Michael Elias
Datos Biográficos
| ID | 215299 |
|---|---|
| NOMBRE | Michael Elias |
| NOMBRES | Michael |
| APELLIDO | Elias |
| FIRMA | ELIAS M |
| AFILIACIONES | Alliance Bioversity International - CIAT |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-8835-5348 |
| VERIFICADO | Sí |
| TOTAL DE OBRAS | 23 |
| TOTAL DE CITAS | 57 |
| TOTAL COMO AUTOR | 23 |
| TOTAL COMO EDITOR | 0 |
| PRIMER AÑO DE PUBLICACIÓN | 1980 |
| AÑO MÁS RECIENTE DE PUBLICACIÓN | 2025 |
| ÍNDICE H | 5 |
Factors influencing gender equity in ecosystem restoration
Ecosystem restoration is a promising antidote to land and forest degradation and deforestation. Yet, achieving the ecological, social and economic promise of restoration in an equitable way hinges upon socio-institutional factors that remain poorly addressed in restoration theory and practice. This study examines the factors shaping gender equity across 17 restoration projects in Cameroon, Peru and the Philippines. Qualitative data collected thro…
Making agricultural supply chains deliver better for women
How can we contribute to making globally integrated supply chains more inclusive and equitable, especially for women? Answering this question requires the concerted and interconnected efforts of va
A Patchwork of Non-Integrated Others
It has been a long time since I first presented a paper at a Colloquium on Violence & Religion (COV&R) conference, in 1994 in Wiesbaden, entitled “Neck Riddles in Mimetic Theory.” It discusses riddle stories in which a man sentenced to death saves his life by propounding to the judge a riddle that he cannot possibly solve, because it is based on bizarre experiences, unique to the condemned person. This was somewhat similar to what I did in my lec…
Enhancing agency and empowerment in agricultural development projects
Development interventions increasingly include women's empowerment and gender equality among their objectives, but evaluating their impact has been stymied by the lack of measures that are comparable across interventions. This paper synthesizes the findings of 11 mixed-methods impact evaluations of agricultural development projects from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that were part of the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2…
Gender gap in perspectives of the impacts of degradation and restoration on ecosystem services in Ethiopia
The importance of land restoration has garnered increasing attention on the global stage through large‐scale initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge. However, policies and strategies are often gender‐blind and designed in compliance with entrenched social hierarchies, exacerbating pre‐existing social inequalities that affect restoration initiatives. The challenge of developing gender‐responsive policies and initiatives is accentuated by a persiste…
Methodologies for Researching Feminization of Agriculture
An increasing body of literature suggests that agriculture is ‘feminizing’ in many low- and middle-income countries. Definitions of the feminization of agriculture vary, as do interpretations of what drives the expansion of women’s roles in agriculture over time. Understanding whether, how, and why the feminization of agriculture is occurring requires effective research methodologies capable of producing nuanced data. This article builds on six r…
Gendered effects of migration on social organization and smallholder production in Oubritenga Province, Burkina Faso
Shifting and intensifying migration flows are causing profound changes in household structures, livelihood portfolios, and rural landscapes worldwide. Yet, migration trends, including who migrates within the household, whether migration is permanent or temporary, and the relationship the migrant maintains (or not) with the household, have strong geographic particularities. In certain regions of sub-Saharan African, outmigration dominated by able-…
Promoting inclusive facilitation of participatory agricultural research for development
Participatory research is widely practised in agricultural research for development (AR4D). Yet, it is often applied technocratically by facilitators who are ill-prepared to engage with the unequal power relations that embed AR4D. We contend that participatory research has the potential to foster inclusive spaces for local identification of development challenges and solutions but that this requires a skilled and self-reflective facilitation of p…
Trees as brokers in social networks
Indigenous trees play key roles in West African landscapes, such as the néré tree ( Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) R.Br. ex G.Don). We applied social–ecological network analysis to understand the social–ecological interactions around néré. We documented the benefits néré provides and the multiple social interactions it creates amongst a large range of actors. The flows of rights over the trees and benefits from them formed two hierarchical networks, or…
Shea ( Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn.) – a peripheral empire commodity in French West Africa, 1894–1960
Burkinabé women have traded shea kernels and shea butter in periodic local markets, and on a regional scale with the densely-populated West African littoral, for centuries. This paper traces the origins of French colonial efforts to develop shea as a commodity of empire from the 1890s to independence in 1960. Colonial efforts to incorporate Upper Volta, a French colonial backwater, into the world economy was drawn out, heterogenous, and messy. Th…
Shea ( Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn.) – the emergence of global production networks in Burkina Faso, 1960–2021 1
