Colin Thor West
Biographic Data
| ID | 630145 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Colin Thor West |
| GIVEN NAMES | Colin Thor |
| FAMILY NAME | West |
| SIGNATURE | WEST C T |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-6760-8801 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 18 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 60 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 18 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2003 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2023 |
| H-INDEX | 4 |
Measuring the environmental context of child growth in Burkina Faso
Overcoming the Boundaries of History: Extracting Land Use and Land Cover Features from Archival Maps of Northern Burkina Faso Using GIS Software
Archival maps provide a valuable way to explore historical environmental data collected before the use of satellite imagery. Archival maps in their physical form cannot readily be used, however, beyond what the original cartographer intended. In this project, we describe a manual method to bring scanned archival maps into digital form using common tools in a geographic information systems (GIS) software platform. We rely on the important context …
Protocols for Conducting Drone Fieldwork in Togo, West Africa
Fieldwork is a hallmark of anthropology and the experience of being in the field features prominently in scholarly works. The processes by which anthropologists obtain permission to conduct fieldwork, however, are rarely described. The study presented here discusses in substantial detail how a research project in Togo, West Africa obtained official authorization to conduct un-crewed aerial vehicle (UAV or "drone") fieldwork. Anthropologists are c…
Les Promenades D’Études au Burkina Faso: Recherche Méthodologique
Cet article présente les résultats des travaux de transects (en français— les promenades d’étude) et de cartographie participative effectués au Burkina Faso. Depuis la sécheresse qui a sévit au Sahel dans les années 1970, les chercheurs ont décrit la région Sahélienne de l’Afrique de l’Ouest comme un environnement subissant une dégradation continue. Cette description explicative persistante est restée associé à la région. Récemment, les analyses …
Walking the Line: Conducting Transect Walks in Burkina Faso
In this article we present results from transect walks and participatory mapping done in Burkina Faso. Since the Sahelian drought of the 1970s, researchers have continued to depict the Sahelian region of West Africa as an environment experiencing severe degradation; a narrative that persists over time. Recently, however, analyses of satellite imagery have identified remarkable patterns of greening across the Sahel. The causes of this greening are…
Participatory Mapping with Herders in a Climate Adaptation Research Project
Declining grazing lands threaten the livelihoods of Fulɓe herders in Burkina Faso and other parts of Africa. I used GIS to spatially represent ethnographic narratives about land use and land cover changes. In a place where maps were unavailable or treated as closely held community secrets, I used participatory mapping to offer participants the opportunity to control the process and resulting maps. Our project sought to understand environmental ch…
Participatory Mapping with High-resolution Satellite Imagery: A Mixed Method Assessment of Land Degradation and Rehabilitation in Northern Burkina Faso
Sahelian West Africa is a region that has high population densities and that has frequent severe droughts and enormous pressure on natural resources. Because of these challenges, it is the place where the term desertification was originally coined. Recently, however, experts have identified large zones of greening where the amount of vegetation exceeds what one would expect based on rainfall alone. This pattern is well documented, but its mechani…
Ground-Truthing Sahelian Greening: Ethnographic and Spatial Evidence from Burkina Faso
Unraveling the Sikasso Paradox: Agricultural Change and Malnutrition in Sikasso, Mali
When cash cropping leads to agricultural and livelihood changes in the Global South, concern about food security is common among policy makers. This is indeed the case in the Sikasso region of Mali, where many have suggested that the ubiquitous cash crop cotton is a cause of the unexpectedly high rates of malnutrition in the region. Using household and forest surveys, we found little evidence that cotton cultivation is associated with malnutritio…
Public and Private Responses to Food Insecurity: Complementarity in B urkina F aso
This article explores the contemporary context of food insecurity in M ossi communities of the northern C entral P lateau region of B urkina F aso. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative ethnographic field data from three time periods, the research illustrates how public and private responses to seasonal food insecurity are improving and becoming more appropriate to local contexts. The G overnment of B urkina F aso and NGOs have invested in impr…
Seasonal Climate Variation and Caribou Availability: Modeling Sequential Movement Using Satellite-Relocation Data
Nicolson, C., M. Berman, C. Thor West, G. P. Kofinas, B. Griffith, D. Russell, and D. Dugan. 2013. Seasonal climate variation and caribou availability: modeling sequential movement using satellite-relocation data. Ecology and Society 18(2): 1. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05376-180201
The survey of living conditions in the Arctic (SLiCA): A comparative sustainable livelihoods assessment
Household Extension and Fragmentation: Investigating the Socio-Environmental Dynamics of Mossi Domestic Transitions
Domestic Transitions, Desiccation, Agricultural Intensification, and Livelihood Diversification among Rural Households on the Central Plateau, Burkina Faso
