Cynthia S Simmons

Biographic Data

ID1340342
NAMECynthia S Simmons
GIVEN NAMESCynthia S
FAMILY NAMESimmons
SIGNATURESIMMONS C S
AFFILIATIONSMichigan State University
ORCID0000-0003-0950-841X
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS24
TOTAL CITATIONS312
AUTHOR COUNT24
EDITOR COUNT0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR1997
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2025
H-INDEX10

  • Stimulating reciprocity: How human–plant relations support Indigenous cultural revitalization and stewardship in the Ecuadorian Amazon

    Open AccessJoel E Correia, Justino Piaguage Lucitante et al.ARTICLEPeople and Nature2025

    Human–plant relations shed light on forms of reciprocity in Indigenous territorial stewardship. This article shows how Cofán, Siona and Siekopai (also Secoya or Airo Pai in Peru) Indigenous Peoples in the western Amazon collect, cultivate and use yoco ( Paullinia yoco ) to promote communal conviviality, reclaim once‐threatened cultural practices and advance new forms of collective stewardship to promote social‐ecological well‐being. Yoco is a caf…

  • Biocultural Geographies: Stewardship, Indigenous Territories, and Conservation in Ecuador's Amazon

    Open AccessJoel E Correia, Robert Toovey Walker et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the American…2025References: 98

    This article advances geographic scholarship about conservation and protected areas (PAs) through a focus on biocultural geographies. Biocultural geographies derive from relationships between heterogenous Indigenous stewardship practices, biological diversity, and trans-scalar multidimensional social, political, and ecological processes. The concept brings together insights from political ecology and biocultural conservation to address the interp…

  • Harvesting dilemmas

    Open AccessRamon Felipe Bicudo Da Silva, Ramon Silva et al.ARTICLEOne Earth2024

  • Globalized supply chains: Emergent telecouplings in Mexico’s beef economy and environmental leakages

    Open AccessYankuic Galván-Miyoshi, Cynthia S Simmons et al.ARTICLEGlobal Environmental Change2022Cited by: 2References: 1

  • Land grabbing in the Brazilian Amazon: Stealing public land with government approval

    Open AccessGabriel Cardoso Carrero, Robert Walker et al.ARTICLELand Use Policy2022Cited by: 7References: 31

  • Avoiding Amazonian Catastrophes: Prospects for Conservation in the 21st Century

    Open AccessRobert Toovey Walker, Cynthia S Simmons et al.ARTICLEOne Earth2019

  • Discipline and Develop: Destruction of the Brazil Nut Forest in the Lower Amazon Basin

    Open AccessCynthia S Simmons, Robert Toovey Walker et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the American…2019Cited by: 3References: 70

    This article considers Amazonian environmental change by focusing on political and economic processes in a place-specific context with far-reaching global implications. In particular, we consider the destruction of the Brazil nut forest (BNF) in the lower basin. The Brazil nut tree yields a valuable nontimber forest product, and its loss raises concerns about Amazonia’s agro-ecological sustainability. The article posits the destruction of the BNF…

  • Framing Sustainability in a Telecoupled World

    Open AccessJianguo Liu, Vanessa Hull et al.ARTICLEConservation Ecology2013Cited by: 63

    Liu, J., V. Hull, M. Batistella, R. DeFries, T. Dietz, F. Fu, T. W. Hertel, R. C. Izaurralde, E. F. Lambin, S. Li, L. A. Martinelli, W. J. McConnell, E. F. Moran, R. Naylor, Z. Ouyang, K. R. Polenske, A. Reenberg, G. de Miranda Rocha, C. S. Simmons, P. H. Verburg, P. M. Vitousek, F. Zhang, and C. Zhu. 2013. Framing sustainability in a telecoupled world. Ecology and Society 18(2): 26. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05873-180226

  • Contentious Land Change in the Amazon's Arc of Deforestation

    Stephen Aldrich, Robert Toovey Walker et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the Association of…2012Cited by: 20References: 76

    Land change in the Amazon is driven by numerous factors including fiscal incentives, infrastructure, transportation costs, migration, and household decision making. Largely missing from the story to date, however, is the role of contentious social processes, including contention over land resources. By employing a case study of land conflict over a largeholding in southeastern Pará, Brazil, and a regional-scale statistical model, we describe cont…

  • The social viability and environmental sustainability of direct action land reform settlements in the Amazon

    Open AccessFlavia L Leite, Flavia Leite et al.ARTICLEEnvironment Development and…2011

  • The Amazonian Theater of Cruelty

    Robert Toovey Walker, Robert Walker et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the Association of…2011Cited by: 4References: 2

