Manioc Varietal Diversity, Social Networks, and Distribution Constraints in Rural Amazonia

Kawa, Nicholas C.; McCarty, Christopher; Clement, Charles R.

doi:10.1086/673528

Cited by 43 publications

(37 citation statements)

References 27 publications

(30 reference statements)

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“…The climate on Mota Lava is drier, and thus the plants that migrants brought with them may not all have been suited to Vanua Lava's climate and soils. Nonetheless, unexpectedly, no correlation was found between out-degree and crop diversity (data not shown), similar to the results reported by Kawa et al (2013). These findings differ from those of other published studies that show a positive correlation between centrality and crop diversity Coomes 2004, Calvet-Mir et al 2012a).…”

Section: Specificities Of Plant Circulation Networksupporting

confidence: 81%

“…Using network descriptors such as degree-centrality, researchers have attempted to measure the popularity of farmers by their degree, i.e., the number of times an individual is mentioned as a seed exchange partner (CalvetMir et al 2012a, Kawa et al 2013, Reyes-García et al 2013, Poudel et al 2015, Ricciardi 2015. In the case of oriented networks, it is possible to distinguish between the centrality of individuals as receivers and as givers by examining in-degree and out-degree statistics, respectively.…”

Section: Popularitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Calvet-Mir et al (2012b) and Reyes-García et al (2013) focused on the link between the level of farmers' local ecological knowledge and their centrality within seed exchange networks in the context of Spanish home gardens. Kawa et al (2013) showed, in three neighboring Amazonian caboclo communities, that farmers with the highest levels of plant diversity were not those who were most central within the seed exchange network. In these studies, circulation networks of seeds or plants were documented from an immaterial perspective because informants were only asked from whom they requested seeds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

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Effects of farmer social status and plant biocultural value on seed circulation networks in Vanuatu

Thomas¹,

Caillon²

2016

E&S

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ABSTRACT. Seed circulation among farmers, which is embedded in composite social networks, is a key process in the dynamics of seed systems that shape crop diversity. We analyzed the daily circulation of biological objects, i.e., cultivated plants (31 species, 284 landraces), within a community of first-generation migrants (16 households, 30 persons) living on the island of Vanua Lava in the South Pacific archipelago nation of Vanuatu. By combining participant observation, ethnobiological inventories, and social network analysis, we investigated how farmer social status and plant biocultural value affect plant circulation. Plant biocultural value was estimated by referring to their local classification according to uses, cultivation practices, growing environments, and biological properties. An aggregate plant circulation network (577 events) and three subnetworks (i.e., for starchy, side dish, or snack food categories) sharing the same 30 nodes were analyzed using exponential random graph models. Evidence that farmer social status influences the patterns of plant circulation was found through the distribution of structural parameters of the network, including: dyadic reciprocity; in-degree, out-degree, and their correlation; triadic cycling; and transitivity. At the scale of the aggregate network, direct or indirect reciprocity was not observed. Instead, a high out-degree (i.e., being a more frequent giver) and a negative correlation between in-degree and out-degree both confer prestige and reinforce hierarchy. These results suggest that some of the social dynamics of the Melanesian-type Big Man political system may persist, even though the system itself no longer exists in traditional form. Moreover, based on our comparative analysis of the three subnetworks, farmer social status appears to influence greatly the circulation of plants with high biocultural value while having little influence on plants with low biocultural value. Farmer social status and plant biocultural value (following their local classification) are important factors for understanding the social rules shaping seed circulation.

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Section: Specificities Of Plant Circulation Networksupporting

confidence: 81%

Section: Popularitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Effects of farmer social status and plant biocultural value on seed circulation networks in Vanuatu

Thomas¹,

Caillon²

2016

E&S

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“…Researchers interested in networks in farming communities have relied on synchronic approaches, whether their studies concern the investigation of local ecological knowledge and expertise (Atran et al 2002, Isaac et al 2007) or more recently, seed exchanges (Abay et al 2011, Calvet-Mir et al 2012, Kawa et al 2013, Reyes-Garcia et al 2013. Such networks are established either through snapshot surveys of transactions at a given time or through the assessment of all the exchanges that occurred along the life span of individuals without taking into account their dynamic processes.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

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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“…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. Studies have shown that gender (Zimmerer 2003, Ban and Coomes 2004, Chambers and Brush 2010, Ricciardi 2015, age (Alvarez et al 2005), farmer expertise (Subedi et al 2003, Calvet-Mir et al 2012, Kawa et al 2013, Reyes-García et al 2013, richness of crop diversity (Ban and Coomes 2004, Alvarez et al 2005, Calvet-Mir et al 2012, Reyes-García et al 2013, and household socioeconomic status (Louette et al 1997, Alvarez et al 2005, Nagarajan et al 2007, van Etten and de Bruin 2007, McGuire 2008, Stromberg et al 2010, Rana et al 2011, Samberg et al 2013, Poudel et al 2015 are important factors in understanding the structure of seed circulation networks. Of particular interest for our case study are those dimensions related to household socioeconomic status.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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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Manioc Varietal Diversity, Social Networks, and Distribution Constraints in Rural Amazonia

Cited by 43 publications

References 27 publications

Effects of farmer social status and plant biocultural value on seed circulation networks in Vanuatu

Effects of farmer social status and plant biocultural value on seed circulation networks in Vanuatu

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

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

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