Understanding how and why domestic groups alter their function and form has long been a theme within anthropology. Numerous accounts have detailed the processes that drive household transformations and their underlying mechanisms. Mostly, these studies describe how domestic groups fission and fuse between extended and nuclear forms. In recent years, scholars have emphasized that these transformations should be understood within larger contexts of…
"Introduction to "In Focus: Global Change and Adaptation in Local Places
In recognition of unavoidable changes that human actions are producing in our environment, the term adaptation has become ubiquitous in the environmental and climate-change literature. Human adaptation is a field with a significant history in anthropology, yet anthropological contributions to the burgeoning field of climate change remain limited. This "In Focus" section presents studies of local adaptations to climate variation and change. Each i…
Misreading the Arizona Landscape: Reframing Analyses of Environmental Degradation in Southeastern Arizona
Landscape change in southeastern Arizona represents one of the most thoroughly studied examples of long-term ecological and hydrological change in the American West. Researchers have documented the diminution of grassland and alteration of rivers using historical texts, matched photographs, transects, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery. Their results generally paint a picture of widespread and irreversible ecological decline. In many cases…
White: Speaking with Vampires: Rumor and History in Colonial Africa
A comparative assessment of climate vulnerability: Agriculture and ranching on both sides of the US–Mexico border
A comparative assessment of climate vulnerability: Agriculture and ranching on both sides of the US–Mexico border
"Introduction to "In Focus: Global Change and Adaptation in Local Places
In recognition of unavoidable changes that human actions are producing in our environment, the term adaptation has become ubiquitous in the environmental and climate-change literature. Human adaptation is a field with a significant history in anthropology, yet anthropological contributions to the burgeoning field of climate change remain limited. This "In Focus" section presents studies of local adaptations to climate variation and change. Each i…
Domestic Transitions, Desiccation, Agricultural Intensification, and Livelihood Diversification among Rural Households on the Central Plateau, Burkina Faso
Understanding how and why domestic groups alter their function and form has long been a theme within anthropology. Numerous accounts have detailed the processes that drive household transformations and their underlying mechanisms. Mostly, these studies describe how domestic groups fission and fuse between extended and nuclear forms. In recent years, scholars have emphasized that these transformations should be understood within larger contexts of…
Household Extension and Fragmentation: Investigating the Socio-Environmental Dynamics of Mossi Domestic Transitions
Public and Private Responses to Food Insecurity: Complementarity in B urkina F aso
This article explores the contemporary context of food insecurity in M ossi communities of the northern C entral P lateau region of B urkina F aso. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative ethnographic field data from three time periods, the research illustrates how public and private responses to seasonal food insecurity are improving and becoming more appropriate to local contexts. The G overnment of B urkina F aso and NGOs have invested in impr…
Measuring the environmental context of child growth in Burkina Faso
Participatory Mapping with High-resolution Satellite Imagery: A Mixed Method Assessment of Land Degradation and Rehabilitation in Northern Burkina Faso
Sahelian West Africa is a region that has high population densities and that has frequent severe droughts and enormous pressure on natural resources. Because of these challenges, it is the place where the term desertification was originally coined. Recently, however, experts have identified large zones of greening where the amount of vegetation exceeds what one would expect based on rainfall alone. This pattern is well documented, but its mechani…
A comparative assessment of climate vulnerability: Agriculture and ranching on both sides of the US–Mexico border
White: Speaking with Vampires: Rumor and History in Colonial Africa
Misreading the Arizona Landscape: Reframing Analyses of Environmental Degradation in Southeastern Arizona
Landscape change in southeastern Arizona represents one of the most thoroughly studied examples of long-term ecological and hydrological change in the American West. Researchers have documented the diminution of grassland and alteration of rivers using historical texts, matched photographs, transects, aerial photographs, and satellite imagery. Their results generally paint a picture of widespread and irreversible ecological decline. In many cases…
Domestic Transitions, Desiccation, Agricultural Intensification, and Livelihood Diversification among Rural Households on the Central Plateau, Burkina Faso
Understanding how and why domestic groups alter their function and form has long been a theme within anthropology. Numerous accounts have detailed the processes that drive household transformations and their underlying mechanisms. Mostly, these studies describe how domestic groups fission and fuse between extended and nuclear forms. In recent years, scholars have emphasized that these transformations should be understood within larger contexts of…
"Introduction to "In Focus: Global Change and Adaptation in Local Places
