Temporal Heterogeneity in the Study of African Lan

Authors: Jane I Guyer Eric F Lambin Lisa Cliggett Peter Walker Kojo Amanor Thomas Bassett Elizabeth Colson Rod Hay Katherine Homewood Olga Linares Opoku Pabi Pauline Peters Thayer Scudder Matthew Turner John Unruh

Publish Date: 2007/01/20

Volume: 35, Issue: 1, Pages: 3-17

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Abstract

This paper introduces a set of four collaborative papers exploring temporal heterogeneity in the analysis of African land use over a decadal time period from 10 to 50 years in the second half of the twentieth century The four cases were chosen amongst the seven teams of anthropologists human geographers and remote sensing specialists who had carried out longterm research and who met to discuss their findings at a workshop in 2003 All seven teams’ work and the collective discussion—on Casamance Senegal Brong Ahafo Ghana Southern Niger/Northern Cote d’Ivoire Oyo State Nigeria Maasai Mara Kenya and Tanzania Gwembe Zambia and Malawi—inform this introduction We identify several temporal processes in all the cases each operating on its own temporal frame population growth and above all mobility livelihood change through crop and occupational change tenure ambiguity powerful though “punctuated” interventions by state policy and climate change Conceptual and methodological implications are disussedWe gratefully acknowledge the support for the two meetings which this collection brings to fruition A conference on African Farmers and their Environment in Long Term Perspective at the Wageningen Agricultural University The Netherlands in 1995 was funded by the National Science Foundation International Programs 9501422 and the Rockefeller Foundation

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