Institutionalizing culture: The role of culture in lessening vulnerability in Vietnam, Brazil and Cameroon

The theoretical discourse in development studies has struggled with how to integrate cultural practices into development programs in a prominent way. This thesis offers a rearticulation of culture as "cultural institutions" in order to apply conceptual renderings of culture to the more formalized literature concerning institutional development. This is done through the context of adaptation to environmental degradation, examining the ways in which indigenous communities Vietnam, Brazil and Cameroon utilize cultural institutions to lessen their vulnerability to environmental change. This research finds that legitimizing and formalizing these institutions allows for a more culturally resonant and sustainable solution to lessening vulnerability to the negative effects of climate change and other forms of environmental degradation.