Louise P. Fortmann

Professor
Ph.D.  
  

121 Giannini Hall
Berkeley, California 94720
fortmann@nature.berkeley.edu
office: 510-642-7018   lab: 510-642-7018   fax:  510-642-6847

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I am a rural sociologist. My students and I study the outcomes of natural resource use and management for individuals and communities. My students work all over the world. My own research is conducted in California and southern Africa. Our combined research addresses five interrelated issues:

(1) Gender: How do women and men differ in their access to, control of, management of, and responsibility for providing natural resources and natural resource products? What are the social and ecological consequences of these differences?

(2) Property: How are property rights and claims to natural resources structured and distributed, and how does this structure affect individuals and communities dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods?

(3) Poverty: What is the extent, nature, and distribution of poverty among natural resource dependent households and communities, and what are the causes of this pattern of poverty?

(4) Community Control of Natural Resources: What factors facilitate or impede community control and management of natural resources? What are the social and ecological outcomes of community control and management of natural resources?

(5) Knowledge Production: Under what conditions are participatory research methods effective? What social structures and processes facilitate successful collaboration between professional scientists and local researchers who may not be professionally trained?

In collaboration with Dr. Nontokozo Nemarundwe, a Zimbabwean social scientist, I am conducting a longitudinal study of access to tree products under circumstances of major social change, including the HIV/AIDS epidemic and the collapse of the Zimbabwean economy.

In collaboration with colleagues at eight sites in six countries, I have been exploring participatory research processes. Our current focus is on the different viewpoints of professional scientists and local researchers who may not be professionally trained.