Norway : two MSc scholarships with 10 months affiliation to the Centre for Development and the Environment (SUM) at UiO.

MIRLU is an interdisciplinary project coordinated by the Centre for Development and the Environment at the University of Oslo in collaboration with the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (UMB) at Ås, Arizona State University in the US, Universidad del Valle in Guatemala, and El Colegio de la Frontera Sur in Mexico. We are also in the process of establishing cooperation with the University of Denver in Colorado, US. The aim of this project is to explore the effect of international migration and remittances on land use and land use change in the area of origin of migrants.

Applicants granted a scholarship will write their thesis within the framework of the project. Each scholarship amounts to NOK 30 000. Priority will be given to applicants from Social Anthropology, Human Geography, Development Studies, and Development Economics. In addition to working with their MSc thesis the student is expected to occasionally assist in other project activities. Field work can start in the fall 2010 or spring 2011 semester.

Qalifications

Applicants should

• Be fluent in Spanish,
• Be interested in working in a multidisciplinary environment
• Have started on their MSc program at UiO or UMB.   

Please e-mail a brief project description (max 10 pages) with problem description, theory/central concepts and method and a curriculum vitae with academic transcripts to Hans-Jørgen Oppi Christiansen (h.j.christiansen@sum.uio.no). Short-listed candidates will be called for an interview.

Deadline: 10th of May 2010

Background  

The MILRU project aims to study how international migration and associated remittances influence the lives of those who migrate, their families and others in the places of origin of migrants, with special focus on land use and land cover change. Almost 1.5 million Guatemalans and 10 million Mexicans live and work in the USA and Canada. Most of them originate from rural areas. This project wants to examine how migrants are shaping perhaps the most valuable resources in rural Guatemala and Mexico, namely land. In addition to economic support to the families, migrants also remit money to collective projects in their communities of origin. Furthermore, the process of migration involves the diffusion of different social practices, ideas, behaviors, and identities. New knowledge, skills and technologies are also brought back by returning migrants.

Some of the relevant questions in this project include: How do migration shape land use and land distribution in rural Guatemala and Chiapas, Mexico? How does remittances and the experience of migration change what people produce on their lands? How does such new land use practices influence forest and agriculture? How does migration affect the distribution of on-farm labor? Is the money earned or saved while away used to buy agricultural land or to start other types of business? Do they intensify agriculture on existing plots or expand agriculture into forests? Do returning migrants turn away from food production for own consumption to cultivate cash crops? How does new capital flows impact land ownership and distribution?

Contact

Mariel Aguilar Støen ( mariel.stoen@sum.uio.no ) tel. 22858885 for more information. 

Tentative Application Deadline : 10 May 2010