Date: 13 July, 2010 (Tue.) 14:00～16:00
Venue: Small Meeting RoomⅡ, Inamori Foundation Memorial Hall, Kyoto University
http://www.cseas.kyoto-u.ac.jp/about/access_ja.html
This seminar will be held in collaboration with Initiative 1 and 4.
Presentation:
Speaker1: Masaaki HIRAI (G-COE Researcher, CSEAS)
Title: Techniques and institutions of resources use in densely populated area: A case from Sereer of Senegal
【Record of Activity】
In semi-arid African regions, ecological and socio-economic factors related to livelihoods activities of the inhabitants all exhibit a high degree of uncertainty. In this research meeting, we examined how they overcome constraints to maintaining their livelihoods in such regions through case studies of Senegal in western Africa and Zambia in southern Africa.
The first presenter, Masaaki Hirai, who is a GCOE Researcher, investigated the resource use and its sustainability that have allowed the agricultural Serer people to sustain a densely populated region in central-western Senegal from the viewpoint of indigenous resource use technique and social institutions. According to the report, the Serer, who have long considered land scarcity as a major challenge, have dealt with this issue by mixing the agriculture with the livestock keeping in the same cultivated land, as well as by enhancing soil productivity through management of Faidherbia albida, which is known for its soil improving abilities, as the dominant component of the vegetation on the land. However, in recent years, along with an increase in regional population, F. albida, which is used both as fodder and fuel, has been on a declining trend. In response, the Serer have been able to sustainably use F. albida by refining both of the pollarding technique and the social institutions related to its technical practice. It was pointed out that mass depletion of F. albida has been avoided not only because of such adjustments of technique and social institutions, but also because of a shared understanding among the community members regarding the importance and value of F. albida to their livelihoods. While human use of vegetation in semi-arid regions tends to be cited as a cause of desertification, the case of the Serer illustrates that it may, in fact, be the proactive management of the soil and vegetation that enables maintenance of a vegetative environment.
In response, a number of questions were posed by the audience regarding the process by which technique and social institutions were developed. It seems that clarifying this process, while taking into account the social relationships among village members and the history of exchange with the outside of the community, will lead to a better understanding on indigenity of the agricultural techniques.
The second presenter, Rumiko Murao, who is a JSPS PD Fellow, examined the livelihood strategy of refugees who had fled to western Zambia after outbreak of the Angola conflict in the 1960s from the viewpoint of social re-structure and activities by women to earn money. According to the report, the refugees have maintained the traditional common residential unit (limbo) social structure based on familial and marital relationships in their adoptive home, further strengthening the mutually beneficial relationship with respect to food consumption within the unit, and enabling them to stabilize their livelihoods. It was also pointed out that the opportunity for women to move frequently between limbos as a result of marriage or divorce, which is a unique characteristic of this social structure, contributes greatly to the cassava processing/selling activities carried out by women as a means of bringing in money. More specifically, knowledge regarding cassava production, processing technology, and cooperative selling networks grow with the movement of women. Although it has been assumed in previous refugee researches that migration leads to a disruption of livelihood, this presentation illustrates a case in which creation of a social structure that incorporates both mutually beneficial food consumption relationships as well as the social mobility of women leads to mitigation of the risk.
A number of questions were posed by the audience regarding the unique social characteristic of limbo as well as how it functions as livelihood security. It was suggested that further clarifying the growth of cooperative networks within the community and the relationship to the influx of money (from the outside) would enable a better understanding of how this process helps to mitigate risk.
(Masaaki Hirai
Speaker2: Rumiko MURAO (JSPS Researcher)
Title: Reconstraction of livelihood strategies in high mobility societies of western Zambia: with special reference to cash income activities of women
* This seminor will be held in Japanese.