Author Archives: Cydney Seigerman

Cydney recently earned their PhD in Anthropology and Integrative Conservation from the University of Georgia. Their dissertation work explored how the lived experience of water insecurity is recursively shaped through socionatural (i.e., intertwined social, political, ecological, and technological) relations in Ceará, Northeast Brazil. They are currently working as a postdoctoral fellow to examine climate-smart agricultural procesesses across different ecoregions in the United States.
cydneykate@uga.edu | Assemblage Profile
A beekeeper a full bee suit stands in a clearing of a green, shrub forest, characteristic of the Caatinga.

From Foraging to Keeping Bees in Northeast Brazil

Cydney Seigerman August 27, 2024
Este conteúdo também está disponível em português.
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“This,” explained Chico Filho, gesturing to the lush, flowering Caatinga shrubland surrounding us, “is the bees’ pasture.” Chico Filho, a state extension officer and avid beekeeper, was reflecting on the changes in small farmers’ perception and actions toward the Caatinga, the biodiverse ecoregion unique to Northeast Brazil characterized by shrubs, thorn trees, and ongoing deforestation. The faint buzzing of bees accompanied our conversation as Chico Filho led a farmhand (and fellow beekeeper) and me along a path through the Caatinga to one of the apiaries (bee yards) on Fazenda Normal. (read more...)

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A worn rain-harvesting cistern on the left is connected to the rooftop of a house via a white pipe. The cistern is cylindrical with a cone top. It is white and gray and shows signs of wear. Chickens and ducks walk around in front of the cistern.

Madam Cistern

Cydney Seigerman August 15, 2023
Este conteúdo também está disponível em português.
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The following monologue was originally written in Portuguese for the ongoing theatrical project Dramaturgias da água e da seca (Water and Drought Dramaturgies), developed by Pavilhão da Magnólia, a professional theatre group from Fortaleza, Ceará, Northeast Brazil. Based on 24 months of fieldwork in Quixeramobim, Ceará, the monologue explores the dynamics of human-water relations in the semi-arid region of Northeast Brazil from the perspective of a social technology that has transformed yearlong access to potable water in the region: the cement, rain-harvesting cistern. (read more...)

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Dr. Eduardo Sávio Martins of Funceme pointing to presentation slide with seasonal forecast information indicating probabilities of rainfall of 10 percent below average, 40 percent around average, and 50 percent above average. Text in red states that the models indicate high spatial and temporal variability for rainfall.

Making Forecasts Work: The Evolution of Seasonal Forecasting by Funceme in Ceará, Northeast Brazil

Cydney Seigerman April 4, 2023
Este conteúdo também está disponível em português.
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Every January, government officials, urban dwellers, and rural families across the state of Ceará, Northeast Brazil anxiously await the rainy season forecasts from Funceme, the Research Institute for Meteorology and Water Resources of Ceará. Yet throughout the state, many also proclaim that Funceme’s forecasts are “wrong,” that the forecasts do not work. (read more...)

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