Shankar Aswani
Biographic Data
| ID | 630076 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Shankar Aswani |
| GIVEN NAMES | Shankar |
| FAMILY NAME | Aswani |
| SIGNATURE | ASWANI S |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of California, Santa Barbara |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-6201-0576 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 21 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 150 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 20 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1999 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 7 |
Indigenous marine resource management, decolonisation and development
Globally, Indigenous communities are working to decolonise to contribute to marine management. Although there is an increasing recognition of their value, linguistic and bio-cultural importance, many Indigenous peoples, their marine environments and their cultures are going extinct. Relevant to the UN Ocean Decade Challenge 10 Restore society's relationship with the ocean, the article reviews 200 Indigenous communities facing environmental injust…
Enhancing the livelihood of small-scale fishers in the context of vulnerability
This brief is based on a doctoral study which examined the socio-economic conditions of small-scale fishers on Lake Kariba and identified environmental threats on the fishery. The study further investigated how small-scale fishers adapted to the socio-economic and environmental changes over time to determine interventions for sustainable fisheries management. Primary data was obtained across the fisheries value chain including fishers using a mix…
New Directions in Maritime and Fisheries Anthropology
Maritime and fisheries anthropology is a mixture of different themes couched under various theoretical frameworks that straddle the humanities and the sciences. In this subject survey, I explore different thematic and theoretical strands of maritime and fisheries anthropology and illustrate broader changes in this subdiscipline since around the mid-1990s. I also review developing and future thematic and theoretical research frontiers, and discuss…
Global trends of local ecological knowledge and future implications
Local and indigenous knowledge is being transformed globally, particularly being eroded when pertaining to ecology. In many parts of the world, rural and indigenous communities are facing tremendous cultural, economic and environmental changes, which contribute to weaken their local knowledge base. In the face of profound and ongoing environmental changes, both cultural and biological diversity are likely to be severely impacted as well as local …
Exploring the potential impacts of tourism development on social and ecological change in the Solomon Islands
Planning for the Future
Tourism is a significant driver of social and ecological change in developing countries, particularly in small-island states, which are susceptible to tourism impacts due to their particular social and environmental characteristics. In this article we present a participatory mapping approach to obtaining spatially explicit local perceptions of future environmental and social change resulting from tourism development, as well as addressing the dif…
Cost-Effective Methods for Accurate Determination of Sea Level Rise Vulnerability
For millions of people living along the coastal fringe, sea level rise is perhaps the greatest threat to livelihoods over the coming century. With the refinement and downscaling of global climate models and increasing availability of airborne-lidar-based inundation models, it is possible to predict and quantify these threats with reasonable accuracy where such information is available. For less developed countries, especially small island states,…
Insights from experimental economics on local cooperation in a small-scale fishery management system
Globalization, Pacific Islands, and the paradox of resilience
Environmental Social Sciences
The relationship between human communities and the environment is extremely complex. In order to resolve the issues involved with this relationship, interdisciplinary research combining natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities is necessary. In this 2010 book, specialists summarise methods and research strategies for various aspects of social research devoted to environmental issues. Each chapter is illustrated with ethnographic and envir…
Challenges in Building Insect Ethnobiological Classifications in Roviana, Solomon Islands
Under-differentiating classificatory systems pose methodological problems for cultural domain analysis in particular, and ethnobiology in general. Our analysis suggests the Roviana people from the Western Solomon Islands do not have a word for the category "insects" and their classification scheme for little terrestrial animals is rather generic and undifferentiated in comparison to scientific taxonomy. In most cases the accuracy of cultural doma…
Indigenous Ecological Knowledge as Situated Practices
In this article, we draw on research among fisherfolk of Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, to examine certain epistemological assumptions of the "indigenous knowledge" concept. We describe how approaches to knowledge in Roviana differ from prevailing models of knowledge that distinguish between cognitive aspects and other modalities of knowing. For many Roviana fishers, ecological knowledge is not analytically separated from the changing contexts …
