Environmental Internship Program - 2023 Booklet

Hannah Shin ’26
PHILOSOPHY
Certificate: Computer Science
ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIETY
AND URBAN SUSTAINABILITY
PROJECT TITLE
Religion and
Environmental Justice in
Panama and the Peruvian
Amazon
ORGANIZATION(S)
High Meadows
Environmental Institute,
Princeton University;
Memoria Indigena
Pamana; Paz y Esperanza
Perú
LOCATION(S)
Princeton, New Jersey;
Guna Yala, Panama; San
Martín, Perú
MENTOR(S)
Rob Nixon,
Thomas A. and Currie C.
Barron Family Professor
in Humanities and the
Environment, Professor of
English and the High
Meadows Environmental
Institute; Ryan Juskus,
Postdoctoral Research
Associate, High Meadows
Environmental Institute
I explored the landscape of indigenous
environmental justice in Latin America and
how religion interacts with environmental
commitments. My team’s approach was nonextractive
and rooted in decolonization as we
collaborated and communicated across diverse
knowledge systems. I visited two islands in
Guna Yala, Panama, and met evangelical
Christian Guna, who maintain their indigenous
worldviews. I learned how they navigate their
seemingly incongruous identities and beliefs. I
wrote a report about environmental issues on the
islands, the relationship between Guna Yala and
the Panamanian government, and the climate
change-driven migration to Panama’s mainland.
The Guna hope to relocate but have no plan,
insufficient funds and empty promises of support
from the Panamanian government. In Perú, I
visited Indigenous communities and interviewed
religious members and government ministers
about deforestation, conflicting interests and
corruption. I contributed to a pronouncement
about illegal gold mining in the Cenepa River
region, which will be circulated to demand that
the Peruvian government protect and support
Indigenous communities. I observed the ethics of
the environmental defenders and examined what
moves them to do what they do despite dangers
and death threats. I observed that while there is
vulnerability in these communities, there is also
great resistance.
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