Jordan Levine is a PhD student interested in a range of interconnected issues revolving around sustainability and justice. These include social-ecological systems, the role of science in policy, community consultation, and global-local linkages, broadly conceived.
His thesis focuses on the cognitive anthropology of sustainable development. Namely, he asks how members of the everyday public understand and make sense of their local social-ecological systems, and what the implications may be for commnuity consultation and multistakeholder management. One of Jordan’s case study regions is Clayoquot Sound UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. There, he is partnering with UBC ecologists to study the perceived effects of kelp-forest resurgence (see ConCISE Research). His other case study site is the Mt. Carmel UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, in the Middle East, where he has done extensive interviews with local Druze Arab residents to better understand ongoing tensions with the government over land use and disaster response. Jordan is also interested in cross-cultural research, and has conducted interviews in a number of different countries in several languages.
Supervision: Dr. Kai Chan, tier 2 Canada Research Chair, and Dr. Terre Satterfield, both of UBC’s Institute for Resources, Enviornment and Sustainability (IRES).
