Development, planning, and agricultural knowledge on the central plateau of Burkina Faso

B1 - Chapter in Research Book

Contested sites, land claims and economic development in Poum, New Caledonia

Property relations are often ambiguous in postcolonial settings. Property is only considered as such if socially legitimate institutions sanction it. In indigenous communities, access to natural resources is frequently multidimensional and overlapping, subject to conflict and negotiation in a ‘social arena’. Settler arrivals and new economic possibilities challenge these norms and extend the arena. The article analyses conflicts and negotiations in the French overseas territory of New Caledonia in the light of its unique settler history and economic activity, focussing on the little-studied remote northern district of Poum on the Caledonian main island Grande Terre. In this region the descendants of British fishermen intermarried with the majority Kanak clans. We illustrate the interaction between customary conflicts, European settlement, struggles for independence, and a desire for economic development. Customary claims are in tension with the attractions of economic growth and service delivery, which has been slow in coming to Poum for reasons largely outside the control of local people

Social-ecological analysis of integrated agriculture-aquaculture in Dedza, Malawi

Through the case of integrated agriculture-aquaculture in rural Malawi, this paper argues that hybrid research can reveal new interactions in social-ecological systems not evident when studies by social or natural methods independently. While recent research acknowledges the social and natural dimensions of aquaculture systems, studies often create an artificial divide by attempting to address each aspect in isolation. Social science research has overlooked the biophysical aspects of aquaculture, while scientific research has uncritically accepted orthodox explanations of environmental outcomes without addressing the social contexts of such systems. The social component of this research reveals that fish farmers in Malawi are rejecting practices which do not work in the local context (fertilization with pond mud) and adopting strategies that do work (irrigation with pond water). The physical component of this research compliments the social by elucidating that irrigation with pond water resulted in higher soil nutrient and moisture content. The paper concludes that small-scale aquaculture can make significant contributions to rural household food and income security in Africa and that hybrid research methods can improve our abilities to investigate the complex, connected nature of social-ecological systems