Halting Steps Toward a Transhemispheric Vision of Nature

by Francis A. Commerçon 11/21/22 In this age of “global environmental crisis”, when we talk of resolving ecological issues on a planetary scale, one might start to question how any human decision-maker could ever claim the knowledge necessary for global scale conservation planning. Knowing how to “save the world” requires a comprehensive vision of natural

Studying the culture of science and power in environmental conservation

Two and a half years of profound soul-searching separates this post from my last post in early 2020, when I returned to the United States from China amidst the outset of the global COVID19 pandemic. Upon arrival at Yale School of the Environment, I began to question the morality of my previous research on ethnic

“Cūn Guī Mín Yuē:” Thinking about Community-focused Conservation

by Francis Commercon (This was composed Jan 25th, 2020. Internet issues made uploading this blog challenging, so I was delayed a couple days) I would like to wish a Happy Lunar New Year to all my friends and family both in China and around the world. I have retreated to the empty office for a

Reflections from three months of Research and Community-based Conservation

by Francis Commercon, Menglun Township, Yunnan, China   The scar a wild boar left on his cheek wrinkles into a smile as he recalls the Red Junglefowl and other wildlife he shot forty years ago at this natural spring deep in the mountainous tropical forest of Xishuangbanna, southwest China. He talks fondly of the muntjacs

September 2019: Festival for the dead and beginning of Fulbright data collection

I wrote this at the end of September 2019 and was unable to find strong enough internet to post it online at the time. Only now did I realize it may still have some value for sharing with others about my life in Xishuangbanna over the past few months. I have a post on more

Still Navigating the Waters of Life: Blog from August 2019

posted Sept 13, 2019 by Francis Commercon   I write from the Guilin Airport. I am on my way home to the United States after five months of internship in Xishuangbanna. Another five months await me upon my return to China on the 15th of September, and I am already planning how I will continue

Notes from my Summer in Menglun

  by Francis Commercon   I write from the home of a kind old couple in the Hani-Akha village of Daka. I am on the other side of Menglun from my home in Man’E Village, and I am staying here for five days to learn about the Akha way of life. It is difficult to

The Haze Rises

May 30 2019 by Francis Commercon   The month of May has come to a close, but my work in Xishuangbanna continues to increase in scope and intensity. I try to maintain balance in my life while still being productive, and sharing my life with family and friends is an important part of “balance.” Now

Twenty Days into my Fulbright Project

by Francis Commercon   Twenty Days have passed since I arrived in Xishuangbanna Prefecture, in southern Yunnan Province, to start my ten-month Fulbright project on social networks and environmental behavior in an ethnic Dai community. Within this half month I have fully settled in to my project, re-integrated myself into my host community, and thrown

The Sacred Fig: Beginning again in Xishuangbanna

by Francis Commerçon   April 17 2019 I have returned to China. I sit with the people who welcomed me into their home three and a half years ago and who have since become like a second family for me. My host mother sits by me briefly to speak words of Dai into my computer