A Study Of Nature, People And Power In The National Park Syste

The ecological anthropology research related to protected areas or national parks mainly focuses on how indigenous society perceives the relationship between human beings and nature and how to classify the natural world.Different from modern industrialized society dividing nature,human and super natural world distinctively,where animism dominates,indigenous people take themselves as being affiliated to nature as any other beings in the world.They are neither separated from nature nor superior to nature.All life form from insects,plants to mountains and rivers enjoy their own souls,and can be regarded as the objects in animism belief.In different ethnic societies,the relationship between human beings and nature is different in form and content,and the world view might be different,but none of them is based on dualism between nature and culture.It does not correspond to the modern view towards "nature",and the natural world is considered to be an organic part of the local social life.This kind of organic combination reflects the default "community of shared life"juxtaposing nature,human and super-natural world.The main research field work of this study is conducted in Angsai Township,located in Zaduo County,Yushu Prefecture,Qinghai Province.Angsai is in the source area of Lancang River and within the domain of the Sanjiangyuan National Park.This paper mainly discusses the changes and problems brought by the establishment of the national park to the local people and surrounding nature.Angsai is famous for its unique natural landscape of Danxia landform,comfortable temperature,diverse wildlife and being the center place of local Tibetan tribal culture in history.Under the backdrop of the setting up of China’s national park system,due to its favorable natural conditions to start some new form of eco-tourism pioneer projects such as natural observation,Angsai takes the leading role in carrying out franchise projects,and becoming a pilot in the country’ overall pilot program for national park system.In the past few years,Angsai has changed a lot in various aspects during the exploration period of the national park system.The study attempts to use ethnographic methods and ecological anthropology perspectives to record the relationship between local Tibetan herdsmen in Angsai and nature,and the changes in the relationship between the two as national park system starts its functioning.Different from previous restrictions on the production and life of local herdsmen in Sanjiangyuan Reserve in recent history,whether the new policy initiated by the national park system can give local communities greater autonomy and allow community’s participation,and whether local discourse is valued will be discussed accordingly.This paper analyzes how the concept of national park enters the life of the local people from the indigenous perspective of the local community,thus forming up diversified local knowledge and mutated modernity.This study presents the changes of various power structures in the Sanjiangyuan area and the relationship among the various forces at the protection level in the process of the establishment of the national park.The paper proposes a view that the self-development of local knowledge and power of discourse can promote the concept of community of shared life to a wider context and are better adaptive and effective for local ecological maintenance than the mainstream protection under the scheme of western modern conservation biology.In terms of the scope of this paper,in addition to the case study of deconstruction of Angsai,about how it can develop and maintain traditional production,life styles and religious belief habits under the influence of various forces,such as local religious culture,scientific research institutions,government,protection organizations,public participation,and etc.,the paper also tries to expand its vision to larger Sanjiangyuan area or even the whole country for comparison and explanation.With the research findings extending to a more macro category,the paper is expected to provide useful information for the establishment of national park system in China.This paper is mainly composed of three parts:introduction,main body and conclusion.The introduction includes the origin,literature review,background information on the establishment and development of national park system in China,theoretical perspective,research methods,main contents and research framework of the thesis.The body part is divided into five chapters as follows:The first chapter reviews the history of ecological protection of Sanjiangyuan area,analyzes the effectiveness and problems relating to previous preservation measures in history,focusing on the comparison between the ecological migration policy adopted in China’s recent history with present situation of involving local community under the on-going present national park system.The second chapter introduces the promotion of indigenous traditional ecological knowledge in the field of protection across the globe,and reviews the start and development process of Conservation Steward Program in China,thus highlighting the importance of community participation in protection at the macro level.Chapter three is about Angsai,where the main field work of this paper is fulfilled,about its tribal history,culture elements embedded in surrounding environment and the situation after it’s becoming part of S anjiangyuan National Park.The fourth chapter,taking Ah Sang,a local herdsman in Angsai and a newly employed ranger in the national park system as an example,to analyze the changes upon local Tibetan community brought by the establishment of Sanjiangyuan National Park from a micro point of view.Chapter five is an in-depth interpretation of the impact upon local people’s perceptions towards wildlife after the establishment of national park and introduction of modern conservation concept and the development of natural observation programs.In particular,the paper explores the significant changes on relationship and interactions between locals and some flagship species such as the snow leopard.The last part of this paper is the conclusion,which eventually directs the research towards power,exploring whether the pilot process of the national park system can allow local people to gain more autonomy,and whether the local knowledge can gain a greater voice in the process of ecological protection.The paper also proposes to include the concept of "community of shared life" into construction of ecological civilization and national park system.