Suchergebnisse

The consanguineal household, first described for the Garifuna (Black Caribs) of Livingston, Guatemala in 1956, seems as strong today as ever, in spite of massive changes in some other aspects of Garifuna culture and social organization. This paper douments the latter and offers and explanation for the persistence of female-oriented households and the reckoning of kinship largely in reference to women. Data are presented not only from Guatemala, but also from Belize and New York.

Over more than a 200 year period, the Garifuna (Black Caribs) have become increasingly dependent upon migratory wage labor. Lately this has involved women as well as men, and a primary destination of this movement has been the United States. This article describes the process and explores the implications of this new phase for the maintenance of traditional sociocultural forms, both at home and in New York City.

Recent international attention has focused on desertification and its concomitants, especially the diminution of flora and fauna in arid and semiarid lands and the resulting reduction in the economic value of those lands. Natural factors such as drought and wind erosion, as well as various technological practices, have been blamed for the present situation in many countries. Most observers agree that human beings have been both perpetrators and victims of desertification. Anthropologists have long been interested in documenting hew different societies have affected and been affected by their environments. The papers in this volume present ease studies of societies ranging from ancient Peru to contemporary Israel, along with several topically oriented works. All are designed to illustrate how various societies--whether by water management or by the exploitation of plants and animals--have attempted to achieve ecological balance. Social organization and ideology as well as technology are discussed as important variables affecting the ways in which populations adapt to, or cope with, desertification.