Durham/Sawyer 9310622 The conditions under which sustainable development and resource conservation can occur are frequently modeled in narrow economic terms. In contrast, this project investigates land use in the context of community politics within an indigenous community of the Pastaza Runa of Ecuadorian Amazon. The goal is to understand the forces directing distinct households' agricultural practices and political allegiances. Three methodological tools will be employed. First, the analysis of agricultural techniques in swidden systems and the mapping of multi-level land use (swidden agriculture, commercial crop production, and cattle grazing) detail actual practices and examine indicators for the intensification and/or depletion of resources. Second, interviews with household members elicit historical understandings of land use changes, resource conflicts, and households' affiliation with the local Indian federations or Campesino organization. Third, archival research of state, church, indigenous relations and state adjudicational legislation presents historical insight into changing racial and legal relations of Indians in the Oriente. The research is significant on two counts. It contributes to scholarship on indigenous resource management and ethnicity by investigating the conditions under which indigenous peoples practice ecologically sound land use and maintain a politicized ethnic identity. In examining refinements in native politics and land-use along the colonization frontier, the study extends current knowledge of options of sustainable agriculture in the neotropics. ~ u F V F V 9V ~ | 9F v ? F W W ( Times New Roman Symbol & Arial &&& " h : E: E R { durham sawyer abstract abstract dissertation#durham sawyer dissertation abstract Raymond Hames Raymond Hames
