IOWC Graduate Assistants
Caroline Worth Seagle
Caroline, an accomplished classical pianist and alto saxophonist, completed her BA at McGill in anthropology with a minor in environment. Her undergraduate honours thesis was entitled, “The role of the pre-colonial and colonial states in shaping environmental policy and deforestation in Madagascar: a combination of human agency and natural causes.” She is currently pursuing an MSc in anthropology at the Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam under the supervision of Dr. Sandra Evers. Her Masters research will examine local perceptions of the Rio Tinto/QMM ilmenite (titanium dioxide) mining project in Fort Dauphin, Southeast Madagascar. As her research utilizes a political ecological perspective, she is particularly concerned with the links between socioeconomic and environmental impacts of the mining; she will therefore consider how the coastal development affects local livelihoods by rearranging notions of land ownership and natural resource use and access, and by causing environmental change.
In addition to working as a research assistant at the IOWC for over a year, assisting in the organization of conferences, workshops, and guest speakers as well helping to launch a historic mapping project utilizing GIS (Geographic Information Systems), Caroline has traveled and volunteered in Kenya, Egypt, and Tanzania and much of Europe, most recently carrying out independent research in a mangrove forest in Southwest Madagascar for Blue Ventures, a marine conservation NGO. Working with three members of the local Vezo community, both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in order to better understand mangrove forest structure and local use-values of different species (e.g. for food, building material, and medicine). The project also involved the construction of a community drawn map of the area, which was used alongside satellite images of the region.
Caroline's Conference Papers Include:
Discourse, Development, and Legitimacy: Re-considering the Environmental and Socioeconomic Risks of the Rio Tinto/QIT Mining Project in Fort Dauphin, Southeast Madagascar presented at the "IOWC Workshop on Humans, History, Health, and the Environment in Madagascar" on October 11th, 2008 at McGill University, Montreal, QC. (Chair: Susan Kus, Rhodes College).
Valuing Madagascar's Mangroves: Links between Subsistence Livelihoods, Forest Conservation and Coastal Development presented at The First IOWC Graduate Conference on Africa at McGill University, Montreal, April 28th, 2008 (Chair: Scott Matter, McGill University).
Mangrove Forest Ecology and Subsistence Use-Values in Belavenoke, Southwest Madagascar presented at the 2008 CAAS (Canadian Association for African Studies) Conference: 'Reflecting on Africa's Riches: Resources, Conflict and Exploitation' at the University of Alberta, Edmonton, May 1st-4th, 2008 (Chair: Caroline Seagle, IOWC).
