Browsing by Author "Baird, Timothy D."

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    Adapting Pink Time to promote self-regulated learning across course and student types
    Baird, Timothy D.; Kniola, David J.; Hartter, Joel; Carlson, Kimberly; Rogers, Sarah; Russell, Don; Tise, Joseph (2020)
    To explore new opportunities to promote self-regulated learning (SRL) across a variety of contexts, this study applies a novel assignment called Pink Time in seven different courses at two universities. The assignment asks students to “skip class, do anything you want, and give yourself a grade.” In each case, instructors adapted Pink Time to fit the needs of their course. Altogether, 165 students completed 270 self-directed projects and self-assessments targeting five component behaviors of SRL. Findings show that: (1) students were more likely to perceive success in certain behaviors of SRL than in others; (2) students’ perceptions across courses were similar for some behaviors but not others; and (3) subsequent iterations of the assignment supported higher perceived measures of some SRL behaviors but not others. Together these findings illustrate the value and flexibility of this progressive assignment as well as persistent challenges in supporting students’ SRL.
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    Assessing Maintenance and Management of Infrastructure Systems Using Citizen Reported Service Requests
    Bolte, Taylor Clark (Virginia Tech, 2019-03-19)
    Maintaining current and future infrastructure will require smart practices to help better meet user needs with fewer financial resources. The recent adoption of information communication technologies, such as, 311-call centers enables city agencies to detect and more quickly respond to real-time infrastructure system service disruptions and maintenance requests. Of the 200 or more cities that use 311, New York City's system is the largest, receiving more than 19.5 million citizen requests since 2010. Current citizen service requests made through 311 range from issues about street and sidewalk conditions to problems with their water, sanitation, snow removal, and traffic congestion. In the first manuscript, service requests were compared to socio-economics within zip codes. Zip codes were clustered by four socio-economic variables including median house value, percent of the population with a bachelor's degree, unemployment rate, and percent non-white to represent socio-economic differences between zones in the city. Results show that citizens from low socio-economic areas, meaning those with low median house values, low population with a bachelor's degree, high unemployment, and high percent non-white are burdened with significantly more infrastructure maintenance requests. When controlling for physical differences such as miles of road, total frequency of calls, and the number of people per zip code, people from low socio-economic zones are more likely to call about issues related to street conditions, sanitation, and their water system. In the second manuscript, service request response time by agency were compared based on location and socio-economic variables. The location of the call based on borough and the socio-economic characteristics of the zip code do significantly influence agency response time. Citizens reporting issues in Queens can expect to wait significantly longer, about 3 days more, to receive a response for a similar request in other boroughs of New York City. This is for issues about water, sewer, traffic lights, and street condition. The Department of Transportation, Department of Sanitation, and the New York Police Department respond significantly faster to service requests in zones classified with high and middle socio-economic groups compared to zip codes with low socio-economic groups of people. These differences in geography and socio-economic characteristics suggest unequal treatment of maintenance issues. These differences in response may expose an implicit bias in maintenance response. By recognizing these differences, city engineers can begin to prioritize maintenance issues based on how communities perceive infrastructure in need of repair, and thus better meet the needs of individual citizens in the future.
