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Paper short abstract:

My research explores community-based ecological knowledge's role in coping with and resisting environmental crises in a fishing community in southwest Madagascar. I engage in a more pluralistic/intersectional framework centering on historically marginalized groups, such as elders and women.

Paper long abstract:

The coral reef ecosystem in the southwest of Madagascar has faced massive deterioration due to the ongoing rise of sea levels and the globalization of the sea product market. Such changes have directly impacted the survival of the Vezo ethnic groups living in that region, whose livelihood and food security have depended on their practice of small-scale fishing for centuries. My research explores community-based cultural and historical ecological knowledge among the small-scale fishing community in southwest Madagascar. Cultural and historical knowledge offers vital tools for local communities to resist and cope with ongoing environmental degradation. However, they also need to embody the complexity and heterogeneity of the day-to-day lives of the members of communities to prevent perpetuating epistemological violence and environmental injustices. To this end, my contribution to this panel hopes to discuss the harm of using a single axe framework in environmental narratives and interventions - especially concerning anthropocentric injustices in small-scale fisheries. This conversation also alludes to more pluralistic/intersectional approaches centering on the role of historically marginalized groups, such as elders and women moving forward.