Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conservation And Development In A ...

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CHAPTER 3: THE RUPUNUNI REGION AND THE WAPISHANA PEOPLE The present study was located within Guyana's Region 9, officially referred to as Upper Takutu-Upper Essequibo but more commonly known as the Rupununi region after the Rupununi River, which flows north through the region, and the adjacent Rupununi savannahs. The savannahs are around 13,000 km 2 in extent, and form an eastward extension of the much larger (41,000 km 2 ) Rio Branco savannahs in the adjacent northern Brazilian state of Roraima (Hills 1973: 351). The administrative region within Guyana totals roughly 74,000 km 2 in area, the greater part of which is therefore forested (Forte and Pierre 1994: 7). Figure 3.1. The Rio Branco and Rupununi savannahs (derived from Eden 1986: 256) The forested Kanuku Mountains almost bisect the Guyanese portion of the savannahs along an east-west axis. To the north lie the South Pakaraima Mountains, and the
forests of the Rupununi River itself form the eastern boundary of the north savannah. The south savannah is bounded on the east by the forests of the Kwitaro river basin, while east of there the Rewa and Upper Essequibo rivers also lie within the region. The southern border of the savannah is formed by the forests of the Rupununi headwaters and the Kujuwini river, south of which lie the Kassikaityu and Upper Takutu, the latter forming part of Guyana's south-western border with Brazil. The reasons for the existence of the savannah are unclear and it appears not to have any simple explanation, but rather to be the current historical manifestation of a complex interaction of climatic, edaphic, biotic and anthropic factors (Hills 1973: 353-6). Five distinct vegetation types have been recognised, ranging from entirely herbaceous savannah to closed savannah woodland. <strong>In</strong> terms of area, herbaceous savannah and open savannah woodland are most widespread among these. The dominant species is the grass Trachypogon plumosus, which is found in association with numerous less abundant species of grasses, sedges, forbs and herbs. The dominant woody species is the ‘sandpaper tree’ or cayambi, Curatella americana, and species of Byrsonima of tree, shrub and herbaceous habit are also common (Hills 1973: 359-60). This chapter provides background information on the Wapishana people, one of the four distinct indigenous groups resident in Region 9 and the tribe of which the people with whom this thesis is concerned are members. I will first relate significant aspects of the situation regarding economic development in the region. The next section gives an account of the recorded history and present-day circumstances of the Wapishana people in Guyana. These two themes are integrated in the final section, which is concerned with local attitudes and responses to the changing situation in which these people find themselves. 3.1 Environment and Economics in the Rupununi 3.1.1 Environmental constraints on economic development in the Rupununi The economic potential of the savannahs is severely limited by both climatic and edaphic characteristics. <strong>In</strong> both savannahs and the adjacent forests the annual rainfall cycle is strongly unimodal, up to 80 percent of a fairly variable annual total, averaging around 1800 mm., falling at the height of the rainy season between May and August. The result of this is a severe hydrological imbalance, typical years alternating between extensive flooding, particularly of the southern savannahs, and widespread desiccation and local water shortages at the height of the dry season (Loxton 1958:
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Ethnoecology, Resource Use, Conserv
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This thesis could
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CONTENTS ABSTRACT..................
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LIST OF FIGURES FIGURE 2.1. MAP OF
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CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1.1 Intro
Page 11 and 12: subsistence strategies to exemplify
Page 13 and 14: context is provided by Wapishana cu
Page 15 and 16: a 'need' for meat even if their phy
Page 17 and 18: phenomenon and thus arguing that in
Page 19 and 20: populations of beaver and caribou (
Page 21 and 22: practice (Sillitoe 1998: 228-9). Th
Page 23 and 24: 1.2.4 Does the nature of ethnoecolo
Page 25 and 26: presented on cultural ecology. This
Page 27 and 28: Riviere identifies cognatic descent
Page 29 and 30: the village and out in the forest.