After Burkina Faso's independence, shea butter continues to be the key staple edible oil used by Burkinabe households although alternatives are now being placed in local markets. Shea ( Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn.) is primarily managed as a food tree crop for African consumers but has been promoted as a wild and abundant crop which gives African women cash and empowerment. New international demand for edible Cocoa Butter Equivalents (CBEs) …
Intersecting and dynamic gender rights to néré, a food tree species in Burkina Faso
This study examines women's bundles of rights to exploit the pods of a valuable food-tree species in Burkina Faso, Parkia biglobosa, locally known as néré. In West Africa, néré pods have traditionally been collected and processed by women and sold as soumbala, a highly-valued condiment. Given its value to local livelihoods, néré is a prized tree that is subject to a particular tenure regime. This study investigates the social factors that define …
Unpacking ‘gender’ in joint forest management
Gender inequalities and social exclusions in community-based forest management have garnered attention, particularly in South Asia. Yet, framings that homogenize women and marginalized groups fail to capture the nuanced processes by which such exclusions occur. Despite provisions for women in local community management institutions, numerous constraints hinder their active participation in forest governance. Understanding participation in JFM req…
Making room for manoeuvre
Local gender norms constitute a critical component of the enabling (or disabling) environment for improved agricultural livelihoods - alongside policies, markets, and other institutional dimensions. Yet, they have been largely ignored in agricultural research for development. This viewpoint is based on many years of experience, including a recent major comparative research initiative, GENNOVATE, on how gender norms and agency interact to shape ag…
Fit for purpose? A review of guides for gender-equitable value chain development
This article presents a review of seven guides for gender-equitable value chain development (VCD). The guides advocate persuasively the integration of gender into VCD programming and raise important issues for designing more inclusive interventions. However, gaps persist in their coverage of gender-based constraints in collective enterprises, the influence of norms on gender relations, and processes to transform inequitable relations through VCD.…
Gender Bias Affects Forests Worldwide
Gender biases persist in forestry research and practice. These biases result in reduced scientific rigor and inequitable, ineffective, and less efficient policies, programs, and interventions. Drawing from a two-volume collection of current and classic analyses on gender in forests, we outline five persistent and inter-related themes: gendered governance, tree tenure, forest spaces, division of labor, and ecological knowledge. Each emerges across…
Gender, knowledge-sharing and management of shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) parklands in central-west Burkina Faso
Genre et savoirs
Le rôle et l’image des femmes en milieu rural dans les pays du Sud oscillent aujourd’hui entre les figures d’« actrices » engagées dans la recherche de solutions face aux crises environnementales, de « prédatrices » de la nature et de « victimes » de la dégradation de l’environnement. Or, peu de travaux interrogent les liens entre logiques et normes de genre et changements environnementaux, que ce soit dans le monde académique, politique ou milit…
To process or not to process? Factors enabling and constraining shea butter production and income in Burkina Faso
The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Fair trade has garnered the interest of western consumers seeking 'ethical' products. Inherent to the movement's success are narratives that foster an attachment between reflexive consumers and the distantly situated producers of their goods. These narratives entice consumers to purchase higher priced, quality fair trade products. Drawing on empirical evidence from a case-study of fair trade shea butter produced by women inBurkinaFaso and consume…
The Relationship Between Perceived Teacher and Parental Acceptance, School Conduct, and the Psychological Adjustment of Bangladeshi Adolescents
This study explored the relationship between students’ perceptions of their teachers’ and parents’ (mothers’ and fathers’) acceptance, and teachers’ reports of the students’ conduct in school as well as students’ reports of their own psychological adjustment. The study was conducted on a sample of 200 high school students in Bangladesh. Results showed that, on average, Bangladeshi students perceived their parents and teachers to be fairly loving.…
Serum cortisol, testosterone, and testosterone-binding globulin responses to competitive fighting in human males
Levels of circulating cortisol, testosterone, and testosterone-binding globulin were measured in 15 male wrestlers in relation to wrestling bouts and their outcomes. Concentrations of cortisol and testosterone increased consistently during wrestling bouts, while levels of testosterone-binding globulin dropped. Winners of competive matches showed greater increases in both cortisol and testosterone than losers. These findings indicate that humans, …
The feasibility of dental strontium analysis for diet‐assessment of human populations
It has been suggested that bone and dental strontium contents of extinct terrestrial vertebrates vary in direct proportion to the strontium levels present in the animals' diets. It has been hypothesized that these trace quantities decrease as one moves upward along the food chain—herbivores having more strontium than primary carnivores, primary carnivores more than secondary carnivores, and so on. The present study was desgined to determine the f…