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    Chapter 4. Value expression in decision-making
    Baird, Timothy D. (2022-07-09)
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    Climate change, perceived human environment changes, and adaptation responses in coastal Indigenous community of Akplabanya, Ghana
    Ayesu-Danso, Brandy (Virginia Tech, 2024-01-23)
    Coastal communities are facing unprecedented challenges as impacts of climate change continue to escalate globally. Rising sea levels, intensified storm activity, and coastal erosion are extreme climate impacts noticed frequently in coastal communities. Indigenous coastal communities in Ghana are impacted by these extreme climate impacts. In this thesis, I studied the perceived human-environment changes in Indigenous community of Akplabanya. Akplabanya community on the coast of Ghana is experiencing changes in their cultural heritage, environmental surroundings, and their climate. This thesis sought to explore adaptation dynamics within Akplabanya and offer insights into their human-environmental changes and resilience in the face of climate change. In studies that focus on Ghana, little is known about the changes of human-environment interaction in Akplabanya, or their Indigenous peoples' responses to those changes. The two objectives of this study are: 1). To identify changes in coastal human-environment interactions as perceived by the Akplabanya Indigenous community, and 2). To examine the human adaptation responses of the Akplabanya community to the changes in their coastal human-environment interactions. I used four qualitative data collection methods. Semi-structured interviews (n=61) enlisted personal experiences and insights on changing environment and adaptation responses. Key informant interviews (n=28) provided additional insights into context and history. Focused group discussions (n=3), each comprising five participants, focused the community's collective narratives on changing environment and adaptation responses. Participant observation conducted throughout data collection helped me to understand daily life of Akplabanya. Data collection occurred over a period of two months (December 2022-February 2023). I found five themes to explain Akplabanya's perceptions about the changes of coastal human-environment interactions. They are: 1). Biodiversity loss (e.g. vegetation loss), 2). Pollution (e.g. unsustainable practices), 3). Coastal climate change (e.g. coastal erosion), 4). Resource change (e.g. freshwater change), and Population change (e.g. increasing population). I also built participant responses that addressed objective 2 on themes of place, agency, collective action, institutions, coastal Indigenous knowledge, and learning. The findings built on these themes highlights changes in coastal human-environment interactions in coastal fisheries, water systems, land utilization, livestock management, architectural practices, and the preservation of Indigenous knowledge in Akplabanya.
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    Conservation and Unscripted Development: Proximity to park associated with development and financial diversity
    Baird, Timothy D. (The Resilience Alliance, 2014)
    Decades of research on the social dynamics of biodiversity conservation has shown that parks and protected areas have added hardship to rural communities throughout much of the developing world. Nonetheless, some recent studies have found evidence of poverty alleviation near protected areas. To build on these conflicting accounts, I use a comparative, mixed-methods design to examine opportunistic, unplanned, i.e., unscripted, development in indigenous communities near Tarangire National Park (TNP) in northern Tanzania. I ask the questions: (1) How is proximity to TNP related to community-level infrastructural development? (2) How has the process of development changed over time? and (3) How is proximity to TNP related to infrastructure-related social outcomes at the household-level? Results from semistructured interviews show that, compared with distant communities, communities near TNP have developed more extensive education and water infrastructure in the past decade by procuring financial support from a greater diversity of external organizations, including wildlife-related organizations. Correspondingly, household survey results show that education measures are positively associated with proximity to TNP, controlling for other factors. These findings support the notion that development can accrue near protected areas in ways that are diverse, uncoordinated, and opportunistic, and correspondingly distinct from heralded community-based conservation, community-based natural resource management, and integrated conservation and development project initiatives.
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    Distribution of Resource Use in an Informal Learning Environment: Using Sensor Technologies to Bring Geography Indoors
    Villarreal, Mark David (Virginia Tech, 2022-09-27)
    Indoor spaces have become increasingly prevalent in human lives. While scholarship in other fields has studied the relationship between humans and the indoors, it has not been readily investigated in Geography. This study draws from prior research in Building Design, Managerial Science, and Education to examine the relationship between building users and resources in indoor spaces. To better understand how users seek resources in an indoor, academic space, this research asks: (1) what spaces and resources do building users value?; and (2) how are their perceptions of value associated with observed measures of occupancy? This research takes place in Goodwin Hall, on the Blacksburg campus of Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. This research relies on surveys conducted in 2018 as well accelerometer data collected in 2018 to examine the relationship between users' perception and use of resources in informal learning environments. Through quantitative analysis this research tests the ideal free distribution hypothesis. Findings indicate that certain measures of use and value support the ideal free distribution hypothesis. These results help to lay a groundwork for future geographic research in indoor spaces.
