Forest Dwellers, Forest Protectors by Richard Reed

Author:Richard Reed [Reed, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Anthropology, General, Cultural & Social
ISBN: 9781317348238
Google: hTODCgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-09-07T05:15:59+00:00

Production Cycles

In addition to diversifying resource exploitation over many ecological niches, Guaraní production spreads its demands for resources over time. Annual production cycles integrate into longer sequences in which families move their gardens and communities through the forest.

The work year of a Guaraní family can be divided into four periods, each characterized by a distinct type of work. As women harvest in the gardens throughout the year and work little in wage labor or hunting, these four periods are most evident in men's work strategies. In the first work period, from July through September, men clear households and plant gardens. From October through January, the second period, men spend a greater amount of time working for cash to buy food during the karuvaí. Fishing characterizes the third work period of the year, from February to March. Finally, from April through June, men divide their labor equally between forest subsistence and commercial gathering.

While gardening destroys trees and hunting reduces local game populations, these effects are on microenvironments. The amount of forest under intense exploitation at any time is less than 5 percent of the area and when these areas become inhospitable, households and communities move into new fertile areas. Over the course of a Guaraní's life, an individual might live in 10 or 12 different areas, leaving behind a string of recovering microenvironments.

As the fertility returns to abandoned village sites, the Guaraní return to them. The forest is vast, but there is never an abundance of ideal sites, with fertile land for farming, rivers for fishing, and streams for water and washing. The Guaraní return to these spots as soon as they have recovered from previous inhabitants. Thus, we can define a cycle of village movement where, over many generations, the Guaraní return to places occupied by their ancestors.

The Guaraní have sustained a complex and dependable production system in the lowland forests, despite the region's fragile and scarce resources. What aspects of this economy assure its sustainability? First, the resource demands are diverse. By exploiting a variety of ecological niches in each area, the Guaraní can earn what they need without undermining the integrity of that system. Second, the resource demands of indigenous production are extensive. By spreading their horticulture, foraging, and commercial gathering over a large area of the forest, they limit the intensity of transformation in any one area.

The sustainable system of the Guaraní is not simply for their subsistence; it has maintained a cash income for the Guaraní for over four centuries. The Guaraní have sold yerba from their forests since 1528 and have become dependent on the manufactured goods that it provides them. Guaraní commercial gathering abides by the same environmentally friendly structures that govern sectors of their economy. First, the Guaraní are not dependent on a single resource for commercial wealth; they sell a variety of commodities, depending on availability and the market prices. If yerba becomes scarce or its price falls, they shift their efforts to harvesting another type of good. Second, commercial gathering is extensive, rather than intensive.

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