Context and motivation:
If nature is now considered under threat on a global scale, conservation scientists must recognize that the understanding of the concept of nature itself is not shared worldwide (Descola, 2013). Hence, this “contested concept” (Ginn & Demeritt, 2009) appears to depend on history and geography (Demeritt, 2002), requiring specification in context (Ellen, 1996), which makes translating nature challenging (Sturtevant, 1964; Youn et al., 2015).
Ducarme et al (2021) analyze the diversity of the words used to translate nature in a conservation context in 76 of the primary languages of the world to identify the different relationships between human and nature. Different linguistic families shared the same roots across large cultural areas that correlate with the distribution of major religions. According to the interpretations, they gathered the words into 5 different clusters: birth, proliferation, spontaneity, what follow rules, and original mark.
Their major finding was that in most languages of the world, the original meaning of the word for nature had a strongly active and dynamic meaning, referring to a property rather than a set of objects, whereas Semitic languages stood apart, expressing a passive state rather than a dynamic process. They argue that the diversity of representations of nature across languages and cultures may help science develop richer visions of the nature at stake in conservation so that scientists and societies can develop a diversity of corresponding criteria (Karp et al., 2015).
Objective of the internship:
The primary objective of the internship is to conduct an analysis on the behavior of humans concerning the preservation of biodiversity on the basis of human concepts associated with nature building on the findings from Ducarme et al. (2021). Specifically, the intern will review the relationship between human concepts of nature and environmental performance and, optionally, will investigate this relationship through a set of regressions at the country level. This internship will be developed in the framework of the De Vinci Higher Education (DVHE) mission on sustainable development.
Profile sought:
– Master’s student (M1 or M2) in management, engineering, economics, or related fields
– Optionally, familiarity with statistical packages (R, Stata, Eviews, other…)
Deliverables:
A report on the relationship between the perceptions attached to nature and environmental performance containing:
– A comprehensive literature review
– Data gathering and optionally statistical analyses
– Recommendations for stakeholders and policymakers
Duration:
4 months starting in January-March 2025.
Location:
Ecole de Management Léonard de Vinci, 12 Av. Léonard de Vinci, 92400 Courbevoie.
Remuneration:
900 euros/month.
Supervisor:
– Laura Recuero Virto, ELMV (laura.recuero_virto@devinci.fr)
Other project members:
– Frédéric DUCARME (Centre d’Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, UMR 7204, 61 rue Buffon, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris)
– Denis COUVET (Centre d’Ecologie et des Sciences de la Conservation, UMR 7204, 61 rue Buffon, Museum National d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris)
Application:
Candidates should send a CV, cover letter, and academic transcripts to the supervisor at the email address above.
References:
Demeritt D. 2002. What is the “social construction of nature”? A typology and sympathetic critique. Progress in Human Geography 26:767–790.
Descola P. 2013. Beyond nature and culture. Chicago University Press, Chicago, Illinois.
Ducarme F, Flipo F, Couvet D. 2021. How the diversity of human concepts of nature affects conservation of biodiversity. Conservation biology: the journal of the Society for Conservation Biology, 35(3), 1019–1028.
Ellen R. 1996. The cognitive geometry of nature. A contextual approach. Pages 103–123 in Descola P, Palsson G, editors. Nature and society: anthropological perspectives. Taylor & Francis.
Ginn F, Demeritt D. 2009. Nature: a contested concept. Key concepts in geography. SAGE, London.
Karp DS, Mendenhall CD, Callaway E, Frishkoff LO, Kareiva PM, Ehrlich PR, Daily GC. 2015. Confronting and resolving competing values behind conservation objectives. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 112:11132–11137.
Norton BG, Noonan D. 2007. Ecology and valuation: big changes needed. Ecological Economics 63:664–675.
Sturtevant WW. 1964. Studies in ethnoscience. American Anthropologist 66:99–131.
Youn H, et al. 2015. On the universal structure of human lexical semantics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 113:1–32
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