Rural children’s role in buffering household poverty through ganyu (piecework) in Zambia

In Zambia, the ways in which social change intersects with rural livelihoods to increase children’s workload and commodify their labour are poorly understood. In this article, changing patterns of rural children’s work are seen as necessitated by their evolving household roles and contributions in an increasingly rural cash-based economy. Drawing on child-focused qualitative research in rural Lundazi district in Zambia, it is explored how children use a traditional labour practice called ‘ganyu’ (piecework) to ameliorate poverty. The infiltration of the cash-based economy, amplified by the Economic Structural Adjustment Programmes, a predominantly adult-centred traditional informal socio-economic levelling mechanism of ganyu, and its evolution into more cash-oriented transactions increasingly involving children are discussed. Although ganyu has largely been seen as characterized by exploitative labour relations, the empirical findings from this research indicate the complex ways in which the practice is empowering children and their families. The resources accrued through ganyu are vital for both personal and household well-being. The findings of this study have important implications to rethink not only contentious issues of child labour but also dominant narratives of childhood that fail to take into account children’s lived experiences as situated in local, social, economic, and cultural contexts.     

Anthropologies of extinction

This guest editorial reflects on the relevance of anthropology for extinction concerns, a rapidly expanding practical, ethnographic and theoretical space at a time of impending mass extinction. While biological extinction is necessarily a multispecies development (usually implicating humans), traditional species talk – focused on taxonomies, collections and classification – needs critical rethinking as it necessarily diverts attention from the vitality of life. The broad discipline of anthropology has much to offer for understanding processes of extinction and recovery, fleshing out habitat problems and prospects of extinction, and advancing meaningful environmentalist practices.     

A pre-Columbian fisheries baseline from the Caribbean

A pre-Columbian (ca. AD 500–1500) fishery baseline is established for Anguilla, British West Indies from analyses of the remains of captured fishes from five archaeological sites. The zooarchaeological fishery baseline shows pre-Columbian communities captured diverse fishes, many of which are vulnerable to overexploitation. Composition of the captured fish community varies by site underscoring the potential importance of including samples from sites located adjacent to different marine habitats. Analyses of abundance–biomass relationships, community trophic structure, fish size and taxonomic composition indicate the Anguillian pre-Columbian fishery and coral reef ecosystem was healthy and sustainable. By providing a thorough baseline of Amerindian use of fishes on Anguilla, we provide a foundation that aids researchers asking questions about long-term change in Caribbean coral reef fisheries.     

Observations Of Water Hardness From Southwest Devon Island, Northwest Territories

Over the thaw period of 1970, the hardness in “Jason's Creek” increased systematically. Waters from other sources in the area, sampled in 1969 and 1970, show increases in hardness with distance of travel downslope, from large flows to small flows, and from flowing water to standing water. The highest total hardness values are from vegetated pools of standing water (as also reported by Smith (1969) in Somerset Island). The hardness of water which has had no contact with regolith or bedrock can be sharply differentiated from that of water which has been in such contact. This observation, together with the increase in hardness with distance of travel, may be consequent upon a slow attainment of chemical equilibrium in these arctic waters. It may also be possible to draw a distinction between the solutional work done by snowmeit water and that done by rainwater. The latter has a lower initial pH and, for comparable volumes of discharge, generates higher values of hardness. These preliminary conclusions are to be tested in future stages of this project, which in 1971 and 1972 will be concerned with the hydrology of a larger stream, the river Mecham, near Resolute on Cornwallis Island. Monitoring of the solute content of waters throughout the Mecham basin is an important part of the proposed research.