title: Community Forestland Management, Outside Interventions and  Local Responses: The case of the Thai ethnic group in the Hanh Dich commune, Que Phong district, Nghe An province, Vietnam

authors: Pham, Dung Van

subjects: Vietnam

abstract: In an increasing interaction between indigenous or isolated ethnic communities and outside actors, a lack of confirmation of local forestland rights is seen as one of the most critical issues. Does the outsiders’ occupancy of land for rent seeking and authoritative patronage for forest management meet the dispossessed people’s aspirations? How and to what extent should local communities be involved in forestland management and play a determining role in their own future? To answer these questions, this research is based on in-depth interviews focusing on the folk traditions, cultural beliefs, customary laws, local knowledge, and comments and recommendations of the local Thai ethnic people and some outsiders residing in the Hanh Dich commune, Que Phong district, Nghe An province, Vietnam. In addition, a number of previous case studies and reports from the archive of SPERI (Social Policy Ecology Research Institute) and its alliance members have been synthesised and analysed.
The essential findings and arguments in this thesis comprise the local Thai people’s cultural traits, chronicles of outside interventions, local responses, and cognitive and methodological approaches to the study of indigenous cultures and their forestlands. It was found that local people have been upholding their holistic and unique perspectives, beliefs, customary laws, traditional organizational and institutional practices and that these inherent values and strengths can contribute effectively to forest protection and improvement of local people’s livelihood. However, it was also observed that the increasing imposition of the mainstream top-down approaches have not recognized or encouraged, that is to say, have undermined local strengths and values. In addition, on the basis of an ethnocentric view, superficial perceptions of the ethnic minority peoples and their values have pervaded in the Vietnamese media. These phenomena raise questions as to cultural rights, human rights, and the quality of the policy making process and law enforcement which are inevitably affected by these ethnocentric views and approaches.
To counteract the hurtful effects of mainstream interventions, local people have responded in a subtle and implicit way. As a result of outside interventions, they have had to find ways to adjust their productive and cultural settings. However, there remain wishes to recover traditional cultural values, especially in the minds of the elders. In an alternative bottom-up approach facilitated by SPERI, the people are stimulated to promote their own institutional and organizational strengths towards their brighter future. In a democratized and decentralized process, community’s land rights and customary rights should be officially recognized and confirmed. But official recognition should not be seen as the final goal, only as a supportive factor while the local community’s strengths and self-enforcement of their rights are determinant. To this end, indigenous peoples need further opportunities for networking, capacity building, and taking part in thorough socio-cultural ethnographic research in order to ensure that they are more truly and fairly represented.

text: Community Forestland Management, Outside Interventions and  Local Responses: The case of the Thai ethnic group in the Hanh Dich commune, Que Phong district, Nghe An province, Vietnam In an increasing interaction between indigenous or isolated ethnic communities and outside actors, a lack of confirmation of local forestland rights is seen as one of the most critical issues. Does the outsiders’ occupancy of land for rent seeking and authoritative patronage for forest management meet the dispossessed people’s aspirations? How and to what extent should local communities be involved in forestland management and play a determining role in their own future? To answer these questions, this research is based on in-depth interviews focusing on the folk traditions, cultural beliefs, customary laws, local knowledge, and comments and recommendations of the local Thai ethnic people and some outsiders residing in the Hanh Dich commune, Que Phong district, Nghe An province, Vietnam. In addition, a number of previous case studies and reports from the archive of SPERI (Social Policy Ecology Research Institute) and its alliance members have been synthesised and analysed.
The essential findings and arguments in this thesis comprise the local Thai people’s cultural traits, chronicles of outside interventions, local responses, and cognitive and methodological approaches to the study of indigenous cultures and their forestlands. It was found that local people have been upholding their holistic and unique perspectives, beliefs, customary laws, traditional organizational and institutional practices and that these inherent values and strengths can contribute effectively to forest protection and improvement of local people’s livelihood. However, it was also observed that the increasing imposition of the mainstream top-down approaches have not recognized or encouraged, that is to say, have undermined local strengths and values. In addition, on the basis of an ethnocentric view, superficial perceptions of the ethnic minority peoples and their values have pervaded in the Vietnamese media. These phenomena raise questions as to cultural rights, human rights, and the quality of the policy making process and law enforcement which are inevitably affected by these ethnocentric views and approaches.
To counteract the hurtful effects of mainstream interventions, local people have responded in a subtle and implicit way. As a result of outside interventions, they have had to find ways to adjust their productive and cultural settings. However, there remain wishes to recover traditional cultural values, especially in the minds of the elders. In an alternative bottom-up approach facilitated by SPERI, the people are stimulated to promote their own institutional and organizational strengths towards their brighter future. In a democratized and decentralized process, community’s land rights and customary rights should be officially recognized and confirmed. But official recognition should not be seen as the final goal, only as a supportive factor while the local community’s strengths and self-enforcement of their rights are determinant. To this end, indigenous peoples need further opportunities for networking, capacity building, and taking part in thorough socio-cultural ethnographic research in order to ensure that they are more truly and fairly represented.

