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Open research questions in Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond

69 gap statements mined from Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond papers in our 4.5M-paper local library, which holds 918 papers on the topic — drawn mostly from each paper's own stated research gap, future-work, challenge and limitation notes, and its abstract. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one.

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What the literature leaves open

  • The study highlights the need for policies that cultivate shared learning spaces and community-based education. The research aims to address the gap by exploring community perceptions of intergenerational knowledge exchange.

    Intergenerational Knowledge Exchange in Japanese Biosphere Reserves: Community Perceptions from Aya and Mount Hakusan · 2026 · DOI

  • Because Taiwan LTSER is not a re-start or shift from the previous Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) in Taiwan, the potential conflict due to the lack of consensus on extending the research to include social dimension is avoided.

    A combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches in addressing major challenges of long-term socio-ecological research—the Taiwan experience · 2025 · DOI

  • Interpretation of results and causality: The reviewer warned that some conclusions were overgeneralized, that the term “chronic water-deficit syndrome” was insufficiently defined, and that causal relationships between climate change and socioeconomic outcomes were implied rather than demonstrated.

    The perception of the impacts of climate change in communities surrounding Lake Titicaca, Peru-Bolivia. · 2026 · DOI

  • The human body has often been studied as an object with no agency in archaeology. There is a lack of understanding of the cultural and symbolic meaning of the human head in ancient societies.

    Head of Life: An Analysis of the Significance of the Head in the Andes · 2026 · DOI

  • The study highlights the need for community-based approaches to address environmental issues.

    Burning forests, drying springs: local perceptions and the changing Himalayan ecosystem in Uttarakhand, India · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper highlights the lack of reliable data and conflicts in socio-environmental governance. The study suggests that the expansion of Chinese investment in the region exacerbates these challenges.

    Retos ambientales, sociales y de gobernanza en proyectos de infraestructura con participación de china en latinoamérica (2020-2025): Una revisión sistemática de la literatura · 2026 · DOI

  • Future research should focus on the development of strategies to address the challenges identified in the study. The paper highlights the need for further research on the impact of Chinese investments in Latin America. The study suggests that future research should prioritize the collection of reliable data and the development of effective socio-environmental governance mechanisms.

    Retos ambientales, sociales y de gobernanza en proyectos de infraestructura con participación de china en latinoamérica (2020-2025): Una revisión sistemática de la literatura · 2026 · DOI

  • The gap is the lack of understanding of the interactions among European mountaineers, Bolivian elites, and Aymara communities. The paper identifies a need to explore the divergent approaches to mountains and glaciers and their consequences.

    Revering, Navigating, and Conquering Bolivian Glaciers in an Age of Dispossession · 2026 · DOI

  • It highlights the need to document and preserve the community's traditional knowledge system. The paper explores the challenges faced by the community in maintaining their traditional practices.

    Traditional Agricultural Practices of the Lepcha Community in the Eastern Himalayas: Pathways Toward Climate Resilience and Sustainability · 2026 · DOI

  • The paper highlights the need for further research using integrated analytical techniques.

    The Yue site at Jizhong: Warring States and early Imperial agriculture and diet in the Lower Yangzi · 2026 · DOI

  • Lack of a classificatory framework for biophysical stewardship practices. Limited consideration of place-based knowledge holders in international scientific and policy fora.

    Stewardship practices enhance nature’s contributions to people · 2026 · DOI

  • It highlights the need to examine the role of functional intellectuals in shaping discourse and giving direction to inquiries.

    Development, ecology, and marginal utility in anthropology · 1987 · DOI

  • The traditional approach to cultural geography has limitations. The concept of adaptation has not been fully explored in cultural geography. There is a need for a more nuanced understanding of human behavior in different environments.

    ADAPTATION, VARIATION, AND CULTURAL GEOGRAPHY∗ · 1983 · DOI

  • The need to address the ethical and moral implications of participant observation.

    Principles and Problems of Participant Observation · 1983 · DOI

  • It argues that existing ideologies, such as systems theory and dialectical materialism, are limited and ignore the importance of human creativity and individual liberation.

    Dialectics of nature or dialectics of practice? · 1979 · DOI

  • Ecological restoration was originally concerned with returning ecosystems to a more natural, pre‐disturbance state and did not account for the influence of early humans or extant indigenous peoples on ecosystems.

