- Decrease text size
- Increase text size
 | Dr. Amanda Stronza Associate Professor Education |
Specialty
Community-based conservation; applied biodiversity sciences, ecotourism; environmental anthropology, ethnographic research; Amazon
Co-Director, NSF-IGERT: Applied Biodiversity Sciences: Bridging Ecology, Culture, and Governance for Effective Conservation. http://biodiversity.tamu.edu/
Director, Amazon Field School (Applied Biodiversity Science Program)
http://biodiversity.tamu.edu/field_school.html
PI, NSF grant: "Cross-Cultural Analysis of Community Participation in Ecotourism"
www.rpts.tamu.edu/css/
Research Direction My research focuses on collective action for conservation.
My goal is to understand the conditions under which individuals come together as groups to protect what they value—whether it be a piece of land, a species, a watershed, a cultural tradition, or a way of life. In places where community conservation has been effective, I look for catalyzing factors that first sparked collective action and then motivated sustained cooperation. I focus on how parks, wilderness areas, and tourism destinations provide incentives and sources of inspiration for community conservation.
My research questions are:
Under what conditions does ecotourism effectively protect biodiversity while also benefiting local communities?
How do conservation programs influence the ways in which people interact with and value nature?
Conversely, how do cultural values influence conservation?
How do encounters between tourists and locals shape perceptions of identity and culture?
Other Professional Experience
Lang Postdoctoral Fellow, Anthropological Sciences, Stanford, 2000-2002
Director, Summer Discovery Institute for Environmental Studies, Stanford, 2002 Advisor, Center for Ecotourism and Sustainable Development
Member, Board of Directors, Global Explorers (http://www.globalexplorers.org) Consultant: Conservation International, The Nature Conservancy, The International Ecotourism Society, Institute for Culture and Ecology
Dr. Stronza is a team member of Sustainable Tourism Systems , a laboratory of the RPTS department. STS serves as an international center for excellence in educational training and research in sustainable development.
Awards Montague-Center for Teaching Excellence Scholar 2006-2007
NSF IGERT-Applied Biodiversity Science Program - Funding opportunity for Graduate Students