article

Changes in natural resource use among Owambo agro-pastoralists of north-central Namibia resulting from the enclosure of local frontiers

African studies monographs, ary issue, (40)Published In 2010 • Pages: 129-154

By: Fujioka, Yuichiro.

AbstractBrief abstract written by HRAF anthropologists who have done the subject indexing for the document
This is a study of the drivers of land use change in an Ovambo agro-pastoral community. The long-standing pattern was transhumant pastoralism between permanent homesteads and seasonally-used communal pastures located at the frontier of village lands. With the end of the War of Independence in the late 1980s, some wealthy household heads established private cattle posts at the frontier, grazing their livestock throughout the year and claiming exclusive access to important natural resources. The resulting inequality in land access and scarcity of forest products forced poor households to use fruit trees for building materials and fuel. Meanwhile, wealthy cattle owners increased their social influence over poor household heads by gifting desired forest products in exchange for labor service or other favors.
SubjectsDocument-level OCM identifiers given by the anthropology subject indexers at HRAF
Flora
Collecting
Pastoral activities
Exploitative activities
Settlement patterns
Real property
Gift giving
Community structure
Inter-community relations
cultureCulture name from the Outline of World Cultures (OWC)
Ovambo
RegionThe area the document pertains to
Africa
Sub RegionThe more specific area the document pertains to, which is located within the Region
Southern Africa
Document TypeMay include journal articles, essays, collections of essays, monographs, or chapters/parts of monographs
article
Evaluation
Creator TypeThe type of person writing the document, e.g. Ethnographer, Missionary, Archaeologist, Folklorist, Linguist, Indigenous Person, and so on.
Environmental Scientist
Document Rating A ranking done by HRAF anthropologists based on the strength of the source material on a scale of 1 to 5, as follows: 1 - poor; 2 - fair; 3 - good, useful data, but not uniformly excellent; 4 - excellent secondary data; 5 - excellent primary data.
5: Excellent Primary Data
AnalystThe HRAF anthropologist who subject indexed the document and prepared other materials for the eHRAF culture/tradition collection
Teferi Abate Adem; 2021
Field DateThe date the researcher conducted the fieldwork or archival research that produced the document
2002-2005, 2007
Coverage DateThe date or dates that the information in the document pertains to
1970-2007
Coverage PlaceLocation of the research culture or tradition (often a smaller unit such as a band, community, or archaeological site)
northern Oshana Region, Namibia
NotesAdditional notes
Yuichiro Fujioka
Includes bibliographical references (p. 152-154)
LCCNLibrary of Congress Control Number
83644713
LCSHLibrary of Congress Subject Headings
Ovambo (African people)