Shifting Cultivation as Improvisation

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Richards
Keyword(s):  
Group Theory ◽  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Shifting Cultivation ◽  
Social Skill ◽  
Rice Farming ◽  
Skill Sets ◽  
Military Conflict ◽  
The Social ◽  
Fixed Boundaries

Shifting cultivation is a type of farming without fixed boundaries. It obeys an ecological logic but requires constant improvisation and adaptation to fluid circumstances. The character of improvisation in shifting cultivation is explored with reference to an African case study (rice farming by the Mende people of Sierra Leone). Two elements are emphasized in particular—the management of fire (by men) and rice seeds (by women). A contrast, applicable not only to farming, but also to other activities such as military conflict and musical performance, is drawn between strategic planning and tactical improvisation. The relevance of Mary Douglas’s grid-group theory to the framing of the social skill sets required for improvisation is discussed.

scholarly journals Farmers’ Perspective on Sociological and Environmental Issues of Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture: A Case Study from Western and Southern Regions of Sierra Leone

2017 ◽  
Vol 9 (7) ◽  
pp. 186
Author(s):  
Osman Nabay ◽  
Abdul R. Conteh ◽  
Alusaine E. Samura ◽  
Emmanuel S. Hinckley ◽  
Mohamed S. Kamara
Keyword(s):  
Sierra Leone ◽  
Urban Agriculture ◽  
Environmental Aspect ◽  
Financial Organization ◽  
The Social ◽  
Alternative Means ◽  
Household Assets ◽  
Almost All ◽  
The City

The paper examined and brought to the fore the typical characteristic of urban and peri-urban farmers in Freetown and Bo communities which serves as major source of supply of agricultural products into the cities’ markets. The social and environmental aspect and perception of producers involved in urban and peri-urban agriculture was examined. Descriptive statistics and pictograms were used to analyze and present the data. Results indicate that 56.34% never went to formal school and mostly dominated by women, showing that farming became the alternative means of livelihood support for those groups. Crops grown are purely influenced by market orientation—demand and cost, as is evident in Gloucester (lettuce, cabbage and spring onions). Potato leaves were commonly grown in almost all communities, reason being that it serves as common/major sauce/vegetable cooked in every household in Sierra Leone. Maize and rice were featured in Ogoo farm—government supervised land set aside purposely for growing crops to supply the city. Findings also revealed that majority of the farmers are resource poor, judging from calculation about their monthly income earning and available household assets and amenities. About 70.4% of the lands the farmers grow their crops on is leased for production. Except for Gloucester community, when costs of production will be summed, minimal benefit seem to be realized from the farming activities. Even though some of these farmers are engaged in organization, many have limited access to micro financial organization that would probably loan them money to upscale production.

scholarly journals Sustainability status of technology application on rice farming in peatlands (case study at Kanamit Jaya village, Central Kalimantan)

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 44 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maulia Aries Susanti ◽  
Mamat H.S
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Social Dimension ◽  
Rice Farming ◽  
Pesticide Application ◽  
Economic Dimension ◽  
Technology Application ◽  
Decomposition Of Organic Matter ◽  
The Social ◽  
Ecological Dimension

<p>Peatlands become one of the potential resources that could be developed as an area of rice farming to improve national food security. Agricultural cultivation in peatlands, if not managed well, will contribute to environmental destruction and land degradation, which will ultimately affect land productivity. As a first step in preparing the development of rice farming, research on the application of technology has conducted. This research included water management, which consists of:  without water management or control (A0), <em>macak-macak</em> water management (A1) and intermittent water management (A2). Moreover, research on pesticide application was also conducted which consist of: without pesticide application or control (P0), Paraquat herbicide application at the time of tillage (P1), Fenobucarb insecticide applications every week (P2), Fenobucarb insecticide applications every two weeks (P3), Difenoconazole fungicide applications every week (P4), Difenoconazole fungicide applications every two week (P5).  This study aims to determine the level of sustainability of rice farming in peatlands, and the dominant factors that influence by considering economic, social and environmental through a Multi Dimensional Scaling (MDS) approach. The analysis shows a quite sustainable level, with score for each dimension is 53.13 for the economic dimension, 69.49 for the ecological dimension and 61.79 for the social dimension. The dominant factors to be considered for the sustainability of rice farming in peatlands are changes in the level of decomposition of organic matter, farming purpose and outreach intensity.</p>

scholarly journals Sociotechnical Change and Institutional Adjustment in Paddy Rice Farming During Post Green Revolution in Indonesia

2016 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 218 ◽  
Author(s):  
Awaluddin Yunus ◽  
Darmawan Salman ◽  
Eymal B. Demmallino ◽  
Ni Made Viantika
Keyword(s):  
Agricultural Production ◽  
Rice Field ◽  
Green Revolution ◽  
Social Sustainability ◽  
Rice Farming ◽  
Institutional Adjustment ◽  
The Social ◽  
Individual Actor ◽  
The Village