    This article deploys the “Theater of Cruelty,” articulated by the French surrealist Antonin Artaud, as a conceptual heuristic to explicate the empirical world of contemporary Amazonia, in particular the “South of Pará,” a site of land war and forest destruction, which the Theater of Cruelty posits as a single dramatic event. We pursue this explication via direct physical immersion, in the form of a travelogue following State Road PA-150 from Mara…

  • Intraregional Migration, Direct Action Land Reform, and New Land Settlements in the Brazilian Amazon

    Open AccessStephen G Perz, Flavia Leite et al.ARTICLEBulletin of Latin American Research2010Cited by: 10References: 10

    This article analyses migration histories of residents in rural settlements of the Brazilian Amazon that resulted from direct action land reform (DALR), which involves organised land occupations. Our analysis evaluates two hypotheses. The 'urban migration' expectation asserts that urban experience is important for DALR participation, which links rural and urban areas via migration for land occupations. The 'DALR efficacy' hypothesis argues that m…

  • Doing it for Themselves: Direct Action Land Reform in the Brazilian Amazon

    Open AccessCynthia S Simmons, Cynthia Simmons et al.ARTICLEWorld Development2009Cited by: 16References: 12

  • Ranching and the new global range: Amazônia in the 21st century

    Open AccessRobert Toovey Walker, Robert Walker et al.ARTICLEGeoforum2008Cited by: 57References: 15

  • Theorizing Land Cover and Land Use Change: The Peasant Economy of Amazonian Deforestation

    Marcellus M Caldas, Marcellus Caldas et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the Association of…2007Cited by: 24References: 88

    This article addresses deforestation processes in the Amazon basin, using regression analysis to assess the impact of household structure and economic circumstances on land use decisions made by colonist farmers in the forest frontiers of Brazil. Unlike many previous regression-based studies, the methodology implemented analyzes behavior at the level of the individual property, using both survey data and information derived from the classificatio…

  • The Amazon Land War in the South of Pará

    Cynthia S Simmons, Robert Toovey Walker et al.ARTICLEAnnals of the Association of…2007Cited by: 27References: 45

    The South of Pará, located in the heart of the Brazilian Amazon, has become notorious for violent land struggle. Although land conflict has a long history in Brazil, and today impacts many parts of the country, violence is most severe and persistent here. The purpose of this article is to examine why. Specifically, we consider how a particular Amazonian place, the so-called South of Pará, has come to be known as Brazil's most dangerous badland. W…

  • Refining landscape change models through outlier analysis in the Muskegon watershed of Michigan

    Patricia L Machemer, Patricia Machemer et al.ARTICLELandscape Research2006References: 32

    Balancing natural resource protection and urban development is of concern to researchers, planners and citizens who are aware of the environmental, social and economic impacts of urban land use. Land-use change models can assist in finding this balance. An objective of this research was to build a better model of land-use change by integrating quantitative and qualitative techniques. A modelling approach is presented that combines statistical log…

  • Territorializing land conflict: Space, place, and contentious politics in the Brazilian Amazon

    Open AccessCynthia S SimmonsARTICLEGeoJournal2005Cited by: 15References: 25

  • The Political Economy of Land Conflict in the Eastern Brazilian Amazon

    Cynthia S SimmonsARTICLEAnnals of the Association of…2004Cited by: 34References: 52

    An important goal of regional development in the Brazilian Amazon was to enhance social welfare and alleviate dire poverty in other parts of the country by providing land to the poor. Nevertheless, both poverty and landlessness have persisted despite development policies that distributed billions of dollars on highway construction, loans, and outright subsidies. Inequitable land distribution has been held as a prime factor in land conflict across…

  • Writing the Siege of Leningrad: Women's Diaries, Memoirs and Documentary Prose

    Tatiana Smorodinska, Cynthia S Simmons et al.ARTICLEThe Slavic and East European…2003

  • The Local Articulation of Policy Conflict: Land Use, Environment, and Amerindian Rights in Eastern Amazonia

    Cynthia S SimmonsARTICLEThe Professional Geographer2002Cited by: 20

    The Brazilian government has promoted development in Amazonia for over forty years. Nevertheless, improvement of rural conditions has been limited. Although tropical deforestation has been the premier concern in discussions about Amazonia, this article focuses instead on the human dimensions of development and the apparent failings of social policy in the region. In so doing, the article argues that what we observe today represents the consequenc…

  • Gender Politics in the Western Balkans: Women and Society in Yugoslavia and the Yugoslav Successor States

    Cynthia S Simmons, Cynthia Simmons et al.ARTICLEThe Slavic and East European…2001

  • Cafe Europa: Life after Communism

    Cynthia S Simmons, Cynthia Simmons et al.ARTICLEThe Slavic and East European…1998

  • Forest management practices in the Bayano region of Panama: Cultural variations

    Open AccessCynthia S SimmonsARTICLEWorld Development1997Cited by: 10References: 5