Dans les sillons de l’alliance. Ethnographie de la circulation des semences de sorgho dans l’Extrême-Nord du Cameroun

Nous proposons dans cet article une analyse des échanges de semences de sorgho pluvial basée sur une ethnographie fine des sources et des pratiques d’approvisionnement par les agriculteurs d’un village masa de l’Extrême-Nord du Cameroun. Le croisement d’un corpus de données sur les acquisitions de semences avec un recensement généalogique met au jour une correspondance étroite entre les aires d’échanges de semences et d’échanges matrimoniaux. Les alliances matrimoniales conclues entre différents clans et groupes ethnolinguistiques participent à forger une unité socio-territoriale qui transcende ces frontières et constitue une aire de circulation intense tant des personnes que des biens. Les semences empruntent des circuits similaires à ceux des femmes et les transferts privilégiés entre affins sont une expression, parmi d’autres, des relations sociales d’échange dans lesquelles ces parents par alliance sont engagés.The aim of this article is to analyze rainy-season sorghum seed flows through an in-depth ethnography of seed supply sources and practices in a Masa village of Northern Cameroon. Cross-referencing datasets concerning farmers’ seed acquisitions and genealogical relationships reveals a strong match between the geographical dimensions of both seed and matrimonial exchanges. Marital unions between members of different clans and ethno-linguistic groups result in the forging of a socio-territorial unit which transcends group boundaries and harbors intense flows of people and goods. Seed transfers are channeled through the paths of women’s mobility. The frequency of sorghum seed transfers between in-laws represents one of the many expressions of the social relationships of exchange affines are engaged in

Bird stories to tell the social and environmental changes: a comparative approach in four countries

When people talk about their environment and how it has changed recently, they often refer to some sets of species seen as indicators of changes. What kind of species is used for this purpose? What are their commonalities in different environmental contexts? How this knowledge can help understanding socio-ecological systems dynamics? To tackle these questions, the ANR PIAF project compared free-lists collected from informants (experts and non-experts) sampled along a gradient of anthropisation including protected -rural and urban areas in four countries (Cameroon, France, USA, and Zimbabwe). Free-lists of birds, i.e. lists of birds spontaneously cited by informants, were analysed based on the life-history traits of the mentioned species. The analyses reveal common patterns across the different countries as to the type of birds cited, though they also relate to the social attributes of the informants. These patterns provide us with useful information about which groups of bird species should be used to monitor environmental changes as perceived by local people. The combination of free-listing with ecological life-traits database is a very promising method, both to link scientific and indigenous, and sociological and ecological understanding of ecosystem transformations. Through this project we aim to better understand local ecological knowledge and use this to generate a way to engage people in ecological transitions