The contested nature of Afro-descendant quilombo land claims in Brazil

Author's accepted version (post-print).This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in The Journal of peasant Studies on 27/11/2017, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/03066150.2017.1400532.Available from 28/05/2019.In Brazil, Afro-descendant quilombola communities were for the first time in history recognised as legal rights-holders to land in the 1988 constitution – 100 years after the abolition of slavery. Drawing on fieldwork in the quilombo Bombas in the state of São Paulo, and a review of relevant literature, this contribution explores the historical trajectory of the constitutional quilombo provision and how it has been translated into practice. Combining a discussion of the use of self-identification and the concepts of ‘regulation’, ‘force’, ‘market’ and ‘legitimation’ when analysing the dynamics of access and exclusion, we show how struggles over land are simultaneously enacted in controversies over the meanings of quilombola identity and its implications.acceptedVersio

Food culture and child-feeding practices in Njombe and Mvomero districts, Tanzania

Author's accepted version (post-print).Available from 09/12/2017.This is an Accepted Manuscript of an article published by Taylor & Francis in Journal of Eastern African Studies on 08/06/2016, available online: http://www.tandfonline.com/10.1080/17531055.2016.1184834.This article explores food culture and child-feeding practices, focusing on children below five years among the Bena and Luguru ethnic groups located in Njombe and Mvomero rural districts in Tanzania. In these two societies existing cultural norms, and beliefs related to child feeding focusing on breastfeeding and complementary feeding were investigated aiming at understanding how every-day practices on child feeding are socially and culturally constructed by actors including parents or guardians, thus giving cultural meanings that are attached to every-day realities on child feeding. The article is part of a larger research project whose overall purpose was to investigate the outcome of milk-based nutrition interventions involving dairy goat and cattle-keeping with the aim among others to improve health and nutritional status of family members, especially children below five years in societies where prevalence of malnutrition particularly undernutrition is rather high. Methods used included participant observation, in-depth interviews, focus group discussions and semi-structured interviews. Findings show that early after birth, pre-lacteal feeds are commonly introduced in both societies and the most common complementary food includes plain maize porridge. On the other hand, milk consumption among children was rather limited. Existing food habits and feeding practices seem to be informed by widely-shared norms and beliefs. However, these culturally established practices do not always meet the current international recommendations on child feeding. Besides, recommendations and nutritional information on child feeding have largely not been used as suggested. This paper argues that, for the successful introduction and implementation of nutrition-based interventions targeting children, it is important to identify and improve upon the indigenous child-feeding practices, reflecting existing food habits, food-related beliefs, and their meanings

Theory and practice in teaching and learning social anthropology

The concept of knowledge has been used in anthropological analyses referring to something that both provides people with materials for reflection and premises for action. This paper discusses how social anthropology as a subject taught at the university level can be organised in ways that actually give students both new materials for reflection and premises for action. In more concrete terms the paper address the question: How can anthropological theory and practice be communicated to an extremely heterogeneous group of students, such as the one attending the Social Anthropology course at the Agricultural University of Norway? One of the basic assumptions underlying this social anthropology course is that the Agricultural University is not responsible for educating professional anthropologists. The institutional framework of the course is multi- and interdisciplinary. Another basic assumption is that a basic understanding of anthropological knowledge and perspectives will be valuable for the students, independent of the professional specialisation they chose for their future. A concrete course objective is that students after finishing the course shall be able to read anthropological texts, and that they in future study and work situations shall be able to use and relate to relevant anthropological knowledge. In order to reach these objectives it is essential to involve the students in an active learning process, seeking to make the students diverse background and experiences relevant in the learning process. Anthropologists have usually based their teaching on the experiences and models that were directly and indirectly transmitted to them (us) as students of anthropology. Thus, to a great extent one has transmitted – slightly adapted – forms of learning, based on the present generation’s experiences with former generations’ practices. To a lesser extent today’s teaching of social anthropology as a university subject is based on theoretical reflections and explicit discussions on the nature of anthropological knowledge with regard to the objectives of teaching and learning, or the potentials of different methods and forms of learning with regard to this particular subject. Fredrik Barth in a recently published article points to the potentials of knowledge as an analytic concept. How can this analytic concept inform the transmission of anthropological knowledge in teaching and learning situations? As an anthropologist doing fieldwork, in principle you assume the role as a learner. Carrying out fieldwork as a ‘ rite de passage’ for professional anthropologists in fact involves the idea of a constitutive role of experience-based learning in acquiring anthropological knowledge and understanding. On the other hand, we find within the discipline various tensions between theory and practice. These tensions make it, among other things, both demanding and interesting to teach the subject, and even more so faced with the usually heterogeneous group of – often practice-oriented – students who follow the course in social anthropology at the Agricultural University of Norway. How to use this heterogeneity actively in learning situations, while designing a study plan that make it possible for students to acquire the knowledge and understanding that (anthropologists would consider to be) basic anthropology? How to facilitate the necessary linkages between theory and practice in a short introductory course? And how can students’ diverse backgrounds and experiences be made relevant in relation to (what has been established as) anthropological knowledge? Here it becomes necessary to address the question of course ambitions with regard to the level of knowledge and understanding the students can be expected to attain. In the paper, B. Blooms taxonomy of different classes of educational objectives is used to discuss both the definition of course objectives in Social Anthropology, and how these objectives can be realized. Finally the paper presents some experiments with active student participation – ending up with some positive experiences in using ethnographic films

