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Browsing by Author "Agrawal, Arun"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
  • Agrarian environments: resources, representations, and rule in India
    Agrawal, Arun; Sivaramakrishnan, K. (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2000)
  • Communities and the environment: Ethnicity, gender, and the state in community-based conservation
    Agrawal, Arun; Gibson, Clark C. (New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 2001)
    This book investigates the connection between community and resource conservation and management, with strong consideration of concepts of "community" and the impact of gender. The connection between ethnicity and the state is explored in order to examine the strengths and weaknesses of community resource management.
  • Dismantling the divide between indigenous and scientific knowledge
    Agrawal, Arun (Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers, 1995)
    In the past few years scholarly discussions have characterized indigenous knowledge as a significant resource for development. This article interrogates the concept of indigenous knowledge and the strategies its advocates present to promote development. The article suggests that both the concept of indigenous knowledge and its role in development, are problematic issues as currently conceptualized. To productively engage indigenous knowledge in development, we must go beyond the dichotomy of indigenous vs. scientific, and work towards greater autonomy for "indigenous" peoples.
  • Enchantment and disenchantment: The role of community in natural resource conservation
    Agrawal, Arun; Gibson, Clark C. (Elsevier, 1999)
    The poor conservation outcomes that followed decades of intrusive resource management strategies and planned development have forced policy makers and scholars to reconsider the role of community in resource use and conservation. In a break from previous work on development which considered communities a hindrance to progressive social change, current writings champion the role of community in bringing about decentralization, meaningful participation, and conservation. But despite its recent popularity, the concept of community is rarely defined or carefully examined by those concerned with resource use and management. We seek to redress this omission by investigating "community" in work concerning resource conservation and management. We explore the conceptual origins of the community, and the ways the term has been deployed in writings on resource use. We then analyze those aspects of community most important to advocates for community's role in resource management - community as a small spatial unit, as a homogeneous social structure, and as shared norms - and indicate the weaknesses of these approaches. Finally, we suggest a more political approach: community must be examined in the context of development and conservation by focusing on the multiple interests and actors within communities, on how these actors influence decision-making, and on the internal and external institutions that shape the decision-making process. A focus on institutions rather than "community" is likely to be more fruitful for those interested in community-based natural resource management. (Cab Abstract)
  • Environmentality: Technologies of Government and the Making of Systems
    Agrawal, Arun (Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2005)
    This book looks at the changes in government policy towards environmental protection and the related shift that occurs in the local population towards environmental practices and beliefs. The institutionalization of environmental regulation and then the transfer of responsibility for environmental governance from central government to local government results in the development of an environmental identity wherein local government recognizes the need of local residents to utilize natural resources, and governs to that need, and residents recognize the need to ensure sustainability of those resources for their own long-term economic viability and that of future generations.
  • Explaining success on the commons: Community forest governance in the Indian Himalaya
    Agrawal, Arun; Chhatre, A. (Elsevier B.V., 2006)
    This paper addresses gaps in theory and knowledge by conducting a statistical analysis of 95 cases of decentralized, community-based, forest governance in Himachal Pradesh, and showing how a range of causal influences shape forest conditions in diverse ecological and institutional settings in the Indian Himalaya.
  • Forest commons and local enforcement
    Chhatre, A.; Agrawal, Arun (Washington, D.C.: National Academy of Sciences, 2008)
    Using a long range International Forestry Research Institute (IFRI) dataset, this journal article demonstrates that local enforcement plays a strong role in the success of common property schemes. This relationship holds true even when controlling for a number of factors, such as commercial quality, user group dynamics, and collective action taken in forest management.
  • Inequalities, institutions, and forest commons
    Andersson, Krister P.; Agrawal, Arun (Elsevier Ltd, 2011)
    In the past, very little research has attempted to illuminate the relationships between social or economic inequalities, institution intervention, and ecological outcomes of common resources. The purpose of this study is to examine the effects of inequalities within (intra-group) and between (inter-group) groups on forest commons. The authors gathered 228 cases from six countries (India, Nepal, Kenya, Uganda, Mexico, Bolivia) ranging from 1994 to 2002. The study revealed that both intra- and inter-group inequalities have negative effects upon forest commons, and effective institutional involvement may help mitigate the negative effects of inter-group inequalities. These findings support the argument for addressing social and economic disparities as an effective means in improving the ecological sustainability of forest commons.
  • People and forests: Communities, institutions, and governance
    Gibson, C.; McKean, M.; Ostrom, Elinor (Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 2000)
    This book explores interactions between communities and forests, focusing on the rules communities use to manage forest resources.