Doolittle, Amity A. 1964- (Amity Appell Doolittle)

PERSONAL:

Born January 7, 1964, in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Education: Harvard University, B.A. (magna cum laude), 1987; Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, Master of Environmental Sciences, 1992; Yale University, Ph.D., 1999.

ADDRESSES:

Office—Tropical Resources Institute, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 210 Prospect St., New Haven, CT 06511. E-mail—amity.doolittle@yale.edu.

CAREER:

Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, New Haven, CT, research scientist, 2001—; Yale University Tropical Resources Institute, New Haven, program director.

MEMBER:

Fund for Urgent Anthropology, Yale Council on Southeast Asian Studies, Cold Spring School board of trustees, Social Ecology Focal Group, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies.

AWARDS, HONORS:

Elizabeth Cary Agassiz Certificate of Merit, Harvard College, 1985, 1986, 1987; Harvard College Scholarship, 1985, 1986, 1987; N. Brown Scholarship, Yale School of Forestry and Environmental Studies, 1992, 1993; Yale University Doctoral Fellowship, 1994-98; Yale Council on Southeast Asian Studies, predissertation award, 1994; Yale Center for International and Area Studies, predissertation award, 1994; Social Science Research Council/American Council of Learned Societies, Southeast Asia Program, international doctoral dissertation fellowship, 1995; National Science Foundation, Law and Social Science Program dissertation improvement award, 1995; Fulbright-Hays doctoral dissertation research abroad award, 1995; fellow, Institute of Biodiversity and Environmental Conservation, University of Malaya, 1996; Enders fellow, Yale University, 1997; Agroforestry in landscape Mosaics award, 2004; Agroforestry fellowships for Africa, 2001-05.Grants from World Wildlife Fund, International Fund for Animal Welfare, and Radcliffe College, all 1987, Yale Center for International and Area Studies, 2002, Association of International Educators, Larry and Margaret King Distinguished Lecture Series, and Yale Class of 1980 Video Editing Center, all 2003, Compton Foundation, 2004-07, Yale Education, Leadership, and Training Initiative, 2006-11.

WRITINGS:

Property & Politics in Sabah, Malaysia: Native Struggles over Land Rights, University of Washington Press (Seattle, WA), 2005.

SIDELIGHTS:

In Property & Politics in Sabah, Malaysia: Native Struggles over Land Rights, Amity A. Doolittle explores the ways in which natural resources were used in Sabah, Malaysia, from the late 1800s to 1996. In particular she discusses an episode from 1990 in which the Bukit Hempuen, a tropical forest rich in species diversity, was burned and destroyed, allegedly by local people, after the Malaysian government had announced that the area would be included within the newly expanded boundaries of Kinabalu Park. While this action would seem to work against the interests of people living in the area, Doolittle examines the episode through the perspective of political ecology to show the complex political, economic, and social forces that contribute to the root cause of environmental degradation in Malaysia. She looks at traditional structuring of land rights and uses, the effects of colonialism, and political and social changes in the postcolonial era. Rather than simply blaming local people for destruction of resources, she concludes, analysts must look for ways to make access to natural resources equitable for all residents and to develop land use practices that are sustainable.

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

ONLINE

Amity A. Doolittle Home Page,http://www.metaglyfix.com/aad/home.html (April 15, 2008).

University of Washington Press Web site,http://www.washington.edu/ (April 15, 2008), description of Property & Politics in Sabah, Malaysia: Native Struggles over Land Rights.