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    Empowerment in the Transition to Adulthood: Supporting Career Exploration in College Using Participatory Design
    Mouchrek, Najla (Virginia Tech, 2019-07-02)
    Developmental challenges in the transition to adulthood call for a process of empowerment that supports young people in guiding themselves and building capacities toward adult commitments and roles. The purpose of this study is to investigate empowerment in emerging adulthood, aiming to develop interventions to promote college student developmental outcomes, particularly in career exploration processes. A process of theory construction generated an innovative model of developmental empowerment in the transition to adulthood. Empowerment is conceptualized as a systemic process that emerges through the ongoing interaction between individual and relational environment. Empowerment constructs include personal agency and sense of purpose (as internal experiences), and mentoring and engagement in community (as external experiences). In the first study, a survey investigated empowering experiences in college among Virginia Tech students (N= 255). The findings support the theoretical model, confirming the salience and interdependence of the four main empowerment constructs. Preliminary evidence suggests relevant connections among the empowerment constructs and outcomes such as definition of life goals and career identity. Additionally, qualitative findings offered insights about the role of mentors and community in relation to empowerment. In its second phase, the research project narrowed the focus to study how the empowerment framework may be used to support the process of career exploration in college. The final study integrates the conceptual model and findings from the first study in a participatory design-based intervention for Virginia Tech first-year students exploring career options (N=126). A series of workshops generated an extensive data collection, yielding further investigation about empowerment, definition of life goals and career identity. Qualitative and quantitative data analysis demonstrate that the intervention improved scores for agency and purpose, besides improving student career adapting responses, major decidedness, and progress in career choice. Participants also advanced self-knowledge and purpose-driven orientation, and developed personal criteria for choice of major and career.
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    Enhancing Digital Twins with Human Movement Data: A Comparative Study of Lidar-Based Tracking Methods
    Karki, Shashank; Pingel, Thomas J.; Baird, Timothy D.; Flack, Addison; Ogle, J. Todd (MDPI, 2024-09-18)
    Digitals twins, used to represent dynamic environments, require accurate tracking of human movement to enhance their real-world application. This paper contributes to the field by systematically evaluating and comparing pre-existing tracking methods to identify strengths, weaknesses and practical applications within digital twin frameworks. The purpose of this study is to assess the efficacy of existing human movement tracking techniques for digital twins in real world environments, with the goal of improving spatial analysis and interaction within these virtual modes. We compare three approaches using indoor-mounted lidar sensors: (1) a frame-by-frame method deep learning model with convolutional neural networks (CNNs), (2) custom algorithms developed using OpenCV, and (3) the off-the-shelf lidar perception software package Percept version 1.6.3. Of these, the deep learning method performed best (F1 = 0.88), followed by Percept (F1 = 0.61), and finally the custom algorithms using OpenCV (F1 = 0.58). Each method had particular strengths and weaknesses, with OpenCV-based approaches that use frame comparison vulnerable to signal instability that is manifested as “flickering” in the dataset. Subsequent analysis of the spatial distribution of error revealed that both the custom algorithms and Percept took longer to acquire an identification, resulting in increased error near doorways. Percept software excelled in scenarios involving stationary individuals. These findings highlight the importance of selecting appropriate tracking methods for specific use. Future work will focus on model optimization, alternative data logging techniques, and innovative approaches to mitigate computational challenges, paving the way for more sophisticated and accessible spatial analysis tools. Integrating complementary sensor types and strategies, such as radar, audio levels, indoor positioning systems (IPSs), and wi-fi data, could further improve detection accuracy and validation while maintaining privacy.