Competence and capacity for agricultural development in Malawi : an overview of institutions involved in knowledge generation, training and extension in agriculture and natural resource management

This report is written with the aim of being useful reading for donors, development planners and international partners in development cooperation working in the fields of agriculture and natural resource management research and outreach, institution building in tertiary education, and cross-institutional and inter-disciplinary approaches. But above all, it is written with the hope of being useful for individuals and sector institutions involved in preparing new cross-institutional and interdisciplinary linkages and collaboration in Malawi. Malawi is one of the countries in Southern Africa that at present experiences a situation of both complex and urgent challenges – above all associated with poverty, and rural poverty in particular. In a world of commercial globalisation, 90% of the country’s export earnings come from agricultural products, while 85% of the economically active population depend on agriculture. Most of the around 11 million people in Malawi are smallholder farmers. Agricultural productivity is, however, low, and generally declining. In fact, increasing poverty among smallholders appears to be both cause and effect of low agricultural productivity. Smallholders’ poverty is closely linked to increasing pressure on land and natural resources, and it appears essential to find means to increase agricultural productivity. Present figures indicate that 60% of households in the course of a year experience food insecurity, and it is no doubt necessary to assist smallholders to develop new opportunities for income generation. The question is: How?Is the key to solving Malawi’s problems to be found in competence and capacity building in the agricultural sector and in natural resources management? Will better training of more students in agriculture, extension and natural resources management result in improved food security at the national level? Does agricultural research and transmission of research-based knowledge eventually reach small-scale farmers and improve their livelihoods? Is research in these fields responding to smallholder farmers’ needs? These are challenging questions in the Malawian context today. It is a context where Bunda College of Agriculture plays the role of a key institution in agricultural and natural resources management training and research. The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Food Security is, on its part, responsible for a network of agricultural research stations and for a network of (so far) public extension services. But none of these institutions have so far been able to exhibit a positive impact on smallholder agriculture at a scale that corresponds either to the ambitions of the institutions themselves or to the present challenges in rural areas. How to make the most of the science-based competence and capacity that exist in the fields of agriculture and natural resource management is actually quite an urgent issue in Malawi. “In Malawi you cannot run away from agriculture!” is a statement that in many ways summarizes the situation. During the interviews carried out to seek information and perspectives from different stakeholders for this report, it was pronounced not by a Malawian professional in agriculture, but by a social scientist. The present study addresses the issue of how science-based competence and capacity for agriculture in Malawi are organised and how human resources in these fields are trained and utilized. It provides an updated and analytically oriented overview of key institutions involved in science-based knowledge generation and dissemination (extension)directed at the agricultural sector in the country. The study is a first attempt to carry out such a sector-oriented competence-and-capacity mapping. The report was originally planned to serve as a support and background document for the proposed Bunda College Development Programme, which in 2004 is being submitted to NORAD for funding. However, it is hoped that it can also be useful in the planning of future collaboration both between the institutions described here and between these institutions and external partners. It could be useful in the planning of how to prioritise resources in the further development of competence and capacity in the agricultural sector and in natural resources management in Malawi. And it may serve as an input to further planning processes at the policy-making level, both in tertiary education, in natural (and human) resource management, and in agricultural development.This Noragric Report was commissioned by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) to Noragri

Land, investments and public-private partnerships: what happened to the Beira Agricultural Growth Corridor in Mozambique?

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Development of National Producer Organizations and Specialized Business Units in Mozambique : a study for The Royal Norwegian Society for Development to prepare a new phase of programme collaboration

This Noragric Report was commissioned by the Royal Norwegian Society for Development (Det Kongelige Selskap for Norges Vel)

Decentralisation in the agricultural sector in Malawi : policies, processes and community linkages.

