Research
Current Research
Urban Resilience
This research investigates urban climate change, inequality, and preparedness in San Antonio and Bexar County. The primary objective is to understand institutional responses and preparedness strategies among various governmental, quasi-governmental, and non-governmental entities, as well as the impact of these actions on different segments of the population. The aim is to ascertain diverse stakeholder perspectives, actions, and concerns within a broad spectrum of civil society. Currently, my research effort in this space is part of a larger project funded through NSF CIVIC Grant entitled Measuring Atmospheric Variability to Manage Urban Heat and Air Quality (PI Kristen Brown, Co-PIs: Neil Debbage, Lindsey Fuller, Jamon Halvaksz, Esteban Lopez Ochoa, and Chris Packham), where my role is to interview community leaders and members across San Antonio regarding the experiences of extreme heat.
In addition ongoing research on San Antonio, future work on urban climate resiliency will expand to consider island cities in Oceania. The comparative perspective is important as Oceanic nations are often at the forefront of championing mitigation and international recognition of climate change, while their coastal cities remain at the forefront of environmental risks. El Niño/ La Niña and rising seas have forced migration, caused droughts and flood, endangered access to basic needs such as food and water, and resulted in dramatic and devastating fires. Throughout, this research will seek to understand how diverse cities in the US and Oceania prepare for and respond to change. And how inequity, power, and gender shape the experiences of extreme events.
Map showing heat in relation to tree cover in Bexar county, produced for https://www.sasustainability.com/home
Show more +Migration and Change
As an extension of the research on urban resiliency, this project will investigate the intricate connections between urban migration, inequality, climate change, and the transformations of land and biodiversity in Pacific urban communities. The primary focus is on understanding how resource extraction and climate change together create complex webs of exposure, exacerbating negative impacts on Pacific cities.
While maintaining an appreciation for place-based relationships, the migration of the Biangai from their rural communities has intensified in recent years due to employment opportunities, increased incomes, and educational prospects for their children. This migration, especially from Winima to the coastal city of Lae, contributes to broader global trends as extractive industries expand to meet the demands of climate-responsive technologies. Simultaneously, the reduced rural population is altering the human impact on forest regrowth, reducing threats of fire and land conversion for subsistence and cash crops. Coupled with climate change, both rural and urban environments have become dynamic and changing systems.
The study will specifically investigate how Biangai mine workers, utilizing their newfound prosperity to acquire land and establish residences away from their communities, navigate and sustain their commitment to place amidst evolving subjectivities and material realities. While the process of becoming middle class is a part of the inquiry, special attention is given to the formation of neoliberal subjectivities in relation to the environment and material relations. Furthermore, examining spatial and scalar relationships among rural and urban communities, the research will explore how urban migration and extractive capital shape ecologies and lives in both urban and rural locales.
Agriculture and the Anthropocene
This research project investigates the ways that climate events, such as the 2015-16 El Niño, articulate with the infrastructures of subsistence and development. For example, the heavy rains that troubled the Bulolo Valley after the El Niño resulted in massive flooding of coffee groves, a matter only made worse by newly shaped roads that drove the rain into Biangai gardens. Toward this end, I am tracing the loss of coffee cash crops and food gardens in relationship to state and local development aspiration, capitalist market forces, geological layers, erosions, and human caused climate change. Biangai are witness to one of the many culminations of planetary changes associated with the Anthropocene.
Completed Projects
Mining and Agriculture in PNG
Starting in 2001, this research project explored the intricate relationship between mining and local agriculture. My aim was to gain insights into how mining activities and opportunities for mining employment influence local resource practices, particularly concerning the cultivation of cash crops and subsistence gardens. Employing a comprehensive approach that includes interviews, participant observation, and thorough garden surveys including the utilization of Geographic Information System (GIS) mapping techniques, I developed an understanding of land use practices in relationship to changing opportunities in the extractive industries.
Funded by the Wenner Gren Foundation, National Science Foundation, and UTSA, 17 months of dissertation research, and four academic summers (2011, 2014-2016) were dedicated to examining the impact of mining labor and training opportunities on community agriculture and social dynamics.
The project focused on two Biangai communities: Winima, adjacent to a large-scale gold mine that started production in 2009, and Elauru, which is outside the ambit of mining development. After many years of exploration, Harmony Gold (South Africa) and Newcrest (Australia) built the Hidden Valley Gold mine on land controlled partially by Winima landowners, who gain income from royalties and are given priority access to employment and community education programs in business, health, etc.. Neighboring Elauru villagers, however, are largely excluded from these benefits and receive only limited opportunities to work for the mine. For both communities, swidden agriculture is of central importance: yam (Dioscorea spp.) gardens are critical for depicting enduring social relations between ancestors and their descendants; sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) gardens are the subsistence base produced throughout the year; while coffee, grown as a cash crop, provides money for purchasing store-bought items, paying school fees, etc.
Images illustrate some important changes over time, noting the impact of the 2015-2016 El Nino event on garden selection. In 2016, household moved their gardens further away to avoid dry conditions and fires at lower altitudes.
Illustrations made using ARC GIS, Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop
Nevertheless, at the heart of Biangai agriculture lies the yam garden, representing a profound process of asserting present and future land ownership for oneself and generations to come. These gardens are meticulously overseen by cognatic kinship groups, ensuring the inheritance of land and resource rights by both men and women from their male and female ancestors. The strategic formation of marital unions reconnects land parcels and families, conferring joint rights over interconnected garden areas to the couple. The customs embedded in yam gardening extend to the cultivation of other crops, underscoring a continued reliance on kin groups and emphasizing sociocentric subjectivities.
In essence, the confluence of neoliberal economic influences and traditional garden practices carries far-reaching implications for community identity, gender dynamics, and social relationships. By integrating geospatial and ethnographic methodologies, this research project elevates our comprehension of the intricacies surrounding experiences and processes of agricultural transformation, particularly when comparing villages with varying degrees of involvement in the mining economy. The findings thus offer a nuanced understanding of the profound impact on community dynamics, gender roles, and social connections resulting from the interplay between neoliberal economics and traditional agricultural practices.
My book, Gardens of Gold: Placemaking in Papua New Guinea offers an detailed account of this research to date.
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