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    Entrepreneurship-based factors to foster climate adaptation among Indigenous communities
    Ebawala Pitiyalage, Indunil Prabodha Dharmasiri (Virginia Tech, 2024-01-25)
    Entrepreneurship-based factors to foster climate adaptation among Indigenous communities Indunil Prabodha Dharmasiri Ebawala Pitiyalage ABSTRACT (ACADEMIC) This thesis investigates the factors that cause the emergence of entrepreneurship to foster climate adaptation responses among Indigenous communities. These factors can influence, enhance, or degrade the potential for entrepreneurship in the climate change adaptation context. While these factors are well-studied for non-Indigenous communities, they remain understudied for Indigenous communities' contexts. The objectives of this study are to identify the factors that shape the emergence of entrepreneurship to foster adaptive responses to climatic risks faced by Indigenous communities and to assess the identified entrepreneurship-based factors through a case study. I followed a two-stepped methodological approach through a systematic literature review and a case study analysis among Sri Lankan Indigenous 'Vedda' communities. The systematic review included 65 peer-reviewed articles from the Web of Science and Scopus databases, and the case study analysis involved 90 in-depth semi-structured interviews with nine Indigenous communities in Sri Lanka. I found 15 entrepreneurship-based factors that shape the emergence of entrepreneurship to foster climate adaptation. I categorized those 15 factors under five key themes. They are learning (crop failure, learning, prior entrepreneurial experience), institutions (social networks, institutional support, overcoming the agency-structure paradox), place (resource (un)availability, location, environmental risk factors), capacity (access to information, entrepreneurs' psychological traits, access to capital) and strategy (business characteristics, product range, market characteristics). I applied these factors to the Sri Lankan Indigenous community context and assessed them through case studies. My study frames the potential of entrepreneurship to foster climate adaptation among Indigenous communities. Further, the study provides insights for scholars, practitioners, and policymakers in making climate change adaptation-related Indigenous policies and broader-level applications, such as the development of new adaptation measures to reduce the risks of climatic changes through entrepreneurship.
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    Epistemological Pluralism: Reorganizing Interdisciplinary Research
    Miller, Thaddeus R.; Baird, Timothy D.; Littlefield, Caitlin M.; Kofinas, Gary; Chapin, F. Stuart III; Redman, Charles L. (The Resilience Alliance, 2008)
    Despite progress in interdisciplinary research, difficulties remain. In this paper, we argue that scholars, educators, and practitioners need to critically rethink the ways in which interdisciplinary research and training are conducted. We present epistemological pluralism as an approach for conducting innovative, collaborative research and study. Epistemological pluralism recognizes that, in any given research context, there may be several valuable ways of knowing, and that accommodating this plurality can lead to more successful integrated study. This approach is particularly useful in the study and management of social–ecological systems. Through resilience theory's adaptive cycle, we demonstrate how a focus on epistemological pluralism can facilitate the reorganization of interdisciplinary research and avoid the build-up of significant, but insufficiently integrative, disciplinary-dominated research. Finally, using two case studies—urban ecology and social–ecological research in Alaska—we highlight how interdisciplinary work is impeded when divergent epistemologies are not recognized and valued, and that by incorporating a pluralistic framework, these issues can be better explored, resulting in more integrated understanding.
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    A Human-Centered Approach to Designing an Invasive Species Eradication Program
    Santo, Anna Ruth (Virginia Tech, 2015-05-22)
    The increasing scope and speed of biological invasions around the world is a major concern of the modern environmental conservation movement. Although many ecological impacts of biological invasions are still not well understood, there is a general consensus that exotic, invasive species are a primary driver of extinctions globally. By altering ecosystem structure and function, invasive species also affect human quality of life; however, not all impacts lead to negative outcomes. Given that invasive species have diverse impacts on society, their management in human-dominated landscapes is a wicked problem wherein the resolution is as much an issue of social value as technical capacity. The purpose of my research was to understand the propensity for engaging private landowners in an effort to eradicate an invasive species on an inhabited island. Specifically, I investigated private landowner perspectives on eradicating the North American beaver (Castor canadensis) from the Tierra del Fuego (TDF) island archipelago in Argentina and Chile. The beaver was introduced in 1946 and has since become a central conservation issue due to its long-lasting changes to local hydrology, nutrient cycling, riparian vegetation, food webs, and aquatic and terrestrial species assemblages. Because eradication requires near complete cooperation from stakeholders and no research had been conducted