    Resilient ecological restoration in the future must account for the influence of cultural landscapes on ecosystem properties · 2026 · DOI

  • These crops can be considered Neglected and Underutilized Species since they are little known to the majority of the urban population, who are unaware of their uses and nutritional value.

    Urban ethnobotany and phytochemical profiles of plants cultivated by Chinese migrants in Buenos Aires, Argentina · 2025 · DOI

  • Dan Rosengren * School of Global Studies, University of Gothenburg, Göteborg, Sweden Following from local social and cultural conditions, meteorological events are perceived differently which influence how such phenomena as weather and climate are understood. Since certain understandings can be considered obvious, it can be hard to accept the validity of different understandings.

    Meteorology, knowledge, and ethics. On modernist and animist perspectives · 2026 · DOI

  • In this text, there is an analysis of the data from the perspective proposed by existential hermeneutics and, consequently, the conclusion is that the territorial disputes that take place in this region are not limited to the geographic and cultural scope, but that they are rooted in a radical ontological difference.

    Tzuultaq’a: defensa territorial y diferencia radical entre los mayas q’eqchi’ · 2020 · DOI

  • Further research could explore the impact of different governance structures on intergenerational knowledge exchange - Studies could investigate the role of elders in community resilience and environmental stewardship - Research could examine the challenges and opportunities of integrating traditional knowledge with modern practices in different…

    Intergenerational Knowledge Exchange in Japanese Biosphere Reserves: Community Perceptions from Aya and Mount Hakusan · 2026 · DOI

  • The dominance of natural sciences in environmental decision-making - The lack of recognition of indigenous peoples' perspectives and practices - The need for a paradigm shift in environmental…

    Introduction – Special issue on indigenous ecological knowledge in South Asia: Lessons for rights of nature discourses · 2026 · DOI

  • The lack of recognition of indigenous ecological knowledge in environmental decision-making - The need for alternative approaches to sustainable development - The potential of rights of nature discourses in environmental…

    Introduction – Special issue on indigenous ecological knowledge in South Asia: Lessons for rights of nature discourses · 2026 · DOI

  • Further study of the cultural and symbolic meaning of the human head in ancient societies. Analysis of the representation of heads in architecture and material culture in other ancient societies. Examination of the practice of cranial modification and its significance in other cultures.

    Head of Life: An Analysis of the Significance of the Head in the Andes · 2026 · DOI

  • Further exploration of the potential of participant observation as a research method for social geography. Investigation of the ethical and moral implications of participant observation.

    Principles and Problems of Participant Observation · 1983 · DOI

  • The paper identifies a gap in understanding the relations between prescriptive methodological talk and research practice. The paper notes that the usefulness of methodological prescription depends on the user.

    Description in ethnomethodology · 1980 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond

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Open questions raised by papers listed on this page include: (1) There is a lack of understanding of the cultural and symbolic meaning of the human head in ancient societies (“Head of Life: An Analysis of the Significance of the Head in the Andes”, 2026); (2) The paper highlights the lack of reliable data and conflicts in socio-environmental governance (“Retos ambientales, sociales y de gobernanza en proyectos de infraestructura con…”, 2026); (3) The gap is the lack of understanding of the interactions among European mountaineers, Bolivian elites, and Aymara communities (“Revering, Navigating, and Conquering Bolivian Glaciers in an Age of…”, 2026); (4) Lack of a classificatory framework for biophysical stewardship practices (“Stewardship practices enhance nature’s contributions to people”, 2026); (5) Because Taiwan LTSER is not a re-start or shift from the previous Long-term Ecological Research (LTER) in Taiwan, the potential conflict due to the lack of consensus on extending the research to include social dimension is avoided (“A combination of top-down and bottom-up approaches in addressing major…”, 2025). 69 gap statements have been mined from Environmental and Cultural Studies in Latin America and Beyond papers in our 4.5M-paper local library, which holds 918 papers on the topic; the gaps come from whichever of those papers state one. They are mostly the research gaps the authors state and the papers' abstracts, plus future-work, limitations and challenges passages. The ones listed below are a selection still marked open; each names the study that raised it, with a DOI link where the paper has one, so you can read the original claim in context.

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