Land Use/Cover Change in Central Tibet, C. 1830-1990: Devising a GIS Methodology to Study a Historical Tibetan Land DecreeKarl E Ryavec
The Geographical Journal , Vol. 167, No. 4 (Dec., 2001), pp. 342-357
In the sparingly populated region of Tibet, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) is being used to look at tax related documents, mostly concerning agriculture, and land use as a way to compare approximant changes in cultivation of land between 1830 and 1990. The area of central Tibet has numerous maps created from historical pilgrimages, recent tourism, and British Survey of India maps conformed during the 19th century. The author of the article Land Use/Cover Change in Central Tibet, C. 1830-1990: Devising a GIS Methodology to Study a Historical Tibetan Land Decree, Karl E. Ryavec, uses GIS to look at the 1830 Iron Tiger land decree in comparison to recent digital data compiled by the Chinese government.
Ryavec (2001) specifies that he conducted the research about central Tibet as a way to “test several general hypotheses relating to region patterns of land use/cover change” (p. 343). Through studying these patterns of land use in central Tibet Ryavec is able to relate the change not just through the lens of agriculture but through the establishment and movement of cultural geography. To define the geographical location of central Tibet in a historical context Ryavec uses regional Tibetan dialects. Ryavec (2001) defends the use of this spatial data formulating that “a shared language, perhaps better than any other variable, points toward social and historical interactions among communities, while common dialects indicate even greater contact” (p.346). Using this data and the kang, the approximate weight of barely sown which can be used to determine the area of cultivated land, Ryavec created 56 districts in GIS. From this data in GIS it was discovered that after the 1830 Iron Tiger land decree a spatial pattern was formed in which “the key centres of Tibet’s population in the core area of central Tibet exhibited the highest levels of cultivated land destiny in 1830” (Ryavec, 2001, p. 353). Once these boundaries of the districts became established, Ryavec was about to overlay contemporary Chinese county boundaries and compare the results in GIS. These county boundaries were tediously assessed through vast aerial photography by China’s State Planning Commission and even “field trips were made to carry out ground checks of data that were difficult to interpret” (Ryavec, 2001, p. 352).
It is interesting that Ryavec does not use this information specifically to look at the effect of the Tibetan land use in central Tibet, but as a way to notice patterns in cultural trends that influence global population change. Thus Ryavec (2001) suggests that using GIS in his research permits him to use “the Tibet Plateau region for the study of the human dimensions of global change” (p.342). Though Ryavec suggests that this conclusion is only scratching the surface of possible information that can be gained about central Tibet using GIS, he does question if the annexation of Tibet by China in 1951 has increased land use in the region.
Great paper, I find that it takes a great GIS approach. First Ryavec takes an idea: That it is possible to define the geographical regions through dialects. This idea makes so much sense in linguistically studies, the more one interacts with a group of people the more influence they have on each others language. By mapping out this idea he can infer communities. Great approach, then taking that and using other GIS tools like overlay to compare with modern border is very interesting.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting that he was able to use culture (specifically language) to map out different regions. It would be really great to see if something similar could be done within the US to determine how people have organized themselves according to shared characteristics. Obviously different regions within the United States have different "dialects," but since the US has such a rich cultural diversity, I wonder how else people might have grouped themselves regionally. There are many other cultural aspects that could be explored.
ReplyDeleteIt's really cool that he is able to find these regions using the language. It would also be interesting to try maping out communities using other cultural symbols, such as cuisine. I would also be interested to see a similar study done over Indonesia, with their extreme variety of dialects, and different cultures.
ReplyDeleteThis article that you have found seems very interesting. Your overview of the article is very easy to understand and full of detail. It is great to see how much creativity and ingenuity in GIS use can greatly further it's application. In this instance, the way the author found a use of dialect to create raster data to overlay the Chinese boundaries of state to see the change in ethnology and demography in the Tibet Plateau region. I believe this methodology and application of GIS that Ryavec develops can be very influential and useful for future GIS projects all over the world.
ReplyDelete