Gender Bias Affects Forests Worldwide
Gender biases persist in forestry research and practice. These biases result in reduced scientific rigor and inequitable, ineffective, and less efficient policies, programs, and interventions. Drawing from a two-volume collection of current and classic analyses on gender in forests, we outline five persistent and inter-related themes: gendered governance, tree tenure, forest spaces, division of labor, and ecological knowledge. Each emerges across…
Unpacking ‘gender’ in joint forest management
Gender inequalities and social exclusions in community-based forest management have garnered attention, particularly in South Asia. Yet, framings that homogenize women and marginalized groups fail to capture the nuanced processes by which such exclusions occur. Despite provisions for women in local community management institutions, numerous constraints hinder their active participation in forest governance. Understanding participation in JFM req…
The feasibility of dental strontium analysis for diet‐assessment of human populations
It has been suggested that bone and dental strontium contents of extinct terrestrial vertebrates vary in direct proportion to the strontium levels present in the animals' diets. It has been hypothesized that these trace quantities decrease as one moves upward along the food chain—herbivores having more strontium than primary carnivores, primary carnivores more than secondary carnivores, and so on. The present study was desgined to determine the f…
Gender, knowledge-sharing and management of shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) parklands in central-west Burkina Faso
Intersecting and dynamic gender rights to néré, a food tree species in Burkina Faso
This study examines women's bundles of rights to exploit the pods of a valuable food-tree species in Burkina Faso, Parkia biglobosa, locally known as néré. In West Africa, néré pods have traditionally been collected and processed by women and sold as soumbala, a highly-valued condiment. Given its value to local livelihoods, néré is a prized tree that is subject to a particular tenure regime. This study investigates the social factors that define …
Enhancing agency and empowerment in agricultural development projects
Development interventions increasingly include women's empowerment and gender equality among their objectives, but evaluating their impact has been stymied by the lack of measures that are comparable across interventions. This paper synthesizes the findings of 11 mixed-methods impact evaluations of agricultural development projects from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that were part of the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2…
Promoting inclusive facilitation of participatory agricultural research for development
Participatory research is widely practised in agricultural research for development (AR4D). Yet, it is often applied technocratically by facilitators who are ill-prepared to engage with the unequal power relations that embed AR4D. We contend that participatory research has the potential to foster inclusive spaces for local identification of development challenges and solutions but that this requires a skilled and self-reflective facilitation of p…
To process or not to process? Factors enabling and constraining shea butter production and income in Burkina Faso
Gendered effects of migration on social organization and smallholder production in Oubritenga Province, Burkina Faso
Shifting and intensifying migration flows are causing profound changes in household structures, livelihood portfolios, and rural landscapes worldwide. Yet, migration trends, including who migrates within the household, whether migration is permanent or temporary, and the relationship the migrant maintains (or not) with the household, have strong geographic particularities. In certain regions of sub-Saharan African, outmigration dominated by able-…
The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Fair trade has garnered the interest of western consumers seeking 'ethical' products. Inherent to the movement's success are narratives that foster an attachment between reflexive consumers and the distantly situated producers of their goods. These narratives entice consumers to purchase higher priced, quality fair trade products. Drawing on empirical evidence from a case-study of fair trade shea butter produced by women inBurkinaFaso and consume…
The Relationship Between Perceived Teacher and Parental Acceptance, School Conduct, and the Psychological Adjustment of Bangladeshi Adolescents
This study explored the relationship between students’ perceptions of their teachers’ and parents’ (mothers’ and fathers’) acceptance, and teachers’ reports of the students’ conduct in school as well as students’ reports of their own psychological adjustment. The study was conducted on a sample of 200 high school students in Bangladesh. Results showed that, on average, Bangladeshi students perceived their parents and teachers to be fairly loving.…
Making agricultural supply chains deliver better for women
How can we contribute to making globally integrated supply chains more inclusive and equitable, especially for women? Answering this question requires the concerted and interconnected efforts of va
Trees as brokers in social networks
Indigenous trees play key roles in West African landscapes, such as the néré tree ( Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) R.Br. ex G.Don). We applied social–ecological network analysis to understand the social–ecological interactions around néré. We documented the benefits néré provides and the multiple social interactions it creates amongst a large range of actors. The flows of rights over the trees and benefits from them formed two hierarchical networks, or…
