ROMANIAN MOUNTAIN COMMONS PROJECT
Research Methods & Objectives
1. Social Mapping of the Romanian Commons
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Method: interviews with commons representatives-
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Survey of 330 commons
The project aimed at describing the large variety of commons to be found across the Romanian Carpathians, investigating the following dimensions:
a.Normative frameworks: ways of regulation of the commons, state laws and institutions, customary rules, and instruments of organizing access, monitoring and management
b.Local practices: associated with new forms of governance and use of the commons
c.Relation to the environment; practices of logging, pasturing, narratives of forests and pastures
2. Multi-sited Ethnography / Understanding the relation between commons and local livelihoods
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Method: case-studies in selected locations: counties Gorj, Vâlcea, Argeș, Maramureș, Harghita, Vrancea
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In each location in-depth interviews with over 20 commons members , key actors and commoners
The project aimed at understanding the role of the commons in the livelihoods of local Carpathian population by investigating:
a.Transformative processes: long-term human-forest histories with emphasis on new postsocialist property regimes and relationship to capitalist markets
b.Benefits from the commons: their place in local economic situations of households; grazing, firewood and construction timber benefits; commons investing in community utilities and the role in local development
c.Practices of locals towards surrounding resources: effective ways of logging, wood collecting, grazing, foraging
d.Social relationships between local community actors woven around the process of participation and empowerment
3. Documents Analysis / Archival research
>collecting and analyzing forestry maps, cadastral maps, members registers, budgets, regulatory statutes
>archival research in the National State Archives of Hunedoara county
4. Photographic Recording / Image Archive of the Commons
>creating a photographic archive of contemporary commons, by photographing persons related to commons governance, commoners, commons' assets and resources, events related to the commons, general assemblies
Research includes 6 case-studies. In-depth interviews with a large number of commoners. @ 2016 Arryn Snowball
Data collection includes maps, old and new documents. This forestry map comes from composesorat Iscroni 2000, Aninoasa, Hunedoara county. @Monica Vasile 2016
Interview with president of obștea Dobroneagu, com. Braduleț, Argeș county. February 2016.
Research includes 6 case-studies. In-depth interviews with a large number of commoners. @ 2016 Arryn Snowball
Locations where research was conducted:
**the stars represent roughly the areas where researach was conducted; the dots mark the localities where members live, while the commons' woodlands and pastures are positioned in the mountain area near the villages.