A. Clare Gupta

Graduate Student

Education

Dartmouth College, Biology major

Research Interests

political ecology, rural livelihoods, human-wildlife conflict, conservation policy, community-based natural resource management, Botswana

Research Description

My dissertation examines the way in which conservation policy, in relation to broader political economic dynamics, has influenced rural livelihood strategies in a set of villages around Chobe National Park in northern Botswana. More specifically, I am looking at how farming practices have changed in part as a result of increased levels of wildlife disturbance, as well as how community members do (and don't) participate in community based natural resource management projects designed to alleviate some of the costs of living near the park and provide wildlife-based benefits instead. I am also looking at the way in which rural-urban linkages (patterns of migration and remittances) are changing in the context of decreased opportunities for agriculture in these Chobe Enclave villages.

Honors and Awards

 

Graduate Fellowships: Fulbright U.S. Student Scholarship (2009-10), Social Science Research Council International Dissertation Research Fellowship (2009-10), National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellow, Social Science Research Council Dissertation Proposal Development Fellowship (2008), Foreign Language Area Studies Fellowship (academic year 2007-08), Foreign Language Area Studies Fellow (summer fellowship 2007)

Additional Grants: National Science Foundation Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant, Rocca Dissertation Scholarship (2009 declined), Rocca Pre-dissertation Research Grant (2008), Sara’s Wish Fellowship (2008), UC Berkeley Environmental Science Policy and Management departmental conference travel grant 2008-09, UC Berkeley Environmental Science Policy and Management departmental conference travel grant 2007-08, UC Berkeley Environmental Science Policy and Management departmental conference travel grant 2006-07, Dartmouth Reynolds Grant (2004), Dartmouth Dickey Center Grant (2003)

Recent Teaching

ESPM 155: Political Ecology of Food and Agriculture (GSI)