not see themselves as separate from nature
- Ways how divides between the Western and Non-Western play out:
o Societal progress
▪ When encountering indigenous communities, we project our Western
blueprint framework of societal development (hunters → pastorialism →
farming → urban civilization) on them
▪ The Western world views technological progress as an important driver for
overall social advancement → we thus assume that indigenous communities
are ‘underdeveloped’
o Generalization
▪ Westerners forget to look at the variance and differences within groups/areas
o Self-absorption Native American philosopher ‘Kondiaronk’
▪ Westerners are so occupied with their when the French came to bring Christianity:
own history, and learn about all famous “this whole system of Christianity wouldn’t be
Western philosophers but not about necessary if there wasn’t at the same time this
Non-Western historical figures, other system at play that encourages to behave
meanwhile many aspects of our thinking badly (greed, self-interest, etc.).” This opinion
come from other parts of the world became popular in Western literature.
- Non-Western perspectives are very plural and diverse, but a common feature is animism
o Natural phenomena have awareness and feelings, and can communicate with humans |
no universal gods, but local beings | no barrier between humans and other beings | no
strict hierarchy
o For Amerindians, plants and animals are transformed humans (so first human and then
animal, instead of the other way around as evolution suggests) → the Shamans have
constant contact with the plant/animal spirits which may teach/protect/punish/etc.
- Non-Western ontologies are often embodied in everyday behaviour and activities (e.g.
following a certain diet, thanking, sacrificing), whereas this is not so much the case with
Western ontologies
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