Gender and Maritime Conflicts in the South China Sea

This project examines the gendered nature of maritime conflicts through a qualitative ethnographic investigation of the impacts of biodiversity collapse and territorial conflict in the South China Sea. I ask: how do women survive the two-fold threat of militarized conflict and biodiversity collapse? I will answer these questions through multi-sited participant observation and open-ended key informant interviews in fishing or coastal villages in the Philippines and among NGO leaders, local and tribal officials, and marine food manufacturers and exporters. The research funds from Kellogg will enable me to begin a preliminary research from May to August 2022. The objectives of this phase of the project are to build on existing research relationships and generate new ones, obtain permission to conduct research among indigenous populations and food export workers, and generate preliminary data about community responses to the ongoing environmental declines and militarization in the South China Sea.