No classroom or project addressing sustainable development should be without this book. Based on their hard-won field experiences and insights, Russell and Harshbarger carry us beyond the participatory methodology fetish that has tended in recent years to marginalize solid social science research in community-based conservation. Not interested in producing another 'how-to' manual, the authors lay out the ground work for serious social research analysis based on theories and methods informed by science and critical perspectives. The outcome is a much needed fresh approach to projects that serve local communities and conservation, not the needs of outside agencies for rapid results or scientists for predictive models.
Robert E. Rhoades, Department of Anthropology, University of Georgia GroundWork for Community-Based Conservation is a long-awaited book by many professionals and students interested in and working on human-environmental issues. Using accessible language and material, it provides a needed introduction and overview of social science concepts, debates, approaches and methods used in community-based conservation. As the topic requires, it builds upon literature from anthropology and sociology, political sciences and economics, geography, as well as ecology. Using an innovative format integrating text, summary tables, and text-box, GroundWork links academic topics and concrete field experiences from around the world into a flexible reading material to be used in self-training, group discussion, and teaching across a broad audience.
Eduardo S. Brondízio, Department of Anthropology, Indiana University With case studies from across the globe, Russell and Harshbarger speak with the voice of hard-won experience about what works and what doesn't work in community-based conservation programs. This is a real how-to book, with all of the tools—rapid appraisal, ethnography, participatory research.
H. Russell Bernard, University of Florida, Director of the Institute of Social Science Research at the University of Arizona This book can help frame questions and approaches one would take to explore conservation from the social perspective, and to understand how our ecological inquiry can mesh with the needs of human communities to create effective conservation programs. Perhaps this book may help bridge the gap between social scientists and ecologists who are both working towards biodiversity conservation.
Beth A. Kaplan
Ecology
It is an ambitious project, and one that rewards the reader with useful and insightful tidbits.
Development and Change
A unique book tailored to encouraging better social science research for community-based conservation projects . . . provides 'operational guidance' for improving community-based conservation projects; just what practitioners have long clamored for. . . . The authors do a tremendous job of making the literature on resource management, program design and evaluation, social research techniques, and regional studies accessible to field workers and students.
C. M. Hand, Valdosta State University
CHOICE, January 2004, Vol. 41, No. 5