Li, Qiuxi2022-01-242022-01-242021https://udspace.udel.edu/handle/19716/30090With the widespread use of the idea of resilience across disciplines, it has become a buzzword in today’s world and the meaning has constantly been expanded and updated. Based on the theoretical framework of resilience, this dissertation adopts multiple methodologies in three essays to discuss the enhancement of resilience for China’s indigenous communities that are data-lacking, disaster-prone, poverty-stricken, and whose cultural heritage is at risk. ☐ The first essay uses drone imagery coupled with participatory GIS, to create a series of maps for remote indigenous communities to enhance their disaster, cultural and economic resilience. The study highlights the importance of local residents’ participation in constructing maps and building resiliency. The resulting maps inform members of the communities about their housing fire risk, the preservation status of traditional buildings, as well as tourism assets with historical value. ☐ The second essay combines surveys, interviews, and field observation to investigate the status of traditional villages in Guizhou, China, and how people perceive the competing betterment of cultural preservation, modernization, and disaster risks. The results indicate that the encroaching modernization has changed the cultural landscape of many historically significant villages in this region, and disasters play a catalyst role in accelerating this process. While the desire for a modernized lifestyle has become a prevailing trend among indigenous people, this study calls for a more open-minded and inclusive view of cultural preservation and indigenous people’s rights. ☐ The third essay adopts a revised Communities Advancing Resilience Toolkit (CART) survey instrument to explore if and to what extent individuals in different communities perceive disaster risk and community resilience differently. The results show that communities with the Traditional Village title are more resilient than those who are not, and the biggest difference between the two groups of villages is the resource availability. However, regardless of the title, indigenous villages in this region are generally facing the difficulty of no successors in the future under the impact of drastic social change. ☐ Throughout the dissertation, I argue that the sustainability of indigenous societies is facing great challenges under the influence of disasters and modernization. It is hoped that more attention can be paid to the transformation and development of indigenous communities, and the term resilience can be translated from a buzzword to actions.Cultural preservationDisasterDroneIndigenous communitiesParticipatory methodsResilienceThesis1293216274https://doi.org/10.58088/9bve-66052021-09-30en