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Shape-Shifting Nature in a Contested Landscape in Guinea-Bissau

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Shape-Shifting Nature in a Contested Landscape in Guinea-Bissau Shape-shifting nature in a contested landscape in Guinea-Bissau Joana Vaz de Sousa Department of Social Sciences Oxford Brookes University Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements of the Award of Doctor of Philosophy September 2014 i Abstract Studying people and wild animals based only on their strict and present-day interactions is not enough to develop a comprehensive understanding of social constructions of animal species. People encounter other species (and other people) from within particular historical, social, ecological and economic settings. In 13 months of fieldwork, I adopted a multi-disciplinary perspective, using qualitative ethnographic tools alongside quantitative ecological and interviewing approaches to seek for an in-depth understanding that provides access to multiple views about nature and nature conservation. In southern Guinea-Bissau, space and its history, magic and religion, changes in the landscape and environment, local livelihoods and trade, as well as local relations of power for accessing resources, all shape the social and cosmological terrain of the interactions between people and other living and non-living things. On the one hand, magical territories, the role animal figures play in witchcraft, local knowledge and its management, all portray nature as part of society, both as an element and an actor in society. On the other hand, when nature conservation initiatives based on fines and fences are emphasised, the social appropriation of nature envisions people and nature as separate, even antagonistic entities that negotiate each other’s existence. Land is the most important component of livelihoods as it is tightly connected to labour allocation and knowledge exchange. Therefore, by constraining people’s access to land, nature conservation policies are largely seen as affecting local people’s ability to secure their livelihoods. Consequently, constraints and benefits bestowed by conservation are negotiated locally through complex mechanisms of storytelling, witchcraft, meetings, and protests. These all play a role in challenging standing agreements, as well as expressing social tension and marking out morality. The chimpanzee, the flagship species of Cantanhez National Park, appears as a multi- faceted character capable of shape-shifting into various forms and signifiers that challenge existing power asymmetries, including those inherent within local nature conservation. Key-words: nature-society, cosmology, livelihoods, risk, witchcraft, nature conservation 2 Acknowledgements First, I am particularly grateful to my supervisors Prof. Catherine Hill and Dr. Andrew Ainslie for their support in this interdisciplinary venture. I am thankful for your availability for my emails and meetings, for being supportive and critical - I have learnt a great deal from you. I also acknowledge Ana Luísa Luz, Diana Alcântara and Eva Medida for your appeasing friendship. I embrace Jose Zaino for had made of my life a more beautiful one during these years. Manuel Bívar, for the hours and hours of conversations and laughter. Marina Temudo, for your support and conversations. I am thankful to Joost van Schijndel who received me in the Boé. In Bissau, I am thankful to Sara Guerreiro, Aliu Ture, Susana Gomes, David Afonso, Isabela, Jaime, Luana, Iaia Sambo, Ilda, Victor Puerta, Patrício, Pepas, Bendamim Indec. Samentha Goesthals, Kian and Can Çinar, thanks for all we have been sharing during this period. Pedro Branco, Diana Alcântara, Leonor Almeida, Alessandro Jedlowski, Ana Luísa Luz have assisted me with English editions to preliminary versions of the chapters, thank you all. Finally, I thank the proof-readers of this dissertation, Margaret Orlowsk, Yan Shaw and Jane Ward. My profound acknowledgement to my two mothers and fathers, São e Cláudia, Zé e Nuno. My deepest appreciation for the field assistants of this research in the Boé Umaru and Amadu Sadjo Colubali and in Cantanhez Mamadu Cassamá, Djibi Indjai, Ansomane Dabo, Amara Djaló, Quecuto Djalo; as well as for the people who received me in their houses, Mariama Djaló, Auá Sané and Abu Cassamá, Mamadu Cassamá and Satã Cassamá; Djibi Indjai and Assato Camara; Iaia Camara, Fernando Dafa, Zé Dju and Maria, Saidu Kuiaté, Samba