Graduate Thesis Or Dissertation

 

Reconceptualizing Environmental Migration: Empirical Findings from Downscaled Estimates of Drought in Rural Mexico Public Deposited

Downloadable Content

Download PDF
https://scholar.colorado.edu/concern/graduate_thesis_or_dissertations/b8515n66f
Abstract
  • In recent years, the relationship between environmental change and migration has become a timely and popular topic of academic inquiry. However, empirical studies concerned with environment-migration dynamics have consistently demonstrated empirical limitations stemming from coarse scales of analysis, as well as theoretical ones stemming from reductive framings of migration as problematic or undesirable. This study contributes to ongoing research specifically relating drought to patterns of migration from rural Mexico by addressing these issues of scale and conceptual framing. First, it refines the scale at which drought estimates are extrapolated and presumed to be representative of local experience. Second, it critically engages with conventional framings of vulnerability and adaptive capacity, acknowledging the critical social and historical role migration has played throughout Mexican history. Using discrete time hazard analysis, this study identifies a complex relationship between drought and migration. Importantly, it finds that while severe drought seems to encourage migration, increasing intensity and frequency are associated with a decreased likelihood of migration at the household level. These results suggest that drought can actually act to constrain livelihood diversification opportunities, rather than automatically impel population movement, and contribute a significantly greater level of nuance to studies focused on the environmental dynamics of migration.
Creator
Date Issued
  • 2014
Academic Affiliation
Advisor
Committee Member
Degree Grantor
Commencement Year
Subject
Last Modified
  • 2019-11-17
Resource Type
Rights Statement
Language

Relationships

Items