to understand the perspectives or willingness of private landowners to cooperate, my objectives were to: 1) characterize the links private landowners make between the presence of beavers and impacts to the ecosystem services in their riparian areas, and 2) explore the role of a market-based incentive program to increase landowner cooperation in eradication efforts. Through semi-structured interviews, I elicited landowner mental models of how beavers impact the ecosystem services they receive from their riparian lands. I found that TDF ranchers prioritized provisioning ecosystem services, and held diverse and idiosyncratic beliefs about how beavers influence these outcomes. TDF ranchers may not recognize the beaver as a highly salient problem because they do not connect them to reductions in ecosystem services that are important to them. Among those who do perceive beavers affecting important ecosystem services, there is no clear, unified understanding of how the beavers disturb the ecosystem and key ecosystem services. Additionally, in a broadly administered survey, I used a factorial vignettes to examine the role of program structure and other program-related factors on landowners' willingness to participate in a voluntary eradication program. Overall, landowners were willing to cooperate in an incentive program to eradicate beavers. They were positively motivated by greater financial compensation, an increased expectation that the program would be successful, and the program assuming full responsibility for its implementation. Other factors returned mixed results indicating that further research may be required. In diverse, human-inhabited, and privately-owned landscapes, conservation requires collective action—i.e., the high threshold of participation needed for eradication to be achieved. Understanding the knowledge systems that cause landowners to perceive value or risk serves as a first step in understanding behaviors, and can also serve as a framework for crafting more effective outreach, as current communication about the beaver and the proposed eradication may not resonate with private landowners. Further, barriers to inaction can be overcome by understanding landowner needs and how program-related factors influence the potential for cooperation. In sum, by putting human needs at the forefront of program design, conservation planners can better understand stakeholder perspectives, reduce barriers to participation, and ultimately increase cooperation and improve conservation outcomes.
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    Human-wildlife conflict and mobile phone use among Maasai pastoralists near Tarangire National Park, northern Tanzania
    Lewis, Ashley Lauren (Virginia Tech, 2015-06-30)
    Mobile phones are transforming many aspects of rural areas in the developing world. Much of the early research on phones and related information and communication technologies (ICTs) in developing countries has focused on social networking and economic benefits in primarily urban or agricultural settings. Few studies, however, have examined the implications of mobile technologies on pastoralist livelihoods and biodiversity conservation. To build on this opportunity, this study examines the impact of mobile phone technology on four Maasai communities near Tarangire National Park in northern Tanzania. I asked the questions: (1) How do phones affect human-wildlife interactions?; and (2) What are the effects of mobile phone use on measures of human-wildlife conflict (HWC)? This research uses a mixed methods approach to address these two questions and test the hypothesis that mobile phone use reduces HWC. Qualitative group interviews revealed that households use phones to manage wildlife interactions in every aspect of their lives - especially when the interactions relate to pastoralism and crop-based agriculture. Maasai use mobile phones as tools of information distribution to mitigate and reduce the severity of effects of HWC. Multivariate analyses of survey measures of phone use and exposure to conflict (i.e., crop and livestock predation and human attacks) offer mixed evidence that mobile phone use is correlated with a perception of less recent HWC events. These findings provide an indication that the expansion of mobile digital technologies may be able to support livelihoods and biodiversity simultaneously.
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    Mobile phone use and agricultural productivity among female smallholder farmers in Tanzania
    Quandt, Amy; Salerno, Jonathan D.; Baird, Timothy D.; McCabe, J. Terrence; Xu, Emilie; Herrick, Jeffrey E.; Hartter, Joel (2021)
    Evidence shows that mobile phones can improve agricultural productivity in Sub-Saharan Africa, yet few studies examine gender disparities in mobile phone ownership and use, and how they relate to the gender gap in agricultural productivity. This research gathers survey data on 279 male and female household heads in four villages in Iringa, Tanzania, and investigates the associations between gender, agricultural productivity, and phone ownership and use. Our study finds that many farmers use phones to conduct agricultural activities, with virtually all male respondents using their privately-owned phones compared to only two-thirds of female respondents. Moreover, many women have positive perceptions and trust in the benefits of using phones for agricultural activities. Lastly, phone owners have higher self-reported maize yields compared to non–phone owners. Our results suggest that mobile phones may be a valuable tool in bridging the agricultural gender gap.