The feasibility of dental strontium analysis for diet‐assessment of human populations
It has been suggested that bone and dental strontium contents of extinct terrestrial vertebrates vary in direct proportion to the strontium levels present in the animals' diets. It has been hypothesized that these trace quantities decrease as one moves upward along the food chain—herbivores having more strontium than primary carnivores, primary carnivores more than secondary carnivores, and so on. The present study was desgined to determine the f…
Serum cortisol, testosterone, and testosterone-binding globulin responses to competitive fighting in human males
Levels of circulating cortisol, testosterone, and testosterone-binding globulin were measured in 15 male wrestlers in relation to wrestling bouts and their outcomes. Concentrations of cortisol and testosterone increased consistently during wrestling bouts, while levels of testosterone-binding globulin dropped. Winners of competive matches showed greater increases in both cortisol and testosterone than losers. These findings indicate that humans, …
The Relationship Between Perceived Teacher and Parental Acceptance, School Conduct, and the Psychological Adjustment of Bangladeshi Adolescents
This study explored the relationship between students’ perceptions of their teachers’ and parents’ (mothers’ and fathers’) acceptance, and teachers’ reports of the students’ conduct in school as well as students’ reports of their own psychological adjustment. The study was conducted on a sample of 200 high school students in Bangladesh. Results showed that, on average, Bangladeshi students perceived their parents and teachers to be fairly loving.…
To process or not to process? Factors enabling and constraining shea butter production and income in Burkina Faso
The Gift that Keeps on Giving
Fair trade has garnered the interest of western consumers seeking 'ethical' products. Inherent to the movement's success are narratives that foster an attachment between reflexive consumers and the distantly situated producers of their goods. These narratives entice consumers to purchase higher priced, quality fair trade products. Drawing on empirical evidence from a case-study of fair trade shea butter produced by women inBurkinaFaso and consume…
Genre et savoirs
Le rôle et l’image des femmes en milieu rural dans les pays du Sud oscillent aujourd’hui entre les figures d’« actrices » engagées dans la recherche de solutions face aux crises environnementales, de « prédatrices » de la nature et de « victimes » de la dégradation de l’environnement. Or, peu de travaux interrogent les liens entre logiques et normes de genre et changements environnementaux, que ce soit dans le monde académique, politique ou milit…
Gender, knowledge-sharing and management of shea (Vitellaria paradoxa) parklands in central-west Burkina Faso
Gender Bias Affects Forests Worldwide
Gender biases persist in forestry research and practice. These biases result in reduced scientific rigor and inequitable, ineffective, and less efficient policies, programs, and interventions. Drawing from a two-volume collection of current and classic analyses on gender in forests, we outline five persistent and inter-related themes: gendered governance, tree tenure, forest spaces, division of labor, and ecological knowledge. Each emerges across…
Fit for purpose? A review of guides for gender-equitable value chain development
This article presents a review of seven guides for gender-equitable value chain development (VCD). The guides advocate persuasively the integration of gender into VCD programming and raise important issues for designing more inclusive interventions. However, gaps persist in their coverage of gender-based constraints in collective enterprises, the influence of norms on gender relations, and processes to transform inequitable relations through VCD.…
Intersecting and dynamic gender rights to néré, a food tree species in Burkina Faso
This study examines women's bundles of rights to exploit the pods of a valuable food-tree species in Burkina Faso, Parkia biglobosa, locally known as néré. In West Africa, néré pods have traditionally been collected and processed by women and sold as soumbala, a highly-valued condiment. Given its value to local livelihoods, néré is a prized tree that is subject to a particular tenure regime. This study investigates the social factors that define …
Unpacking ‘gender’ in joint forest management
Gender inequalities and social exclusions in community-based forest management have garnered attention, particularly in South Asia. Yet, framings that homogenize women and marginalized groups fail to capture the nuanced processes by which such exclusions occur. Despite provisions for women in local community management institutions, numerous constraints hinder their active participation in forest governance. Understanding participation in JFM req…
Making room for manoeuvre
Local gender norms constitute a critical component of the enabling (or disabling) environment for improved agricultural livelihoods - alongside policies, markets, and other institutional dimensions. Yet, they have been largely ignored in agricultural research for development. This viewpoint is based on many years of experience, including a recent major comparative research initiative, GENNOVATE, on how gender norms and agency interact to shape ag…
Shea ( Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn.) – a peripheral empire commodity in French West Africa, 1894–1960
