Losing Ground: an Ethnography of Vulnerability and Climate Change in Shishmaref, Alaska
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Losing Ground: An Ethnography Of Vulnerability And Climate Change In Shishmaref, Alaska Item Type Thesis Authors Marino, Elizabeth K. Download date 29/09/2021 17:53:25 Link to Item http://hdl.handle.net/11122/9151 LOSING GROUND: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF VULNERABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN SHISHMAREF, ALASKA A DISSERTATION Presented to the Faculty of the University of Alaska Fairbanks in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy By Elizabeth K. Marino, M.A. Fairbanks, Alaska December 2012 UMI Number: 3537833 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. UMI 3537833 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 LOSING GROUND: AN ETHNOGRAPHY OF VULNERABILITY AND CLIMATE CHANGE IN SHISHMAREF, ALASKA By Elizabeth K. Marino RECOMMENDED: 'au, Advisory Committee Chair Q l Chair, Department of Anthropology APPROVED: Dean/College of Liberal Arts wan of the Graduate School Abstract This dissertation presents an ethnography of vulnerability in Shishmaref, Alaska. The village of Shishmaref, population 563, faces imminent threat from increasing erosion and flooding events - linked to climatic changes and ecological shift - making the relocation of residents off of the island necessary in the foreseeable future. In spite of ongoing conversations with government agencies since 1974, an organized relocation has yet to occur in Shishmaref. While ecological shift and anthropogenic climate change are no doubt occurring in and around the island, the literature on vulnerability and disaster predicts that social systems contribute at least as much as ecological circumstances to disaster scenarios. This research tests this theory and asks the question: what exactly is causing vulnerability in Shishmaref, Alaska? The resulting dissertation is an exploration of the ecological, historical, social and cultural influences that contribute to vulnerability and risk in Shishmaref. Unlike common representations of climate change and disaster that present the natural environment as a sole driver of risk, this research finds complex systems of decision making, ideologies of development, and cultural assumptions about social life contribute to why Shishmaref residents are exposed to erosion and flooding and why government intervention and planning remains difficult. Table of Contents Page Signature Page .......................................................................................................................i Title Page............................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ............................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents ................................................................................................................iv List of Figures ...................................................................................................................... ix List of Tables ......................................................................................................................... x Chapter 1: Introduction ......................................................................................................1 1.1 Shishmaref is Everywhere........................................................................................1 1.2 Migration and the Environment ...............................................................................2 1.3 Climate Change, Environmental Migration and Shishmaref ................................ 6 1.4 Climate Change as Discourse ................................................................................. 8 1.4 Shishmaref, Alaska: The Familiar ......................................................................... 13 1.5 An Ethnography of Vulnerability .......................................................................... 18 Chapter 2: Methods and Knowledge Making .................................................................23 2.1 Methods .................................................................................................................. 23 2.2 A Personal History of Engagement ....................................................................... 30 2.2.1 2001-2002.................................................................................................... 32 2.2.2 2004-2006.................................................................................................... 33 2.3 Personal Experience as Authority ..........................................................................35 2.4 Multi-Sited Ethnography ........................................................................................36 V 2.4.1 The multi-sited ethnography, an example ................................................... 39 2.4.2 Bringing a ‘site’ back into the research .....................................................41 2.4.3 Island bound ................................................................................................ 43 2.5 Ethnography as Humility ........................................................................................47 2.6 Semi-Directed Interviews .......................................................................................48 2.7 Survey......................................................................................................................50 2.8 Sampling ..................................................................................................................51 2.9 The Reification of Expert ....................................................................................... 53 2.10 Paying Interviewees .................................................................................................55 2.11 A Concluding Discussion ....................................................................................... 59 Chapter 3: Vulnerability, Prelude to Disaster .................................................................60 3.1 Vulnerability to Flooding ....................................................................................... 60 3.1.1 Hazard-centric disaster research ..................................................................65 3.2 What is Vulnerability? .............................................................................................69 3.2.1 Vulnerability in four parts ............................................................................70 3.3 Critique of Vulnerability ........................................................................................ 78 3.4 Vulnerability to Fatalities ....................................................................................... 80 3.4.1 The elephant in the room .............................................................................84 3.5 Vulnerability to Evacuation, Relocation and Diaspora - Why Researchers Fear Environmental Migration .................................................................................... 87 3.5.1 Environmental and forced migration outcomes ..........................................91 3.5.2 Contingency planning ..................................................................................94 vi 3.6 Vulnerability to Loss of Property .......................................................................... 96 3.7 Vulnerability to Flooding .......................................................................................97 Chapter 4: Social -Ecological Systems, the Nexus of Climate and................. History 99 4.1 Social-Ecological Systems .....................................................................................99 4.2 Climate Change in Shishmaref, Alaska ...............................................................100 4.2.1 Weather .......................................................................................................102 4.2.2 Permafrost thaw ..........................................................................................104 4.2.3 Thermokarst ponds......................................................................................105 4.2.4 Freeze up .....................................................................................................107 4.2.5 Coastal erosion ............................................................................................109 4.2.6 Climate change in Shishmaref: A conclusion ........................................... I l l 4.3 What if Anthropogenic Climate Change is Not Causing Erosion in Shishmaref? ..........................................................................................................113 4.3.1 We knew the island would disappear; so why do we live here .................117 4.4 The Island is a Center of Subsistence ...................................................................123 4.4.1 A history of the island people ....................................................................124 4.4.2 Mobility and adaptation