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    Mobile phone use is associated with higher smallholder agricultural productivity in Tanzania, East Africa
    Quandt, Amy; Salerno, Jonathan D.; Neff, Jason C.; Baird, Timothy D.; Herrick, Jeffrey E.; McCabe, J. Terrence; Xu, Emilie; Hartter, Joel (PLOS, 2020-08-06)
    Mobile phone use is increasing in Sub-Saharan Africa, spurring a growing focus on mobile phones as tools to increase agricultural yields and incomes on smallholder farms. However, the research to date on this topic is mixed, with studies finding both positive and neutral associations between phones and yields. In this paper we examine perceptions about the impacts of mobile phones on agricultural productivity, and the relationships between mobile phone use and agricultural yield. We do so by fitting multilevel statistical models to data from farmer-phone owners (n = 179) in 4 rural communities in Tanzania, controlling for site and demographic factors. Results show a positive association between mobile phone use for agricultural activities and reported maize yields. Further, many farmers report that mobile phone use increases agricultural profits (67% of respondents) and decreases the costs (50%) and time investments (47%) of farming. Our findings suggest that there are opportunities to target policy interventions at increasing phone use for agricultural activities in ways that facilitate access to timely, actionable information to support farmer decision making.
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    Mobile phones and women's empowerment in Maasai communities: How men shape women's social relations and access to phones
    Summers, Kelly H.; Baird, Timothy D.; Woodhouse, Emily; Christie, Maria Elisa; McCabe, J. Terrence; Terta, Felista; Peter, Naomi (Elsevier, 2020-05-13)
    Mobile phones have been heralded by many as promising new tools to empower women throughout the Global South. However, some have asserted that new information and communication technologies (ICTs) may serve to amplify disparities between more powerful and less powerful people. Few studies have examined which women stand to benefit and under what conditions. This study seeks to better understand the relationships between mobile phones and women’s empowerment by examining diverse women’s experiences within Maasai agro-pastoralist communities in northern Tanzania. Specifically, we ask three guiding questions: (1) How do Maasai women access and use phones? (2) What processes of empowerment do phones support or undermine? and (3) How are these processes embedded in diverse social relations? To address these questions, we use a framework that integrates a Social Relations Approach with a modified version of the Sustainable Livelihoods Approach. Our team conducted semi-structured and individual-stakeholder interviews with Maasai women in June-July, 2018 to learn their perspectives on phones, social-relations and multiple aspects of empowerment. We analyzed the content of these interviews using deductive and inductive qualitative strategies. These efforts yield multiple findings: (1) women’s access to phones is fluid; (2) multiple pathways to empowerment and disempowerment exist; (3) phones reinforce inequalities; (4) women’s identities are intersectional; and (5) women’s networks remain homogenous. Taken together, this approach and these insights provide a more conservative account of the benefits of mobile phones than many studies and also an important technology-empowerment narrative for development scholars and practitioners.
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    Mobile phones and wrong numbers: how Maasai agro-pastoralists form and use accidental social ties in East Africa
    Baird, Timothy D.; McCabe, J. Terrence; Woodhouse, Emily; Rumas, Isaya; Sankeni, Stephen; Saitoti, Gabriel Ole (Resilience Alliance, 2021)
    Mobile phones are recognized as important new tools for rural development in the Global South, but few studies have examined how phones can shape social networks. This study documents a new type of social tie, enabled by mobile phones, that to our knowledge has not previously been discussed in academic literature. In 2018, we discovered that Maasai pastoralists in northern Tanzania create new social ties through wrong numbers, a phenomenon with implications for theory on social networks and path dependency. We used a mixed ethnographic and survey-based design to examine the following: (1) the conditions under which wrong number connections (WNCs) are made; (2) the incidence of these connections in the study area; and (3) the association between WNCs and multiple livelihood strategies. Working in 10 rural communities in Tanzania, we conducted 16 group interviews with men about their phone use and found that WNCs are diverse and can provide households with important information, resources, and opportunities from an expansive geographic area. (Nine separate interviews with groups of women revealed that women do not create WNCs.) Based on early qualitative findings, we designed and conducted a standardized survey with 317 household heads. We found that 46% of respondents have had WNCs. Furthermore, multivariate regression models show a significant association between WNCs and the controversial practice of leasing land in one district. Taken together, our findings show that WNCs can be seen as innovations in social networking that reduce path dependency, increase the range of potential outcomes, and hold important implications for rural livelihoods in East Africa.
