Connecticut College: Environmental Science and English Literature Double Major. Graduated May 2004
My dissertation, entitled "The Crumbling Fortress: Nature and Security in Waza National Park," looks at how a convergence of institutional failures, shifting regional and ethnic politics, economic crisis and mercurial NGO interests have led to both ecological decline and threats to the physical and food security of local populations in Northern Cameroon.
I am interested in finding conservation solutions that leave space for social justice, human well-being and security but at the same time preserve biodiversity and ecosystem function.
During my twelve months of field work in Cameroon, I used a combination of sociological (oral histories and participatory observation), remote sensing/GIS (mapping and ground-truthing fires in the region over time), and archival research--looking at past ecological studies and counts, as well as historical management, political and economic documents relating to Waza.
Refereed Articles
Kelly, A.B. Forthcoming. “Property and Negotiation in Waza National Park” Land Deal Politics Initiative Working Paper, Transnational Institute Environmental Justice Program.
Fortmann, L., Baker-Medard, M. and A. B. Kelly. In Press. “Connections: The Next Decade of Rural Sociological Research on Natural Resources and the Environment.” Rural America in a Globalizing World. Ransom, E., Jenson, L. and C. Bailey [ed.s]. Morgantown West Virginia: University of West Virginia Press.
Kelly, A.B. “Conservation practice as primitive accumulation” The Journal of Peasant Studies, 38(4), 683–701.
Kelly, A.B. “Conservation practice as primitive accumulation” Reprinted in Peluso, Nancy L. and Christian Lund (Eds). (In press). New Frontiers of Land Control.New York: Routledge. Chapter 2.
Kelly, A.B., Small, C.J. and G.D. Dryer. 2009. Vegetation classification and invasive species distribution in natural areas of southern New England. Journal of the Torrey Botanical Society 136(4), pp. 500–519.
Technical Reports
2012 Peluso, N.L., Kelly, A.B. and K. Woods. “Context in Land Matters: Access and History in Land Formalization” Review Paper Submitted to Center for International Forestry Research.
Conference Papers
2013 “Context in Land Matters.” Paper (co-authored with Nancy Lee Peluso) to be presented at International Association for the Study of the Commons conference, Mt. Fuji, Japan; June 3-7. Forthcoming.
2013 Organizer of paper session. Giving Back: The Social Relations of Fieldwork. Annual Meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), Los Angeles, CA; April 9-13. Forthcoming.
2013 Organizer and chair for paper session, with Megan Ybarra. Nature, Property and Violence. Annual meeting of the Association of American Geographers (AAG), Los Angeles, CA; April 9-13. Forthcoming.
2012 “Whispering to the Wind: Negotiations over access to natural resources in Waza National Park, Cameroon.” International Academic Conference on Global Land Grabbing II. Land Deal Politics Institute and Cornell Department of Development Sociology. Ithaca, NY, October 18.
2012 “Property Vacuums and the Post-Primitive Accumulation Story. Association of American Geographers Conference, New York, NY. February 27.
2011 “The Crumbling Fortress: A Case Study of Conservation Decline inWaza National Park,Cameroon” African Studies Association Annual Conference: Washington D.C. November 17.
2010 “Against Hardin: National Parks as Commons?” Bay Area Conservation Biology Symposium: University of California, San Francisco. February 20.
2009 “People, Parks and Property in Sub-Saharan Africa.” African Studies Association Annual Conference:New Orleans. November 21.
- Outstanding Graduate Student Instructor Award - 2012
- Small Grant Competition Winner -Land Deal Politics Initiative - 2012
- Simpson Fellowship for International Studies - Institute of International Studies - 2010
- Rocca Dissertation Scholarship for African Studies - Center for African Studies and The Rocca Foundation - 2010
- Rocca Pre-Dissertation Award for African Studies - Center for African Studies and The Rocca Foundation - 2008
- Alexis Bansner Fund for Sustainable Communities - League of Women's Voters - 2008
- Honorable Mention, Graduate Fellowship - National Science Foundation - 2008
- International Affairs Graduate Student Summer Internship (declined) - The Institute on Global Conflict and Cooperation - 2008
- Agroforestry Steering Committee - Peace Corps Cameroon - 2005
- Volunteer Instructor: Documenting Nature (ESPM 198)--Spring 2012
- Graduate Student Instructor: Political Ecology (ESPM 168)--Fall 2011
- Graduate Student Instructor: Political Ecology (ESPM 168)-- Fall 2009
- Graduate Student Instructor: Americans in the Global Forest (ESPM c11)--Fall 2008
Background Information
Before coming to ESPM I was a Peace Corps Volunteer in the Extreme North Province of Cameroon.
During my two years of service I collaborated with my Cameroonian counterparts, both national and local, to develop an ecotourism program in Mozogo-Gokoro National Park.
Together, my counterparts and I secured funds for, and implemented projects to: train local guides, create water sources within the park to reduce human-wildlife conflict, and build an 18km trail system within the park.
While in Cameroon I also worked on agroforestry, improved cookstove, and HIV/AIDS projects in the community in which I lived.
It was through my work with the populations displaced from this national park, seeing their discouragement, suffering, and anger due to lost land, rights and constant harassment from park wildlife with no compensation that I was inspired to come to the University of California, Berkeley to pursue a course of study dedicated to ameliorating such injustices.