Coastal Ecosystem-Based Management with Nonlinear Ecological Functions and Values
A common assumption is that ecosystem services respond linearly to changes in habitat size. This assumption leads frequently to an “all or none” choice of either preserving coastal habitats or converting them to human use. However, our survey of wave attenuation data from field studies of mangroves, salt marshes, seagrass beds, nearshore coral reefs, and sand dunes reveals that these relationships are rarely linear. By incorporating nonlinear wav…
Lagoon Ecology and Social Strategies
Incorporating Fishermen’s Local Knowledge and Behavior into geographical information Systems (giS) for Designing marine Protected areas in Oceania
Drawing on our experience in establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Roviana and Vonavona Lagoons, New Georgia, Solomon Islands, this paper shows how a geographical information system (GIS) database can be used to incorporate sociospatial information, such as indigenous knowledge and artisanal fishing data, along with biophysical and other information to assist in MPA design. We argue that converting peoples’ knowledge and socioecologic…
Scientific Evaluation in Women’s Participatory Management
This paper summarizes the results of a women’s community-based marine protected area that has been successful in sustaining invertebrate biological resources and in promoting strong community support. We outline the project and the associated biological results, describe the processes involved in attaining a committed level of community participation, and review the lessons learned during the project’s implementation. We attribute the project’s p…
The Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Exchange in Precolonial and Colonial Roviana
Using ethnohistorical, ethnographical, historical, and archaeological evidence, this article reconstructs the development of exchange systems in Roviana, Solomon Islands, and explores their longterm transformation. It suggests that a Roviana system of multiple coexisting standards of valuation of goods and services gained preeminence in precolonial times in the context of a regional exchange system and political expansion and explores this system…
Assessing the Effects of Changing Demographic and Consumption Patterns on Sea Tenure Regimes in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands
This paper investigates how sea tenure institutions in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, mediate among population, consumption, and the environment. The focus is on explaining how growth in population and consumption alter sea tenure regimes, and the factors that shape either their institutional robustness or vulnerability. The paper also addresses the regional differences among sea tenure institutional arrangements, the processes that are pro…
Assessing the Effects of Changing Demographic and Consumption Patterns on Sea Tenure Regimes in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands
This paper investigates how sea tenure institutions in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, mediate among population, consumption, and the environment. The focus is on explaining how growth in population and consumption alter sea tenure regimes, and the factors that shape either their institutional robustness or vulnerability. The paper also addresses the regional differences among sea tenure institutional arrangements, the processes that are pro…
Anthropology and Environment Section
Common Property Models of Sea Tenure
Indigenous Ecological Knowledge as Situated Practices
In this article, we draw on research among fisherfolk of Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, to examine certain epistemological assumptions of the "indigenous knowledge" concept. We describe how approaches to knowledge in Roviana differ from prevailing models of knowledge that distinguish between cognitive aspects and other modalities of knowing. For many Roviana fishers, ecological knowledge is not analytically separated from the changing contexts …
The Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Exchange in Precolonial and Colonial Roviana
Using ethnohistorical, ethnographical, historical, and archaeological evidence, this article reconstructs the development of exchange systems in Roviana, Solomon Islands, and explores their longterm transformation. It suggests that a Roviana system of multiple coexisting standards of valuation of goods and services gained preeminence in precolonial times in the context of a regional exchange system and political expansion and explores this system…
Globalization, Pacific Islands, and the paradox of resilience
Common Property Models of Sea Tenure
Assessing the Effects of Changing Demographic and Consumption Patterns on Sea Tenure Regimes in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands
This paper investigates how sea tenure institutions in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, mediate among population, consumption, and the environment. The focus is on explaining how growth in population and consumption alter sea tenure regimes, and the factors that shape either their institutional robustness or vulnerability. The paper also addresses the regional differences among sea tenure institutional arrangements, the processes that are pro…
New Directions in Maritime and Fisheries Anthropology
