A Famine Zone in Africa: The Sudan

Renner, George T.

doi:10.2307/208386

Cited by 18 publications

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“…Mead (1916) worked in China and examined the problem of periodic flooding and resulting famine in that vast nation. Renner(1926) worked on famine-related topics in Africa identified a so-called "famine-belt" that extended from West to East Africa across the Sudanic zone, a sub-region generally known today as the Sahel. This region of Africa, the Sahel, has continued to attract other geographers, among the Hunter (1967) and Annegers (1973b) who investigated the theme of seasonal hunger in this area subject to periodic drought Brooke (1967) also worked in Africa and considered famine from a historical perspective, then mapped the patterns of socio-dietary impact of food short-ages in Tanzania.…”

Section: These Monographs On the Ecology Of Malnutrition Were Prepamentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional Geography: History and Trends

Grivetti

2000

Nutritional Anthropology

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Section: These Monographs On the Ecology Of Malnutrition Were Prepamentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutritional Geography: History and Trends

Grivetti

2000

Nutritional Anthropology

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“…Doubts and alternative explanations were put forth by Renner (1926), Stamp (1940) and Brynmor Jones (1938). Renner argued that the Sudan Zone was a region of permanent climactic instability but, oddly, proposed the replacement of local crops such as sorghum, which he considered inadequately drought resistant, by "more reliable" imported crops such as maize.…”

Section: Debates About Drought and Desertificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Change and the Politics of African Land Use

Richards¹

1983

Afr. Stud. Rev.

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This essay explores ground common to ecology and politics. It addresses the question to what extent and in what ways are ecological ideas political ideas. The discussion, divided into five man sections, endeavors to steer a course between the pitfalls of environmental determinism on the one hand and economic reductionism on the other.The first section deals with the link between population processes and land use. Explanations stressing population increase as the driving force behind agricultural change are contrasted with arguments in which demographic fluctuations are treated as responses to economic imperatives. An example of the second kind of approach is Meillassoux's attempt to reconstruct the demographic dynamic of a precapitalist, lineage, mode of production. This is but one of a number of attempts to construct models of “natural economy” as starting points for discussions of the penetration of African agriculture by capitalism. Against the assumptions on which such models are based it is argued here, and in later sections of the paper, that the demographic and ecological processes subsumed under the category “natural economy” (or alternatively, “precapitalist subsistence production”) are more plausibly viewed as products of capitalism and colonialism. An example from southern Nigeria in the early colonial period is used to suggest that the kind of evidence on which Meillassoux's reconstruction is based is a complex ideological by-product of factional politics in an economy dominated by merchant capital.The second section of the paper focuses on the topic of the ecology of disease in Africa. Special attention is paid to John Ford's (1971) work on the ecology of trypanosomiasis. Critical of colonial scientific orthodoxy, and of colonialism itself (properly treated as a factor in the spread of sleeping sickness in Africa in the twentieth century), Ford's book has received some attention from Africanists in the social sciences and humanities. It is probably fair to say, however, that the originality of the book's ecological argument has yet to have its full impact on such readers. This is the justification for substantial summary of one of Ford's case studies. The significance of this case study is that is illustrates the ecological complexity characteristic of trypanosomiasis, and of a number of other African epidemic diseases, and the importance of local knowledge and initiative in adapting to such diseases.

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Section: Debates About Drought and Desertificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Ecological Change and the Politics of African Land Use

Richards¹

1983

African Studies Review

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JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.. African Studies Association is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to African Studies Review. INTRODUCTIONThis essay explores ground common to ecology and politics.1 It addresses the question to what extent and in what ways are ecological ideas political ideas. The discussion, divided into five man sections, endeavors to steer a course between the pitfalls of environmental determinism on the one hand and economic reductionism on the other.The first section deals with the link between population processes and land use. Explanations stressing population increase as the driving force behind agricultural change are contrasted with arguments in which demographic fluctuations are treated as responses to economic imperatives. An example of the second kind of approach is Meillassoux's attempt to reconstruct the demographic dynamic of a precapitalist, lineage, mode of production. This is but one of a number of attempts to construct models of "natural economy" as starting points for discussions of the penetration of African agriculture by capitalism. Against the assumptions on which such models are based it is argued here, and in later sections of the paper, that the demographic and ecological processes subsumed under the category "natural economy" (or alternatively, "precapitalist subsistence production") are more plausibly viewed as products of capitalism and colonialism. An example from southern Nigeria in the early colonial period is used to suggest that the kind of evidence on which Meillassoux's reconstruction is based is a complex ideological by-product of factional politics in an economy dominated by merchant capital.The second section of the paper focuses on the topic of the ecology of disease in Africa. Special attention is paid to John Ford's (1971) work on the ecology of trypanosomiasis. Critical of colonial scientific orthodoxy, and of colonialism itself (properly treated as a factor in the spread of sleeping sickness in Africa in the twentieth century), Ford's book has received some attention from Africanists in the social sciences and humanities. It is probably fair to say, however, that the originality of the book's ecological argument has yet to have its full impact on such readers. This is the justification for substantial summary of one of Ford's case studies. The significance of this case study is that is illustrates the ecological complexity characteristic of trypanosomiasis, and of a number of other African epidemic diseases, and the importance of local knowledge and initiative in African Studies Review, vol. 26, no. 2, June, 1983. 1 This content downloaded from 62.122.78.57 on Mon, 9 Jun 2014 19:30:54 PM All use subject to JSTOR Terms and...

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A Famine Zone in Africa: The Sudan

Cited by 18 publications

References 0 publications

Nutritional Geography: History and Trends

Nutritional Geography: History and Trends

Ecological Change and the Politics of African Land Use

Ecological Change and the Politics of African Land Use

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