Burkinabé women have traded shea kernels and shea butter in periodic local markets, and on a regional scale with the densely-populated West African littoral, for centuries. This paper traces the origins of French colonial efforts to develop shea as a commodity of empire from the 1890s to independence in 1960. Colonial efforts to incorporate Upper Volta, a French colonial backwater, into the world economy was drawn out, heterogenous, and messy. Th…
Shea ( Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn.) – the emergence of global production networks in Burkina Faso, 1960–2021 1
After Burkina Faso's independence, shea butter continues to be the key staple edible oil used by Burkinabe households although alternatives are now being placed in local markets. Shea ( Vitellaria paradoxa C. F. Gaertn.) is primarily managed as a food tree crop for African consumers but has been promoted as a wild and abundant crop which gives African women cash and empowerment. New international demand for edible Cocoa Butter Equivalents (CBEs) …
Trees as brokers in social networks
Indigenous trees play key roles in West African landscapes, such as the néré tree ( Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) R.Br. ex G.Don). We applied social–ecological network analysis to understand the social–ecological interactions around néré. We documented the benefits néré provides and the multiple social interactions it creates amongst a large range of actors. The flows of rights over the trees and benefits from them formed two hierarchical networks, or…
Gender gap in perspectives of the impacts of degradation and restoration on ecosystem services in Ethiopia
The importance of land restoration has garnered increasing attention on the global stage through large‐scale initiatives such as the Bonn Challenge. However, policies and strategies are often gender‐blind and designed in compliance with entrenched social hierarchies, exacerbating pre‐existing social inequalities that affect restoration initiatives. The challenge of developing gender‐responsive policies and initiatives is accentuated by a persiste…
Methodologies for Researching Feminization of Agriculture
An increasing body of literature suggests that agriculture is ‘feminizing’ in many low- and middle-income countries. Definitions of the feminization of agriculture vary, as do interpretations of what drives the expansion of women’s roles in agriculture over time. Understanding whether, how, and why the feminization of agriculture is occurring requires effective research methodologies capable of producing nuanced data. This article builds on six r…
Gendered effects of migration on social organization and smallholder production in Oubritenga Province, Burkina Faso
Shifting and intensifying migration flows are causing profound changes in household structures, livelihood portfolios, and rural landscapes worldwide. Yet, migration trends, including who migrates within the household, whether migration is permanent or temporary, and the relationship the migrant maintains (or not) with the household, have strong geographic particularities. In certain regions of sub-Saharan African, outmigration dominated by able-…
Promoting inclusive facilitation of participatory agricultural research for development
Participatory research is widely practised in agricultural research for development (AR4D). Yet, it is often applied technocratically by facilitators who are ill-prepared to engage with the unequal power relations that embed AR4D. We contend that participatory research has the potential to foster inclusive spaces for local identification of development challenges and solutions but that this requires a skilled and self-reflective facilitation of p…
A Patchwork of Non-Integrated Others
It has been a long time since I first presented a paper at a Colloquium on Violence & Religion (COV&R) conference, in 1994 in Wiesbaden, entitled “Neck Riddles in Mimetic Theory.” It discusses riddle stories in which a man sentenced to death saves his life by propounding to the judge a riddle that he cannot possibly solve, because it is based on bizarre experiences, unique to the condemned person. This was somewhat similar to what I did in my lec…
Enhancing agency and empowerment in agricultural development projects
Development interventions increasingly include women's empowerment and gender equality among their objectives, but evaluating their impact has been stymied by the lack of measures that are comparable across interventions. This paper synthesizes the findings of 11 mixed-methods impact evaluations of agricultural development projects from South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa that were part of the Gender, Agriculture, and Assets Project, Phase 2 (GAAP2…
Factors influencing gender equity in ecosystem restoration
Ecosystem restoration is a promising antidote to land and forest degradation and deforestation. Yet, achieving the ecological, social and economic promise of restoration in an equitable way hinges upon socio-institutional factors that remain poorly addressed in restoration theory and practice. This study examines the factors shaping gender equity across 17 restoration projects in Cameroon, Peru and the Philippines. Qualitative data collected thro…
Making agricultural supply chains deliver better for women
How can we contribute to making globally integrated supply chains more inclusive and equitable, especially for women? Answering this question requires the concerted and interconnected efforts of va
Political science (14 obras) · Geography (13 obras) · Economics (11 obras) · Sociology (11 obras) · Agriculture (7 obras) · Business (7 obras) · Economic growth (7 obras) · African Botany and Ecology Studies (6 obras) · Agriculture and Rural Development Research (6 obras) · Conservation, Biodiversity, and Resource Management (5 obras)