This Noragric Report was commissioned by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (NORAD) to Noragric.Based on the 1998 Decentralisation Policy and Local Government Act, the National Decentralisation Programme in Malawi in 2001 initiated a coordinated process aimed at devolving power and resources to local assemblies, with the District Assembly level playing a paramount role. This report focuses on the decentralisation process in the agricultural sector in the context of national decentralisation policies and programmes. Decentralisation involves set of decisions leading to shifts in the locus of power from the centre towards the periphery. In this implementation process, the Ministry of Agriculture was given extensive powers to influence the exercise of devolving (their own) powers, functions and responsibilities to the District level. But there appears to be fragile capacity within the government system in managing this complex reform process. And at higher levels, there is still considerable reluctance to devolve power and decentralise resources. In the agricultural sector, and more specifically within the area of responsibility of the former Department of Agricultural Extension Services, decentralisation could build on already existing structures at local levels. Devolution, however, means that a strictly top down system in terms of power, decision-making, accountability and information flow, had to be changed. In the negotiations to change this system, lack of capacity is often used as a multi-purpose argument in the quest to maintain power at higher levels. In order to move beyond what has so far been achieved in terms of decentralising the responsibility for extension services to the District level, a more pro-active leadership and ownership to the process is required in the agricultural sector as a whole. More direct institutional links can be developed between the District level/ Extension Planning Area level and the research and experiment stations under the Ministry’s Department of Agricultural Research Services. Eventually, the formerly established Agricultural Development Divisions (ADDs) may be phased out to promote more efficient and effective use of resources. Furthermore, in the implementation of the new Agricultural Extension Policy at the local level, extension officers should be given a special mandate to make sure that the “Those who benefit pay”-principle is not translated into service-provision based on “Those who pay benefit”. Support to capacity and competence building in agriculture and natural resource management should include explicit priorities aimed at responding to the challenges and needs at the decentralised DA, Area and village levels. Programme and project funding from the Norwegian side should be based on a careful scrutiny of to what extent the funded activities may actually undermine fledgling local government structures and decentralised development-oriented activities. By providing funds that are channelled to properly managed District Development Funds (DDFs) – and possibly earmarked for the agricultural sector – participatory-democracy processes of decision-making and agricultural-development initiatives at village level can be strengthened, together with the formally established, but not necessarily operative structures of stakeholder panels within the District agricultural sector. At the same time, village-level agricultural development initiatives could be supported through the DDF mechanism. Research projects and technology development funded through Norwegian programmes, could be used to forge stronger links between higher education and research institutions, Malawian research and experiment stations, and the decentralised District Agricultural Development Offices and Extension Planning Areas at local levels, thus contributing to promoting demand-driven agricultural research

Teori og praksis i sosialantropologi som studiefag

The concept of knowledge has been used in anthropological analyses referring to something that both provides people with materials for reflection and premises for action. This paper discusses how social anthropology as a subject taught at the university level can be organised in ways that actually give students both new materials for reflection and premises for action. In more concrete terms the paper address the question: How can anthropological theory and practice be communicated to an extremely heterogeneous group of students, such as the one attending the Social Anthropology course at the Agricultural University of Norway? One of the basic assumptions underlying this social anthropology course is that the Agricultural University is not responsible for educating professional anthropologists. The institutional framework of the course is multi- and interdisciplinary. Another basic assumption is that a basic understanding of anthropological knowledge and perspectives will be valuable for the students, independent of the professional specialisation they chose for their future. A concrete course objective is that students after finishing the course shall be able to read anthropological texts, and that they in future study and work situations shall be able to use and relate to relevant anthropological knowledge. In order to reach these objectives it is essential to involve the students in an active learning process, seeking to make the students diverse background and experiences relevant in the learning process. Anthropologists have usually based their teaching on the experiences and models that were directly and indirectly transmitted to them (us) as students of anthropology. Thus, to a great extent one has transmitted – slightly adapted – forms of learning, based on the present generation’s experiences with former generations’ practices. To a lesser extent today’s teaching of social anthropology as a university subject is based on theoretical reflections and explicit discussions on the nature of anthropological knowledge with regard to the objectives of teaching and learning, or the potentials of different methods and forms of learning with regard to this particular subject. Fredrik Barth in a recently published article points to the potentials of knowledge as an analytic concept. How can this analytic concept inform the transmission of anthropological knowledge in teaching and learning situations? As an anthropologist doing fieldwork, in principle you assume the role as a learner. Carrying out fieldwork as a ‘ rite de passage’ for professional anthropologists in fact involves the idea of a constitutive role of experience-based learning in acquiring anthropological knowledge and understanding. On the other hand, we find within the discipline various tensions between theory and practice. These tensions make it, among other things, both demanding and interesting to teach the subject, and even more so faced with the usually heterogeneous group of – often practice-oriented – students who follow the course in social anthropology at the Agricultural University of Norway. How to use this heterogeneity actively in learning situations, while designing a study plan that make it possible for students to acquire the knowledge and understanding that (anthropologists would consider to be) basic anthropology? How to facilitate the necessary linkages between theory and practice in a short introductory course? And how can students’ diverse backgrounds and experiences be made relevant in relation to (what has been established as) anthropological knowledge? Here it becomes necessary to address the question of course ambitions with regard to the level of knowledge and understanding the students can be expected to attain. In the paper, B. Blooms taxonomy of different classes of educational objectives is used to discuss both the definition of course objectives in Social Anthropology, and how these objectives can be realized. Finally the paper presents some experiments with active student participation – ending up with some positive experiences in using ethnographic films

OSCs e SWAPs : o papel das organizações da sociedade civil no sector de saúde em Moçambique

This report was also published in English, title: CSOs and SWAPs: The role of civil society organisations in the health sector in Mozambiqu