Maritime and fisheries anthropology is a mixture of different themes couched under various theoretical frameworks that straddle the humanities and the sciences. In this subject survey, I explore different thematic and theoretical strands of maritime and fisheries anthropology and illustrate broader changes in this subdiscipline since around the mid-1990s. I also review developing and future thematic and theoretical research frontiers, and discuss…
Lagoon Ecology and Social Strategies
Planning for the Future
Tourism is a significant driver of social and ecological change in developing countries, particularly in small-island states, which are susceptible to tourism impacts due to their particular social and environmental characteristics. In this article we present a participatory mapping approach to obtaining spatially explicit local perceptions of future environmental and social change resulting from tourism development, as well as addressing the dif…
Insights from experimental economics on local cooperation in a small-scale fishery management system
Exploring the potential impacts of tourism development on social and ecological change in the Solomon Islands
Challenges in Building Insect Ethnobiological Classifications in Roviana, Solomon Islands
Under-differentiating classificatory systems pose methodological problems for cultural domain analysis in particular, and ethnobiology in general. Our analysis suggests the Roviana people from the Western Solomon Islands do not have a word for the category "insects" and their classification scheme for little terrestrial animals is rather generic and undifferentiated in comparison to scientific taxonomy. In most cases the accuracy of cultural doma…
Assessing the Effects of Changing Demographic and Consumption Patterns on Sea Tenure Regimes in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands
This paper investigates how sea tenure institutions in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, mediate among population, consumption, and the environment. The focus is on explaining how growth in population and consumption alter sea tenure regimes, and the factors that shape either their institutional robustness or vulnerability. The paper also addresses the regional differences among sea tenure institutional arrangements, the processes that are pro…
Common Property Models of Sea Tenure
Assessing the Effects of Changing Demographic and Consumption Patterns on Sea Tenure Regimes in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands
This paper investigates how sea tenure institutions in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, mediate among population, consumption, and the environment. The focus is on explaining how growth in population and consumption alter sea tenure regimes, and the factors that shape either their institutional robustness or vulnerability. The paper also addresses the regional differences among sea tenure institutional arrangements, the processes that are pro…
Assessing the Effects of Changing Demographic and Consumption Patterns on Sea Tenure Regimes in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands
This paper investigates how sea tenure institutions in the Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, mediate among population, consumption, and the environment. The focus is on explaining how growth in population and consumption alter sea tenure regimes, and the factors that shape either their institutional robustness or vulnerability. The paper also addresses the regional differences among sea tenure institutional arrangements, the processes that are pro…
Anthropology and Environment Section
The Archaeology and Ethnohistory of Exchange in Precolonial and Colonial Roviana
Using ethnohistorical, ethnographical, historical, and archaeological evidence, this article reconstructs the development of exchange systems in Roviana, Solomon Islands, and explores their longterm transformation. It suggests that a Roviana system of multiple coexisting standards of valuation of goods and services gained preeminence in precolonial times in the context of a regional exchange system and political expansion and explores this system…
Scientific Evaluation in Women’s Participatory Management
This paper summarizes the results of a women’s community-based marine protected area that has been successful in sustaining invertebrate biological resources and in promoting strong community support. We outline the project and the associated biological results, describe the processes involved in attaining a committed level of community participation, and review the lessons learned during the project’s implementation. We attribute the project’s p…
Incorporating Fishermen’s Local Knowledge and Behavior into geographical information Systems (giS) for Designing marine Protected areas in Oceania
Drawing on our experience in establishing marine protected areas (MPAs) in the Roviana and Vonavona Lagoons, New Georgia, Solomon Islands, this paper shows how a geographical information system (GIS) database can be used to incorporate sociospatial information, such as indigenous knowledge and artisanal fishing data, along with biophysical and other information to assist in MPA design. We argue that converting peoples’ knowledge and socioecologic…
Coastal Ecosystem-Based Management with Nonlinear Ecological Functions and Values