In recognition of unavoidable changes that human actions are producing in our environment, the term adaptation has become ubiquitous in the environmental and climate-change literature. Human adaptation is a field with a significant history in anthropology, yet anthropological contributions to the burgeoning field of climate change remain limited. This "In Focus" section presents studies of local adaptations to climate variation and change. Each i…
Household Extension and Fragmentation: Investigating the Socio-Environmental Dynamics of Mossi Domestic Transitions
The survey of living conditions in the Arctic (SLiCA): A comparative sustainable livelihoods assessment
Seasonal Climate Variation and Caribou Availability: Modeling Sequential Movement Using Satellite-Relocation Data
Nicolson, C., M. Berman, C. Thor West, G. P. Kofinas, B. Griffith, D. Russell, and D. Dugan. 2013. Seasonal climate variation and caribou availability: modeling sequential movement using satellite-relocation data. Ecology and Society 18(2): 1. https://doi.org/10.5751/ES-05376-180201
Public and Private Responses to Food Insecurity: Complementarity in B urkina F aso
This article explores the contemporary context of food insecurity in M ossi communities of the northern C entral P lateau region of B urkina F aso. Drawing on quantitative and qualitative ethnographic field data from three time periods, the research illustrates how public and private responses to seasonal food insecurity are improving and becoming more appropriate to local contexts. The G overnment of B urkina F aso and NGOs have invested in impr…
Ground-Truthing Sahelian Greening: Ethnographic and Spatial Evidence from Burkina Faso
Unraveling the Sikasso Paradox: Agricultural Change and Malnutrition in Sikasso, Mali
When cash cropping leads to agricultural and livelihood changes in the Global South, concern about food security is common among policy makers. This is indeed the case in the Sikasso region of Mali, where many have suggested that the ubiquitous cash crop cotton is a cause of the unexpectedly high rates of malnutrition in the region. Using household and forest surveys, we found little evidence that cotton cultivation is associated with malnutritio…
Les Promenades D’Études au Burkina Faso: Recherche Méthodologique
Cet article présente les résultats des travaux de transects (en français— les promenades d’étude) et de cartographie participative effectués au Burkina Faso. Depuis la sécheresse qui a sévit au Sahel dans les années 1970, les chercheurs ont décrit la région Sahélienne de l’Afrique de l’Ouest comme un environnement subissant une dégradation continue. Cette description explicative persistante est restée associé à la région. Récemment, les analyses …
Walking the Line: Conducting Transect Walks in Burkina Faso
In this article we present results from transect walks and participatory mapping done in Burkina Faso. Since the Sahelian drought of the 1970s, researchers have continued to depict the Sahelian region of West Africa as an environment experiencing severe degradation; a narrative that persists over time. Recently, however, analyses of satellite imagery have identified remarkable patterns of greening across the Sahel. The causes of this greening are…
Participatory Mapping with Herders in a Climate Adaptation Research Project
Declining grazing lands threaten the livelihoods of Fulɓe herders in Burkina Faso and other parts of Africa. I used GIS to spatially represent ethnographic narratives about land use and land cover changes. In a place where maps were unavailable or treated as closely held community secrets, I used participatory mapping to offer participants the opportunity to control the process and resulting maps. Our project sought to understand environmental ch…
Participatory Mapping with High-resolution Satellite Imagery: A Mixed Method Assessment of Land Degradation and Rehabilitation in Northern Burkina Faso
Sahelian West Africa is a region that has high population densities and that has frequent severe droughts and enormous pressure on natural resources. Because of these challenges, it is the place where the term desertification was originally coined. Recently, however, experts have identified large zones of greening where the amount of vegetation exceeds what one would expect based on rainfall alone. This pattern is well documented, but its mechani…
Overcoming the Boundaries of History: Extracting Land Use and Land Cover Features from Archival Maps of Northern Burkina Faso Using GIS Software
Archival maps provide a valuable way to explore historical environmental data collected before the use of satellite imagery. Archival maps in their physical form cannot readily be used, however, beyond what the original cartographer intended. In this project, we describe a manual method to bring scanned archival maps into digital form using common tools in a geographic information systems (GIS) software platform. We rely on the important context …
Protocols for Conducting Drone Fieldwork in Togo, West Africa
Fieldwork is a hallmark of anthropology and the experience of being in the field features prominently in scholarly works. The processes by which anthropologists obtain permission to conduct fieldwork, however, are rarely described. The study presented here discusses in substantial detail how a research project in Togo, West Africa obtained official authorization to conduct un-crewed aerial vehicle (UAV or "drone") fieldwork. Anthropologists are c…
Measuring the environmental context of child growth in Burkina Faso
Geography (17 works) · Ecology (11 works) · Environmental resource management (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Agriculture (7 works) · Agriculture and Rural Development Research (7 works) · Environmental Science (7 works) · Economics (6 works) · Livelihood (6 works) · Rangeland Management and Livestock Ecology (6 works)