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    Mobile Phones, Social Relations, and the Gatekeepers to Women's Empowerment in Maasai Households
    Summers, Kelly (Virginia Tech, 2019-06-10)
    Throughout the developing world, the mobile phone has been heralded as a tool that can empower and lift women out of vulnerable situations. While many scholars and development professionals believe that phones empower women, some contend that phones amplify disparities for people who are not well-positioned in society. To better understand how the diffusion of phones has impacted women, this thesis examines the relationship between mobile phones and socially constructed gender-based inequalities in agro-pastoralist Maasai communities in northern Tanzania. Grounded in perspectives from scholarship on women's empowerment and rural liveihoods, I ask: (1) how do women access and use phones?; and (2) how are women's phone uses embedded in existing social relations? This research relies on semi-structured interviews and household surveys conducted in the summer of 2018 to identify Maasai women's perspectives on phones, social relations, and power. Through inductive and deductive qualitative content analysis, findings indicate that phone access is fluid. There are a multitude of relationships between phones and empowerment, and these relationships are not only a function of a woman's personal choice and characteristics, but often more importantly her position in the household, the household norms her husband controls, and her husband's attributes. These results help show how women's empowerment in patriarchal societies, which may be afforded by new technologies, is guarded by men and subject to their discretions. This study highlights the importance of engaging men and women in discussions of and interventions surrounding women's empowerment.
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    New pathways for women’s empowerment in pastoralist Maasai households, Tanzania
    Baird, Timothy D.; Woodhouse, Emily; McCabe, J. Terrence; Barnes, Paul; Terta, Felista; Runda, Naomi (Elsevier, 2024-07)
    Despite the extensive scholarship on women's empowerment and gender equality in the Global South, few studies have examined how changing livelihoods create new challenges and opportunities for women seeking access to intra-household decision-making. Here we examine pastoralist Maasai women's access to a range of household-level decisions that span more longstanding and more recent aspects of changing social and economic life. Our team conducted a mixed-methods data collection in 10 Maasai communities in northern Tanzania in 2018 and 2022. We (1) interviewed groups of women and men (n = 18) to identify key types of household decisions and the factors affecting women's access to them; and (2) conducted a survey of married women (n = 321) to identify individuals' perceptions of access to intra-household decision-making and other characteristics. We applied an information theoretic approach to model selection of fitted cumulative link mixed effects models. Our findings show that newer sources of human, social, and physical capital for women, including school-based education, land tenure, and community group membership, are associated with access to more contemporary decision types, including income generation, children's schooling, and children's health care. Alternatively, we find fewer pathways to decision-making for more longstanding decision types, including livestock management and children's marriage. Notably, agricultural land has a complex relationship with decision-making wherein basic access to land is associated with lower access to decision-making, but land tenure is associated with greater access. This study shows how marginalized women can leverage changing social and economic contexts to gain greater access to intra-household decision-making.
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    Pastoralist livelihood diversification and social network transition: a conceptual framework
    Baird, Timothy D. (Frontiers, 2024-07-19)
    Around the world, many pastoralists are diversifying their livelihoods by incorporating alternative income generating activities. Much scholarship has examined the causes of this trend, however, less has been written about the consequences of diversification, especially how it may affect the structure and function of pastoralists’ social networks. This perspective presents a conceptual framework for a pastoralist social network transition, driven by livelihood diversification, and its effects on resilience at household and community scales.