Page 31 and 32: CHAPTER 2: INDIGENOUS PEOPLES AND D
Page 33 and 34: groups also comprise the majority i
Page 35 and 36: provides national-level representat
Page 37 and 38: around 4,000 km 2 and excluding man
Page 39 and 40: industries have been identified as
Page 41 and 42: events was the subject of much conc
Page 43 and 44: Changes in the global economy seem
Page 45 and 46: significant improvements in the sit
Page 47 and 48: industry rapidly disappeared. A pro
Page 49 and 50: Wapishana communities in which he w
Page 51 and 52: correspond to a remarkably high pro
Page 53 and 54: Thorbjarnarson 1991; Ojasti 1991; T
Page 55 and 56: 2.6 Conservation interest in Guyana
Page 57 and 58: outreach in 1995, links between Iwo
Page 59 and 60: 2.6.3 Other Activities Relating to
Page 61: enefit of the entire national popul
Page 65 and 66: anchers narrowly failed in their al
Page 67 and 68: eleased, but it may well be that Co
Page 69 and 70: Information collected over the cour
Page 71 and 72: from the early 19th century unambig
Page 73 and 74: south as Kujuwini (Riviere 1963: 13
Page 75 and 76: Dadanawa in 1977, has a Wapishana m
Page 77 and 78: Wapishana resident in indigenous se
Page 79 and 80: through this body that the member v
Page 81 and 82: 162). Extensive changes in the over
Page 83 and 84: Brethren faith, and has constructed
Page 85 and 86: Many labour emigrants spend several
Page 87 and 88: freedom and independence of local p
Page 89 and 90: CHAPTER 4: WAPISHANA CULTURAL ECOLO
Page 91 and 92: Table 4.1. Percentage of households
Page 93 and 94: Figure 4.1. Map of Maruranau’s fa
Page 95 and 96: edge, or in patch of savannah withi
Page 97 and 98: that of previous studies of Wapisha
Page 99 and 100: other cassava drinks and those made
Page 101 and 102: and is effectively a volunteer spec
Page 103 and 104: When growing in large stands, mango
Page 105 and 106: Bananas Musa spp. 8 Thyme Lippia mi
Page 107 and 108: crop. According to the reports of p
Page 109 and 110: alone. A variety of binas 4 may be
Page 111 and 112: manicole (Euterpe spp.), or a combi
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areas on higher ground. Parrots and
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egarded as edible were omitted, alo
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Table 4.7 Animal categories reporte
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when the mother has been hunted, an
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and most of these in very small num
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that the take had diminished rapidl
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Oenocarpus 5 were treated as a sing
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egularly visited areas, but as thes
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of the European pig (Schomburgk 192
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individual resident in Aishalton be
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Useful trees were assigned to use c
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Total number of uses 120 100 80 60
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that the proportion of segregates w
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CHAPTER 5: SYMBOLISM 5.1 Syncretism
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clear that many aspects of knowledg
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malevolent purposes associated with
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ivers, especially at rapids or deep
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myself suffered a mysterious and hi
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5.5 Ecological Implications The maj
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of spider monkey meat may, however,
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CHAPTER 6: ETHNOECOLOGY This chapte
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themselves. Such a circumstance aro
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may reflect local phenotypic divers
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format employed allows analysis to
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people use this and for what?", "Ho
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6.2.2 Mechanisms of acquisition of
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my part. In all cases I looked for
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mobility prevented this. Three of t
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Opinion was also divided about the
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6.3.5 Red-rumped agouti, ‘rabbit
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occupied in the dry season are aban
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6.3.8 ‘Baboon’, red howler monk
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dynamics were considered by three i
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there was a seasonal food shortage
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din (an unidentified felid, probabl
Page 183 and 184:
evealed information about this impo
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this could be conducted by examinin
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CHAPTER 7: ETHNOECOLOGY 2 - COMPARI
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caatinga (Olmos 1993), and were als
Page 191 and 192:
Overall, the dietary data in the pr
Page 193 and 194:
Studies from Brazil and Peru report
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Table 7.5. List of food plants reco
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cassava (Manihot esculenta), black-
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7.6 Orange-rumped agouti Table 7.9.
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availability is at its seasonal low
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7.8 Black spider monkey Specific fo
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from the current data set almost ce
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Table 7.16. Comparison of ethnoecol
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families Arecaceae (Palmae), Meliac
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Other ethnoecological data is compa
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the Wapishana biological lexicon. T
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as concrete stimuli for responses.
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CHAPTER 8: APPLICATIONS OF ETHNOECO
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herd, anticipate its movements and
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for several consecutive nights unti
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The gathering of eggs of turtles an
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importance of particular foods, esp
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Food plant Score Freq. Fruits eaten
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esearch later collaborated on biolo
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weaknesses correspond to some of th
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Subsistence is also heavily depende
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the most interesting questions. Did
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9.3 Does the existing social-ecolog
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avoidance by people of particular a
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via the exploitation of locally-ava
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provide conceptual tools useful in
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in such a way as to be complementar
Page 251 and 252:
consultation on all matters affecti
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10.2 Research findings and their im
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societies with other parties with w
Page 257 and 258:
10.4 Suggestions for further resear
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REFERENCES Agrawal, A. 1995. ‘Dis
Page 261 and 262:
Barreto, G.R., O.E. Hernandez and J
Page 263 and 264:
Clement, C.R. 1993. 'Native Amazoni
Page 265 and 266:
EPA 1999. 'National Biodiversity Ac
Page 267 and 268:
Government of Guyana 1996. 'Proceed
Page 269 and 270:
Johnson, W.A. 1974. ‘Ethnoecology
Page 271 and 272:
Millner-Gulland, E.J. and R. Mace 1
Page 273 and 274:
Posey, D.A., J. Frechione, J. Eddin
Page 275 and 276:
Salisbury, R.F., M.J. Dummett, T.L.
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Turner, H.E. 1972. ‘The Rupununi
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APPENDICES These appendices list Wa
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Wapishana name Creole name Scientif
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Wapishana Name Creole Name Scientif
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