Disturbing Constructions of Tropical Savannas and the People Who Burn Them

The transition from equilibrium to non-equilibrium models of ecosystems in the biological sciences during the past several decades parallels an evolution in the ways that anthropologists understand culture. Reconceptualizations of ecosystem processes (e.g., disturbance) and units (e.g., landscapes) are apparent in fire science where they have influenced a conversion from the belief that fire is a destructive artificial force to the belief that fire is a controllable natural element. What adjustments have fire scientists made in their understandings of people who ignite fires? Even though fire science literature is voluminous, the sociocultural and biophysical relationships surrounding fire are insufficiently understood. Ethnographic data on the fire-related knowledge and skills that indigenous peoples possess are especially sparse. This paper is a case study of everyday burning practices on Sumba, Indonesia. It approaches burning as a social activity with culturally-specific meanings, political and economic components, and with implications for human well-being. This paper also examines social constructions of savannas in the Dry Monsoonal Tropics and people who use fire to manage them. Ethnographic data combined with archival information will be used to explore the linkages and disconnects between studies of disturbance fires and 21st century understandings of culture. How can we explain the scientific and development literature that differentially assesses indigenous and non-indigenous fire regimes, technical expertise, and burning authority in Eastern Indonesia and Northern Australia? The social, historical, geographical, political, and environmental dimensions of fire produce problematic understandings of fire and fire starters

Gendered production and consumption in rural Africa

Recent research underscores the continued importance of gender in rural Africa. Analysis of interactions within households is becoming more sophisticated and continues to reject the unitary model. There is some evidence of discriminatory treatment of girls relative to boys, although the magnitudes of differential investments in health and schooling are not large and choices seem quite responsive to changes in opportunity costs. Social norms proscribing and prescribing male and female economic behavior remain substantial, extending into many domains, especially land tenure. Gender constructions are constantly evolving, although there is little evidence of rapid, transformative change in rural areas

Jacob, Jean-Pierre. — Terres privées, terres communes

Twenty years after his thesis on Winye chiefs and power in central Burkina Faso, J.-P. Jacob directs our attention to Winye land tenure and arrives at generalizations valid for other societies about the role of so-called “chefs de terre” (Winye inu). The Winye or Wunye are speakers of Ko, part of the Gur or Voltaic languages.  Their territory lies between Mouhoun and Bale rivers near Boromo, mid-way between Bobo and Ouagadougou. Bordered in the East and North by Nouna, in the West by Marka, a..

Jacob, Jean-Pierre. — Terres privées, terres communes

Twenty years after his thesis on Winye chiefs and power in central Burkina Faso, J.-P. Jacob directs our attention to Winye land tenure and arrives at generalizations valid for other societies about the role of so-called “chefs de terre” (Winye inu). The Winye or Wunye are speakers of Ko, part of the Gur or Voltaic languages.  Their territory lies between Mouhoun and Bale rivers near Boromo, mid-way between Bobo and Ouagadougou. Bordered in the East and North by Nouna, in the West by Marka, a..

L'immoralité fondatrice

Le texte propose une analyse de la dynamique et des formes de production de l'ordre social winye, à partir d'une approche de la manière dont les institutions locales intègrent l'expression de l'intérêt et de l'identité individuelles. Il montre que l'ordre social régional se constitue sur la base de réseaux de cultes prohibant pour leurs affiliés des conduites a-sociales par ailleurs courantes en créant ainsi les bases d'une stabilité politique transversale aux différentes communautés locales.Immorality at the Foundations : Common and Individual Interests among the Winye (Burkina Faso). -- The dynamics and forms of production of the Winye social order are analyzed by examining how local institutions integrate the expression of individual interests and identities. The regional social order is based on networks of cults that forbid their members from adopting asocial (but nonetheless frequent) behaviors. This lays the foundation for political stability, which cuts across various local communities

Lavigne Delville, Philippe, Toulmin, Camilla & Traoré, Samba (dir.). – Gérer le foncier rural en Afrique de l’Ouest. Dynamiques foncières et interventions publiques. Paris, Karthala ; Saint-Louis (Sénégal), URED, 2000, 357 p.

Les « éditeurs » de Gérer le foncier rural en Afrique de l’Ouest proposent un ouvrage qui inclut des études de cas concernant l’Afrique anglophone (Ghana avec Kasanga, Amanor, Abudulai et Bortei-Doku Aryeetey, Cameroun avec Mope Simo et Egbe) et, pour les pays d’Afrique francophone plus connus (Côte-d’Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Mali, Sénégal, Bénin), des présentations d’expériences en cours visant l’amélioration des systèmes de gestion locale des ressources. L’ensemble du recueil témoigne e..

Typologie linguistique et histoire du peuplement: le cas des langues gur du Burkina Faso

Ce travaille demanderait a être étendu à toutes les langues gur parlées au Burkina. L'auteur accueillera avec plaisir tout commentaire et toute information supplémentaire. Contact: [email protected] *******************************The present work should be extended to all the gur languages spoken in Burkina. Comments and further information will be welcome. Contact: [email protected] opuscule de 33 pages propose une classification structurale des langues de la famille gur parlées au BF. Dans les ch. I et II, , l'auteur définit et justifie les sept critères typologiques retenus, par ordre de priorité décroissante: l'ordre des termes dans l'énoncé, la relation entre genres et classes nominales, le marquage de l'aspect verbal, la marque d'actualité verbale, celle de l'actualité nominale et enfin quelques traits phonologiques, notamment le rôle de l'harmonie vocalique ATR. Ces critères révèlent trois types de langues gur, qui n'ont jamais été identifiés en tant que tels dans la littérature et dont la répartition géographique ne correspond que très imparfaitement au tryptique "est - centre - ouest" (carte jointe). A partir de là, l'auteur tente de comprendre cette hétérogénéité en tenant compte de l'Histoire, mais aussi des mécanismes généraux du changement linguistique (phénomènes de contacts de langues envisagés du point de vue sociolinguistique et du point de vue psycho-linguistique). Les résultats obtenus ainsi que les hypothèses qui tentent de les expliquer interpellent tous ceux qui s'intéressent à l'histoire du peuplement dans cette partie du monde.*****************************This paper of 33 pages proposes a structural classification of the Gur languages spoken in Burkina Faso. In section I & II, the author defines and justifies the seven typologic criteria he uses, from the more to the less important : word-order in the sentence, the relation gender-class, the expression of verbal aspect, the mark of actuality on verbs and on nouns and finally a few phonological features, in particular the ATR vowel harmony. These criteria reveal three types of Gur languages, which have never been identified as such in the literature and which only poorly correspond to the geographic "east - centre -west" of the aera (one map). So the author tries to understand the how and why those kin languages are so heterogenous, taking into account the historical data, but also the general mechanisms at work in linguistic change (languages in contact, both from a socio-linguistic and a psycho-linguistic angle). The results as well as the hypotheses trying to account for them should appeal to all those interested in the history of population in this part of the world