year: 2014

title: The evolution of hog production and potential sources for future growth in China

authors: Xiao, Hongbo

subjects: China

abstract: Following reforms to the market, China’s hog industry has developed rapidly, however, with social and economic transitions, China’s hog industry is facing challenges which might restrict long-term growth in production. This paper analyzes the changes in regional scale, organization, input factors, and technological progress for China’s hog production over the last few decades. The paper seeks to reveal the sources of hog production growth and provide some suggestions for future development of the hog industry. To achieve these aims, the paper uses stochastic frontier production functions and the Malmquist index to measure total factor productivity (TFP) in the hog industry and decompose TFP into technical efficiency; technological progress; scale efficiency; and allocative efficiency using data for 25 provinces from 1980 to 2008. The results show firstly that; the TFP of hog production increased by 64.3% from 1980 to 2008, and allocative efficiency and scale efficiency improvements played a key role in this TFP growth. In contrast, technical efficiency and technical progress have changed little over this period. Secondly, TFP’s contribution to output was 39.7%, it being less than that of factor inputs to output. Thirdly, the results suggest that the growth of China’s pork production depends mostly on the increase in the quantity of factor inputs, especially feed. As a consequence, the key to ensuring long-term and stable development of China’s hog production would seem to involve focusing on enhancing total factor productivity and changing the pattern of production growth.

text: The evolution of hog production and potential sources for future growth in China Following reforms to the market, China’s hog industry has developed rapidly, however, with social and economic transitions, China’s hog industry is facing challenges which might restrict long-term growth in production. This paper analyzes the changes in regional scale, organization, input factors, and technological progress for China’s hog production over the last few decades. The paper seeks to reveal the sources of hog production growth and provide some suggestions for future development of the hog industry. To achieve these aims, the paper uses stochastic frontier production functions and the Malmquist index to measure total factor productivity (TFP) in the hog industry and decompose TFP into technical efficiency; technological progress; scale efficiency; and allocative efficiency using data for 25 provinces from 1980 to 2008. The results show firstly that; the TFP of hog production increased by 64.3% from 1980 to 2008, and allocative efficiency and scale efficiency improvements played a key role in this TFP growth. In contrast, technical efficiency and technical progress have changed little over this period. Secondly, TFP’s contribution to output was 39.7%, it being less than that of factor inputs to output. Thirdly, the results suggest that the growth of China’s pork production depends mostly on the increase in the quantity of factor inputs, especially feed. As a consequence, the key to ensuring long-term and stable development of China’s hog production would seem to involve focusing on enhancing total factor productivity and changing the pattern of production growth.

year: 2012

title: “Papatuanuku/papa:” Some thoughts on the oppositional grounds of the doctoral experience

authors: Mika, Carl Te Hira

subjects: Kaupapa

abstract: There are significant challenges that face Māori students and supervisors as a “doctoral team.” Perhaps the most fundamental of these is that there is a metaphysics at work in writing and talking that Māori are encouraged to speculate on and reclaim. One term for this metaphysics, “Papatūānuku” (often abbreviated to “Papa”), signifies an active entity that rejects strict definition but influences both doctoral text and team. This article proposes that student and supervisor must simultaneously glance towards the conventions of academic writing and recollect Papatūānuku as potential being in the doctoral process.

text: “Papatuanuku/papa:” Some thoughts on the oppositional grounds of the doctoral experience There are significant challenges that face Māori students and supervisors as a “doctoral team.” Perhaps the most fundamental of these is that there is a metaphysics at work in writing and talking that Māori are encouraged to speculate on and reclaim. One term for this metaphysics, “Papatūānuku” (often abbreviated to “Papa”), signifies an active entity that rejects strict definition but influences both doctoral text and team. This article proposes that student and supervisor must simultaneously glance towards the conventions of academic writing and recollect Papatūānuku as potential being in the doctoral process.

year: 2016