A common assumption is that ecosystem services respond linearly to changes in habitat size. This assumption leads frequently to an “all or none” choice of either preserving coastal habitats or converting them to human use. However, our survey of wave attenuation data from field studies of mangroves, salt marshes, seagrass beds, nearshore coral reefs, and sand dunes reveals that these relationships are rarely linear. By incorporating nonlinear wav…
Lagoon Ecology and Social Strategies
Indigenous Ecological Knowledge as Situated Practices
In this article, we draw on research among fisherfolk of Roviana Lagoon, Solomon Islands, to examine certain epistemological assumptions of the "indigenous knowledge" concept. We describe how approaches to knowledge in Roviana differ from prevailing models of knowledge that distinguish between cognitive aspects and other modalities of knowing. For many Roviana fishers, ecological knowledge is not analytically separated from the changing contexts …
Environmental Social Sciences
The relationship between human communities and the environment is extremely complex. In order to resolve the issues involved with this relationship, interdisciplinary research combining natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities is necessary. In this 2010 book, specialists summarise methods and research strategies for various aspects of social research devoted to environmental issues. Each chapter is illustrated with ethnographic and envir…
Challenges in Building Insect Ethnobiological Classifications in Roviana, Solomon Islands
Under-differentiating classificatory systems pose methodological problems for cultural domain analysis in particular, and ethnobiology in general. Our analysis suggests the Roviana people from the Western Solomon Islands do not have a word for the category "insects" and their classification scheme for little terrestrial animals is rather generic and undifferentiated in comparison to scientific taxonomy. In most cases the accuracy of cultural doma…
Globalization, Pacific Islands, and the paradox of resilience
Cost-Effective Methods for Accurate Determination of Sea Level Rise Vulnerability
For millions of people living along the coastal fringe, sea level rise is perhaps the greatest threat to livelihoods over the coming century. With the refinement and downscaling of global climate models and increasing availability of airborne-lidar-based inundation models, it is possible to predict and quantify these threats with reasonable accuracy where such information is available. For less developed countries, especially small island states,…
Insights from experimental economics on local cooperation in a small-scale fishery management system
Planning for the Future
Tourism is a significant driver of social and ecological change in developing countries, particularly in small-island states, which are susceptible to tourism impacts due to their particular social and environmental characteristics. In this article we present a participatory mapping approach to obtaining spatially explicit local perceptions of future environmental and social change resulting from tourism development, as well as addressing the dif…
Exploring the potential impacts of tourism development on social and ecological change in the Solomon Islands
Global trends of local ecological knowledge and future implications
Local and indigenous knowledge is being transformed globally, particularly being eroded when pertaining to ecology. In many parts of the world, rural and indigenous communities are facing tremendous cultural, economic and environmental changes, which contribute to weaken their local knowledge base. In the face of profound and ongoing environmental changes, both cultural and biological diversity are likely to be severely impacted as well as local …
New Directions in Maritime and Fisheries Anthropology
Maritime and fisheries anthropology is a mixture of different themes couched under various theoretical frameworks that straddle the humanities and the sciences. In this subject survey, I explore different thematic and theoretical strands of maritime and fisheries anthropology and illustrate broader changes in this subdiscipline since around the mid-1990s. I also review developing and future thematic and theoretical research frontiers, and discuss…
Enhancing the livelihood of small-scale fishers in the context of vulnerability
This brief is based on a doctoral study which examined the socio-economic conditions of small-scale fishers on Lake Kariba and identified environmental threats on the fishery. The study further investigated how small-scale fishers adapted to the socio-economic and environmental changes over time to determine interventions for sustainable fisheries management. Primary data was obtained across the fisheries value chain including fishers using a mix…
Indigenous marine resource management, decolonisation and development
Globally, Indigenous communities are working to decolonise to contribute to marine management. Although there is an increasing recognition of their value, linguistic and bio-cultural importance, many Indigenous peoples, their marine environments and their cultures are going extinct. Relevant to the UN Ocean Decade Challenge 10 Restore society's relationship with the ocean, the article reviews 200 Indigenous communities facing environmental injust…
Geography (18 works) · Environmental resource management (11 works) · Sociology (10 works) · Biology (9 works) · Economics (9 works) · Ecology (8 works) · Ecology (8 works) · Coral and Marine Ecosystems Studies (7 works) · Environmental Science (7 works) · Island Studies and Pacific Affairs (7 works)