Non-Native Minds and the Construction of Culture in the Galápagos Islands

Abstract

A key step to promoting action and governance necessary to confront accelerating anthropogenic change is first understanding the socio-cultural dynamics—within and between groups—that dictate human thoughts, values, conflicts, and behaviors towards the environment. While understanding such dynamics is challenging due to currently high rates of human mobility, island environments provide conditions where complex dynamics are in sharper relief. This mixed-method, multi-site study aims to determine how the in-migration of diverse cultural worldviews relates to current conservation efforts and conflicts in and around the world’s first World Heritage Site, the Galapagos Islands. The population centers in these islands are ideal contexts in which to study how the interactions of cultural worldviews imported from elsewhere create new socio-cultural patterns, how time since arrival in a new area relates to the continuation of traditional worldviews, and at what point do new cultural practices emerge in response to new ecological surroundings. Mixed ethnographic methods capture idiographic, etic views of local socio-cultural dynamics in the Galapagos, while cultural consensus analyses permit quantitative comparison among and between residents from different cultural groups, livelihood sectors, and length of residence time. This mixed method approach ensures nomothetic contributions to broader human and cultural geography theory addressing the dynamic human relationship to the environment in increasingly globalized and multi-cultural societies. Such work is essential for promoting increased collective action and inclusive governance on behalf of human and environmental wellbeing and ensuring the protection of globally significant natural heritage.