Graduation Year
2017
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Environmental Analysis
Second Department
International/Intercultural Studies
Reader 1
Joe Parker
Reader 2
Susan Phillips
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2017 Rachel H Spiegel
Abstract
The threat of global climate change increasingly influences the actions of human society. As world leaders have negotiated adaptation strategies over the past couple of decades, a certain discourse has emerged that privileges Western conceptions of environmental degradation. I argue that this framing of climate change inhibits the successful implementation of adaptation strategies. This thesis focuses on a case study of the Maldives, an island nation deemed one of the most vulnerable locations to the impacts of rising sea levels. I apply a postcolonial theoretical framework to examine how differing knowledge systems can both complement and contradict one another. By analyzing government-enforced relocation policies in the Maldives, I find that points of contradiction between Western and indigenous environmental epistemologies can create opportunities to bridge the gap between isolated viewpoints and serve as moments to resist the dominant climate change discourse.
Recommended Citation
Spiegel, Rachel Hannah, "Drowning in Rising Seas: Navigating Multiple Knowledge Systems and Responding to Climate Change in the Maldives" (2017). Pitzer Senior Theses. 76.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/pitzer_theses/76
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