American PhD (Cultural Anthropology) student and New Zealand International Doctoral Research Scholarships (NZIDRS) recepient Matthew Harms – has a blog at Kiwi Chronicles. Here is a run down of what he’s up to – (from the 2009 NZIDRS recipient list).
Matthew HARMS – University of Waikato (Cultural Anthropology)
The community based Maungatautari Ecological Island project (MEIT) has since 2002, fenced a 3400 hectare montane area, removed non-native mammalian pests, and reintroduced native biota. From an anthropological standpoint, the project’s success likely comes from a degree of collaboration among the community’s Maori and Pakeha members. Matthew proposes to build upon his Masters research into the sociocultural and historical factors associated with New Zealand’s community based conservation, and will investigate the actual influence of these factors and the extent of biculturalism attained in the MEIT project. He intends to conduct fieldwork while living in the Waipa district to perform project volunteer work that will permit conversational interviewing and discussion with community/project members in a connected, mutually-beneficial relationship. In addition, he plans to highlight key findings by comparing the factors of the MEIT community and project to those at work in an aptly parallel (postcolonial, Polynesian minority) Hawaii.
