Most of my career has been devoted to identifying the factors that undermine small-scale, indigenous societies as they are integrated into national societies and international economies. To that end, I have been working since 1981 among a group of Guaraní communities on the border between Paraguay and Brazil. I have returned often to the field, following the Guaraní as the forests have been devastated for cattle ranching and soybean fields, and as the forest peoples search for their place in Paraguayan society and commercial economy.
In addition, I have undertaken a second area of research and publication on a topic far removed from South America. I am working in the central highlands of Nepal. After decades of deforestation and land erosion, Nepal has turned over management of forests to local communities, providing them the rights to protect and harvest from their own forests. The process is promoting both forest regrowth and commercial activities in isolated areas.
