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

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small-scale Amerindian ranchers in the Rupununi Livestock Producers' Association is providing a forum for these and other problems to be expressed and discussed, and may ultimately help to improve the lot of the small rancher. Table 3.2. Sources of income for households in Maruranau Activity Percentage of respondents reporting activity to be a source of household income Sale of farm produce within village 72 Manufacture and sale of Handicrafts 22 Sale of fish (within village) 20 Wage labour outside village 20 Sale of wild game (within village) 18 Wage labour within village 18 Sale of livestock within village 14 Commercial farming of peanuts 10 Sale of garden produce within village 8 Sale of livestock outside village 8 Sale of cotton 6 Government salary 4 Government Pension 4 Support from relatives working outside 2 In the Rupununi area, some people find work in the ranching industry as ‘vaqueiros’ (‘cowboys’), ranch hands, drivers and mechanics, though the total labour force is small relative to the size of the local population. The majority of people interested in wage labour must depend on migration out of the Rupununi region. In some cases this is to other parts of Guyana - Georgetown or the gold mining areas of the Upper Mazaruni and Pakaraimas in western Guyana. The vast majority of people, however, are drawn west to the neighbouring Brazilian state of Roraima (also see ARU 1992: 52-3). Such migration may be seasonal, long-term but temporary, or permanent. Some young people will spend the majority of their time working in Brazil, returning for special occasions such as Christmas and Easter; others will cycle between working for money and living back in their home village off money saved, returning to work when the money runs out. In both cases, the return of these people provides cash injections into the normally impoverished local economy. Some young men migrate seasonally according to the agricultural cycle, travelling to Brazil after cutting and planting their farms at the onset of the rainy season. In this pattern they are replicating the cycle between subsistence and wage labour adopted by balata bleeders.
Many labour emigrants spend several years out of the region working, eventually returning to settle and raise a family in their home village and resuming a lifestyle largely based upon traditional subsistence activities. In other cases the emigration is permanent, young people or entire families relocating entirely in favour of the greater economic opportunities available elsewhere. Many families have extensive cross- border connections, in particular when young adults with children leave the children in the care of their grandparents while they are working in Brazil. However, only a single household participating in surveys conducted in the present study reported the provision of money by relatives working outside the village to be a source of income. In Maruranau, as is typical in the villages of the South Rupununi, people are severely materially disadvantaged by the low level of basic services, especially health and education, and the low cash flow locally. Although the cash economy is an important part of modern life, certain shop-bought goods having become essential, means by which people can earn money are very limited. Labour migration is a common response to this, and often results in social disruption and the break-up of families via the absence of one or both parents or the emigration of young people out of their home area (ARU 1993: 103-4, 110-111). Some people expressed their concerns to me that this could result in cultural degradation and loss of self- sufficiency, as young people failed to acquire basic subsistence skills. Within the South Rupununi, whether through choice or lack of alternative, subsistence activities are dominant in most people’s lives. The possible changes with which the first section of this chapter was concerned have major implications for this. On the one hand, initiatives that may improve the local economic situation and provide means of generating income locally would be welcomed in most quarters. One the other hand, people in the area generally gave me the impression of being more concerned with the possible threats these changes may hold for their existing livelihoods. 3.3 Local Perspectives on changing circumstances 3.3.1 Indigenous land claims in the South Rupununi It appears that the people of the South Rupununi have long been aware that their continued existence as a culturally distinct people would one day come under threat. The most vivid demonstration of this is their long-standing claim to areas of land far beyond the present boundaries of their titles, dating back to the time of the Amerindian Lands Commission. Officials of the commission were somewhat taken aback when toushaos of the six Deep South Villages each submitted an identical
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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
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subsistence strategies to exemplify
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context is provided by Wapishana cu
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a 'need' for meat even if their phy
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phenomenon and thus arguing that in
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populations of beaver and caribou (
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practice (Sillitoe 1998: 228-9). Th
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1.2.4 Does the nature of ethnoecolo
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presented on cultural ecology. This
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Riviere identifies cognatic descent
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the village and out in the forest.
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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 and 62: enefit of the entire national popul
Page 63 and 64: forests of the Rupununi River itsel
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: Brethren faith, and has constructed
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
Page 113 and 114: areas on higher ground. Parrots and
Page 115 and 116: egarded as edible were omitted, alo
Page 117 and 118: Table 4.7 Animal categories reporte
Page 119 and 120: when the mother has been hunted, an
Page 121 and 122: and most of these in very small num
Page 123 and 124: that the take had diminished rapidl
Page 125 and 126: Oenocarpus 5 were treated as a sing
Page 127 and 128: egularly visited areas, but as thes
Page 129 and 130: of the European pig (Schomburgk 192
Page 131 and 132: individual resident in Aishalton be
Page 133 and 134: 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
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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
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Overall, the dietary data in the pr
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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
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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
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10.4 Suggestions for further resear
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REFERENCES Agrawal, A. 1995. ‘Dis
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Barreto, G.R., O.E. Hernandez and J
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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
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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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