The development of rice field agriculture in Indonesia has entered the post green revolution phase. The sociotechnical changes occurred during the green revolution, the economic gap among farmers also ensued amid the increase in production while the social sustainability was maintained. The research purpose is to analyze the institutional adjustment conducted by the farmer society in facing the problems caused by green revolution in order to maintain the social sustainability. For the purpose mentioned above, the case study was carried out in a village in a center of green revolution. The result of the research shows that: (1) The sociotechnical changes had been taking place during the pre-green revolution era, green revolution, and post-green revolution in the form of land management, seeds procurement, planting and managing the crops, and harvest and post-harvest. The sociotechnical changes encouraged the increase in agricultural production in which created the gap between the affluent and the underprivileged in a village and had the potential to disturb the social sustainability of rice field agribusiness. (2) The institutional adjustment occurred in the sociotechnical changes in the forms of land ownership dynamics, employment dynamic and village’s new occupation dynamic. This institutional adjustment has the function to dampen the tension on the marginalized individual actor caused by the post green revolution new social structure. (3) The social sustainability in the rice field agriculture could be maintained because the social tension caused by the post green revolution social technical changes could be dampened by the institutional adjustment. The institutional adjustment by the village community contributed into the social sustainability of the rice field agribusiness.

scholarly journals Shifting Cultivation System of Indigenous Moronene as Forest Conservation on Local Wisdom Principles in Indonesia

2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 121
Author(s):  
Rekson Solo Limba ◽  
Asrun Lio ◽  
Yasir Syam Husain
Keyword(s):  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Shifting Cultivation ◽  
Forest Conservation ◽  
Wildlife Habitat ◽  
Cultivation System ◽  
Sacred Forest ◽  
Livelihood Systems ◽  
The Social ◽  
The Village

This research is a case study conducted in the village of Indigenous Moronene Huka'ea - La'ea, Watu-Watu village Lantari Jaya sub-district, Bombana. The study followed a series of processes and stages of work in the agriculture system based on local wisdom of Moronene tribe, as one of the patterns of forest conservation. This study applied a "descriptive-qualitative", to describe the social and behavioral conditions of indigenous peoples in managing and utilizing forest resources around the neighborhood where they live. The results of this study indicate that the indigenous of Moronene form of traditional knowledge - local and skills to manage forests for agricultural fields, is quite effective in guaranteeing the sustainability of the forest around the area. One of the local wisdom related to forest management is ancestral policy to regulate the system of grouping the forest area into four zones, including: Inalahipue (rainforest), Inalahi Popalia (sacred forest), Inombo (production forest), and Lueno (forest /wildlife habitat). The practices of shifting cultivation occur in the Inombo forest areas from generation to generations of Moronene in the in the village as the main livelihood systems.

Social Design for Services Framework

2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Melanie SARANTOU ◽  
Satu MIETTINEN
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Sustainable Development ◽  
Research Group ◽  
Design Research ◽  
Service Design ◽  
Social Design ◽  
Practical Action ◽  
The Social ◽  
The World

This paper addresses the fields of social and service design in development contexts, practice-based and constructive design research. A framework for social design for services will be explored through the survey of existing literature, specifically by drawing on eight doctoral theses that were produced by the World Design research group. The work of World Design researcher-designers was guided by a strong ethos of social and service design for development in marginalised communities. The paper also draws on a case study in Namibia and South Africa titled ‘My Dream World’. This case study presents a good example of how the social design for services framework functions in practice during experimentation and research in the field. The social design for services framework transfers the World Design group’s research results into practical action, providing a tool for the facilitation of design and research processes for sustainable development in marginal contexts.

Lord Dacre and the Politics of the Scottish Enlightenment

2005 ◽  
Vol 84 (2) ◽  
pp. 202-220 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Kidd
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Cultural History ◽  
Economic Transformation ◽  
Scottish Enlightenment ◽  
North East ◽  
The Social ◽  
Romantic Movement ◽  
Scottish History

Hugh Trevor-Roper (Lord Dacre) made several iconoclastic interventions in the field of Scottish history. These earned him a notoriety in Scottish circles which, while not undeserved, has led to the reductive dismissal of Trevor-Roper's ideas, particularly his controversial interpretation of the Scottish Enlightenment, as the product of Scotophobia. In their indignation Scottish historians have missed the wider issues which prompted Trevor-Roper's investigation of the Scottish Enlightenment as a fascinating case study in European cultural history. Notably, Trevor-Roper used the example of Scotland to challenge Weberian-inspired notions of Puritan progressivism, arguing instead that the Arminian culture of north-east Scotland had played a disproportionate role in the rise of the Scottish Enlightenment. Indeed, working on the assumption that the essence of Enlightenment was its assault on clerical bigotry, Trevor-Roper sought the roots of the Scottish Enlightenment in Jacobitism, the counter-cultural alternative to post-1690 Scotland's Calvinist Kirk establishment. Though easily misconstrued as a dogmatic conservative, Trevor-Roper flirted with Marxisant sociology, not least in his account of the social underpinnings of the Scottish Enlightenment. Trevor-Roper argued that it was the rapidity of eighteenth-century Scotland's social and economic transformation which had produced in one generation a remarkable body of political economy conceptualising social change, and in the next a romantic movement whose powers of nostalgic enchantment were felt across the breadth of Europe.

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