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- All Subjects: Indians of Central America--Economic conditions.
- All Subjects: semiotic closure
- Creators: BurnSilver, Shauna
Description
In Latin America food insecurity is still prevailing in those regions where extreme poverty and political instability are common. Tseltal communities are experiencing changes due to religious conversions and the incursion of external political institutions. These changes have diminished the importance of traditional reciprocal and redistributive institutions that historically have been essential for personal and community survival. This dissertation investigated the impact that variations on governance systems and presence of reciprocal and distributional exchanges have on the food security status of communities. Qualitative data collected in four communities through 117 free lists and 117 semi-structured interviews was used to elaborate six scales that correspond to the traditional and civic authority system and to inter-community and intra-community reciprocity and redistribution. I explore the relationship that the scores of four communities on those scales have on the food security status of their inhabitants based on their results on the National Health and Nutrition Survey 2012. Findings from this study suggest that in marginalized communities that many scientists would described as experiencing market failure, participation in inter-community reciprocal, intra-community reciprocal and intra-community redistribution are better predictors of food security than enrollment in food security programs. Additionally, communities that participated the most in these non-market mechanisms have stronger traditional institutions. In contrast, communities that participated more in inter-community redistribution scored higher on the civic authority scale, are enrolled in more food aid programs, but are less food secure.
ContributorsDe La Torre Pacheco, Sindy Yaneth (Author) / Janssen, Marco (Thesis advisor) / Eakin, Hallie (Committee member) / BurnSilver, Shauna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Anderies (2015); Anderies et al. (2016), informed by Ostrom (2005), aim to employ robust
feedback control models of social-ecological systems (SESs), to inform policy and the
design of institutions guiding resilient resource use. Cote and Nightingale (2012) note that
the main assumptions of resilience research downplay culture and social power. Addressing
the epistemic gap between positivism and interpretation (Rosenberg 2016), this dissertation
argues that power and culture indeed are of primary interest in SES research.
Human use of symbols is seen as an evolved semiotic capacity. First, representation is
argued to arise as matter achieves semiotic closure (Pattee 1969; Rocha 2001) at the onset
of natural selection. Guided by models by Kauffman (1993), the evolution of a symbolic
code in genes is examined, and thereon the origin of representations other than genetic
in evolutionary transitions (Maynard Smith and Szathmáry 1995; Beach 2003). Human
symbolic interaction is proposed as one that can support its own evolutionary dynamics.
The model offered for wider dynamics in society are “flywheels,” mutually reinforcing
networks of relations. They arise as interactions in a domain of social activity intensify, e.g.
due to interplay of infrastructures, mediating built, social, and ecological affordances (An-
deries et al. 2016). Flywheels manifest as entities facilitated by the simplified interactions
(e.g. organizations) and as cycles maintaining the infrastructures (e.g. supply chains). They
manifest internal specialization as well as distributed intention, and so can favor certain
groups’ interests, and reinforce cultural blind spots to social exclusion (Mills 2007).
The perspective is applied to research of resilience in SESs, considering flywheels a
semiotic extension of feedback control. Closer attention to representations of potentially
excluded groups is justified on epistemic in addition to ethical grounds, as patterns in cul-
tural text and social relations reflect the functioning of wider social processes. Participatory
methods are suggested to aid in building capacity for institutional learning.
feedback control models of social-ecological systems (SESs), to inform policy and the
design of institutions guiding resilient resource use. Cote and Nightingale (2012) note that
the main assumptions of resilience research downplay culture and social power. Addressing
the epistemic gap between positivism and interpretation (Rosenberg 2016), this dissertation
argues that power and culture indeed are of primary interest in SES research.
Human use of symbols is seen as an evolved semiotic capacity. First, representation is
argued to arise as matter achieves semiotic closure (Pattee 1969; Rocha 2001) at the onset
of natural selection. Guided by models by Kauffman (1993), the evolution of a symbolic
code in genes is examined, and thereon the origin of representations other than genetic
in evolutionary transitions (Maynard Smith and Szathmáry 1995; Beach 2003). Human
symbolic interaction is proposed as one that can support its own evolutionary dynamics.
The model offered for wider dynamics in society are “flywheels,” mutually reinforcing
networks of relations. They arise as interactions in a domain of social activity intensify, e.g.
due to interplay of infrastructures, mediating built, social, and ecological affordances (An-
deries et al. 2016). Flywheels manifest as entities facilitated by the simplified interactions
(e.g. organizations) and as cycles maintaining the infrastructures (e.g. supply chains). They
manifest internal specialization as well as distributed intention, and so can favor certain
groups’ interests, and reinforce cultural blind spots to social exclusion (Mills 2007).
The perspective is applied to research of resilience in SESs, considering flywheels a
semiotic extension of feedback control. Closer attention to representations of potentially
excluded groups is justified on epistemic in addition to ethical grounds, as patterns in cul-
tural text and social relations reflect the functioning of wider social processes. Participatory
methods are suggested to aid in building capacity for institutional learning.
ContributorsBožičević, Miran (Author) / Anderies, John M (Thesis advisor) / Bolin, Robert (Committee member) / BurnSilver, Shauna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017