Biography

Dr. Eder's research has long concerned how the tribal and peasant peoples of Southeast Asia, particularly those of Palawan Island in the Philippines, have experienced development and change. In recent years he has re-cast his research to focus on natural-resource management and use, while at the same time scaling up to a broader view of Palawan and the Philippines as a whole. His current research examines the challenges that the continued migration to Palawan of ethnically diverse fisherfolk from elsewhere in the Philippines pose for the establishment of marine protected areas, the development of more sustainable rural livelihoods, and other elements of successful community-based coastal resource management programs. Another current project aims to better capture the ecological, economic and social transformations presently underway in the nation's uplands than present models allow. Dr. Eder teaches courses on international development and sustainability, the peoples and cultures of Southeast Asia, and introductory social and cultural anthropology. 

Education

• PhD, University of California-Santa Barbara, 1974
• MA, University of California-Santa Barbara, 1970
• BS, California Institute of Technology, 1965

Expertise

• natural resource management
• agrarian societies
• anthropology
• ethnic studies
• identity and differentiation
• political economics
• adaptation
• land use and land cover