In the wake of affines. An ethnography of sorghum seed circulation in Northern Cameroon.

Wencélius, Jean; Garine, Éric

doi:10.4000/com.7082

Cited by 8 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 21 publications

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“…The reasons underlying such behaviors are twofold. First, men do not wish to overtly display, within the neighborhood, their inability to preserve their seed lots from one season to the other and would rather be indebted to their in-laws than to their blood-related kin (Wencélius and Garine 2014). Second, according to cultural norms, refusing assistance to a daughter who made the effort to visit her parents is strongly disapproved, whereas refusing assistance to a brother or neighbor is more acceptable (Violon et al 2016).…”

Section: Age-and Gender-related Patterns Of Seed Acquisitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The combination of these three social rules plays an important role in the territorial inscription of social organization. Within a village, all men are kin-related through patrilineal ties, and all married women are "strangers," born in other villages and belonging to different patrilineal groups (Wencélius and Garine 2014).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Recent studies, carried out in different cultural settings, have shown how community-level properties (i.e., ethnicity, cultural norms, and social rules) substantially structure local seed systems and the distribution of crop diversity (Longley 2000, Perales et al 2005, Delêtre et al 2011, Labeyrie et al 2014, Wencélius and Garine 2014. At a much finer scale, household-level properties and individual characteristics have also been explored to uncover differential patterns of seed seeking and seed provisioning behaviors within communities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interhousehold variability and its effects on seed circulation networks: a case study from northern Cameroon

Wencélius¹,

Thomas²,

Barbillon³

et al. 2016

E&S

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ABSTRACT. We present a detailed ethnographic case study of sorghum seed acquisitions in a smallholder farming society in northern Cameroon. The effects of variability in household demographics and socioeconomic status on observed patterns of seed provisioning are explored alongside other variables such as age and gender. Our data set comprised 223 seed acquisition events. Independence tests (Pearson's chi-square and Fisher's exact tests) were carried out to test for significant dependencies between individual-or householdlevel characteristics and properties of seed acquisition events (categories of seed source, social relationship of exchange, and type of landrace). Results indicate that wealth is a structuring factor of the local seed circulation network in as much as it is highly correlated with household composition and size. Members from wealthy households benefit from a more diverse set of seed sources. Their greater number of coresidents and the importance of intrahousehold dynamics of seed transactions also play a role in making wealthy farmers more seed secure than others. The methodological implications of our findings indicate that when documenting seed exchange networks, the collection of data through a single informant or the undertaking of social network analyses at the household level may induce important biases.

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Section: Age-and Gender-related Patterns Of Seed Acquisitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Interhousehold variability and its effects on seed circulation networks: a case study from northern Cameroon

Wencélius¹,

Thomas²,

Barbillon³

et al. 2016

E&S

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“…Red sorghum seeds, for instance, are labeled by people of the region as "the seeds of our fathers" (Wencélius and Garine 2014). Women, however, are the only ones to take care of seed conservation in granaries and are the main actors in selection of seeds for sowing.…”

Section: Women As Agents For Resiliencementioning

confidence: 99%

Good year, bad year: changing strategies, changing networks? A two-year study on seed acquisition in northern Cameroon

Violon¹,

Thomas²,

Garine³

2016

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Analysis of seed exchange networks at a single point in time may reify sporadic relations into apparently fixed and longlasting ones. In northern Cameroon, where environment is not only strongly seasonal but also shows unpredictable interannual variation, farmers' social networks are flexible from year to year. When adjusting their strategies, Tupuri farmers do not systematically solicit the same partners to acquire the desired propagules. Seed acquisitions documented during a single cropping season may thus not accurately reflect the underlying larger social network that can be mobilized at the local level. To test this hypothesis, we documented, at the outset of two cropping seasons (2010 and 2011), the relationships through which seeds were acquired by the members of 16 households in a Tupuri community. In 2011, farmers faced sudden failure of the rains and had to solicit distant relatives, highlighting their ability to quickly trigger specific social relations to acquire necessary seeding material. Observing the same set of individuals during two successive years and the seed sources they solicited in each year enabled us to discriminate repeated relations from sporadic ones. Although farmers did not acquire seeds from the same individuals from one year to the next, they relied on quite similar relational categories of people. However, the worse weather conditions during the second year led to (1) a shift from red sorghum seeds to pearl millet seeds, (2) a geographical extension of the network, and (3) an increased participation of women in seed acquisitions. In critical situations, women mobilized their own kin almost exclusively. We suggest that studying the seed acquisition network over a single year provides a misrepresentation of the underlying social network. Depending on the difficulties farmers face, they may occasionally call on relationships that transcend the local relationships used each year.

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“…These seed dissemination networks are strongly dependent on social organization. Previous studies showed the importance of kinship in northern Cameroon (Wencélius & Garine, 2014), neighborhood in Ethiopia (McGuire, 2008), and ethnicity in the Mount Kenya region (Labeyrie, Thomas, Muthamia, & Leclerc, 2016). These "informal" seed systems, as opposed to the "formal" ones, either institutional or commercial (Almekinders, Louwaars, & De Bruijn, 1994), present a limited geographic extent (Hodgkin et al, 2007).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Past and present dynamics of sorghum and pearl millet diversity in Mount Kenya region

Labeyrie

Deu

Dussert

et al. 2016

Evolutionary Applications

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Crop populations in smallholder farming systems are shaped by the interaction of biological, ecological, and social processes, occurring on different spatiotemporal scales. Understanding these dynamics is fundamental for the conservation of crop genetic resources. In this study, we investigated the processes involved in sorghum and pearl millet diversity dynamics on Mount Kenya. Surveys were conducted in ten sites distributed along two elevation transects and occupied by six ethnolinguistic groups. Varieties of both species grown in each site were inventoried and characterized using SSR markers. Genetic diversity was analyzed using both individual‐ and population‐based approaches. Surveys of seed lot sources allowed characterizing seed‐mediated gene flow. Past sorghum diffusion dynamics were explored by comparing Mount Kenya sorghum diversity with that of the African continent. The absence of structure in pearl millet genetic diversity indicated common ancestry and/or important pollen‐ and seed‐mediated gene flow. On the contrary, sorghum varietal and genetic diversity showed geographic patterns, pointing to different ancestry of varieties, limited pollen‐mediated gene flow, and geographic patterns in seed‐mediated gene flow. Social and ecological processes involved in shaping seed‐mediated gene flow are further discussed.

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In the wake of affines. An ethnography of sorghum seed circulation in Northern Cameroon.

Cited by 8 publications

References 21 publications

Interhousehold variability and its effects on seed circulation networks: a case study from northern Cameroon

Interhousehold variability and its effects on seed circulation networks: a case study from northern Cameroon

Good year, bad year: changing strategies, changing networks? A two-year study on seed acquisition in northern Cameroon

Past and present dynamics of sorghum and pearl millet diversity in Mount Kenya region

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