Camara, Bucari Cassama. I am also thankful to the following institutions Cabasane Biteraune, Fundação para Ciência e Tecnologia (SFRH/BD /45109/2008), Rufford Small Grants, Primate of Great Britain, IBAP, Dari di Bo, Chimbo, Projecto Dari. 3 Table of contents ABSTRACT 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3 LIST OF ACRONYMS 10 LIST OF FIGURES 11 LIST OF TABLES 13 1. A NATURAL BIND TO SOCIETY 14 1.1 THE DISAFFECTION OF NATURAL AND SOCIAL SCIENCES IN NATURE CONSERVATION LITERATURE 16 1.1.1 BIOLOGY, ANTHROPOLOGY AND THE NATURE-SOCIETY DIVISION 17 1.1.2 SOCIO-ECOLOGICAL ENGAGEMENT 19 1.2 CONTEXTUALISING NATURE CONSERVATION 22 1.2.1 THE LONDON CONFERENCE 22 1.2.2 THE INTERNATIONAL ENDEAVOUR TO CLASSIFY THE LANDSCAPE 23 1.2.3 FROM ‘FINES AND FENCES’ TO COMMUNITY-BASED CONSERVATION 24 1.3 PEOPLE, WILDLIFE AND BOUNDARIES 29 1.3.1 FROM PEOPLE-WILDLIFE TO PEOPLE-PEOPLE 30 1.4 NATURE CONSERVATION WITHIN GUINEA-BISSAU 30 1.4.1 CONSERVATION HISTORICALLY IN THE CANTANHEZ NATIONAL PARK 31 1.5 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK 36 1.6 OVERVIEW OF THE THESIS 40 1.6.1 AN OUTLINE OF THE CHAPTERS TO FOLLOW 40 2. STUDY METHODS: TRANSECTS AND ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH 44 2.1 INTRODUCTION 44 2.1.1 RESEARCH GOALS AND METHODS OVERVIEW 44 2.2 STUDY SITE 45 2.2.1 GEOGRAPHY OF A LAND-MOSAIC 45 2.2.2 PLANT SPECIES AND WILD ANIMALS 51 2.2.3 THE PEOPLE 53 4 2.2.3.1 Choosing a name for a contested space 54 2.2.3.2 Dealing with local identities 55 2.2.3.3 Multi-sited research 56 2.3 UNDERTAKING FIELDWORK 57 2.3.1 THE PILOT STUDY 57 2.3.2 THE MAIN FIELDWORK PHASE 58 2.3.3 PARTICIPANT OBSERVATION, INFORMAL TALKS AND INTERVIEWS 59 2.3.3.1 Interviews 59 2.3.3.2 Participant observation and informal conversations 61 2.3.3.3 Oral history and participative mapping 63 2.3.3.4 Photography: digital views and memories 64 2.3.4 TRANSECTS AND POINT SAMPLINGS 65 2.3.4.1 Recording crop loss and identifying crop foragers 66 2.3.4.2 Measuring crop loss in mangrove rice farms 68 2.3.4.3 Measuring crop loss in the upland farms 69 2.3.4.4 Measuring crop loss in orchards 70 2.4. DATA ANALYSIS 70 2.5 REFLECTING ON MYSELF AS RESEARCHER AND INDIVIDUAL IN THE FIELD 71 2.5.1 A BIOLOGIST WILLING TO LOOK AT NATURE FROM A PEOPLE’S PERSPECTIVE 71 2.5.2 A ‘WHITE’ RESEARCHER WILLING TO LOOK AT ‘BLACK’ PEOPLE 73 2.5.3 A WOMAN WILLING TO (ALSO) BE A WOMAN 75 2.6 ETHICAL AND TRANSPARENCY CONCERNS 76 3. NARRATIVES PRODUCE CONTESTED SPACES 79 3.1 INTRODUCTION 79 3.1.1 RECOUNTING THE PAST 79 3.2 RESULTS 81 3.1.1 SINGULAR AND COMMON IDENTITIES 81 3.1.2 BEYOND PEOPLE: THE SUPERNATURAL ACTORS 82 3.2.2.1 Spirits and “bitterness” 83 3.2.2.1 The bush initiations and the “seers” 86 3.2.3 NFOTH KA NALE – THE NALU HOMELAND 87 3.2.3.1 Knowing stories: the arrival and the first contracts 87 3.2.3.2 Political structures: the nfoth and the state 90 3.2.4 ISLAMISATION: CHANGING AND STAYING THE SAME 91 3.2.5 COLONIALISM: STRUGGLING TO STAY THE SAME 94 3.2.5.1 Leopards challenging the colonial political structures 96 3.2.5.2 Bush spirits and the colonial administration’s office 97 3.2.6 THE INDEPENDENCE WAR 98 3.2.6.1 The new structures of power 99 3.2.7 MANAGING NATURAL RESOURCES 100 3.2.7.1 Spirits and the control of natural resource use 100 3.2.7.2 The most recent arrangements: Cantanhez National Park 102 5 3.2.7.3 Protesting without the chieftain’s support 104 3.2.7.4 Fines and forgiveness 105 3.2.7.5 The Balanta absence 110 3.3 DISCUSSION 112 3.3.1 NARRATIVES AS A SPACE FOR CONTESTING PLACES 113 3.3.2 SACRED FORESTS AND NATURE 113 3.3.3 PEOPLE’S IDENTITIES AND INSTITUTIONS 114 4. FOOD, TRADE AND FORESTS 116 4.1 INTRODUCTION 116 4.1.1 A LIVELY MARKET ECONOMY IN THE NALU HOMELAND 118 4.1.1.1 Slaves, ivory, leathers and wax as valuable commodities 118 4.1.1.2 Exports and the Portuguese demand for groundnuts and rice 119 4.1.1.3 The Period of Independence: 1974 to 2013 120 4.1.1.4 From Guinea-Bissau to the world: the cashew nut 121 4.1.1.5 Cashew and rice production: mapping the connections 122 4.2 RESULTS 124 4.2.1 FARMING SYSTEMS 124 4.2.1.1 Producing rice in the mangrove and the forest 124 4.2.1.2 Specialisation in Cantanhez 125 4.2.2 RICE STOCKS 126 4.2.3 TRADE 131 4.2.3.1 Trading beyond Cantanhez 131 4.2.3.2 Trading in local markets 134 4.2.4 RICE FLOWING 137 4.2.5 LIVELIHOOD RESOURCES: CONSTRAINTS ON FARMING 138 4.2.5.1 Climate constraints: sea and rain 138 4.2.5.2 Labour 139 4.2.5.3 Land access 143 4.2.6 GIFTS AND RECIPROCITY 147 4.3 DISCUSSION 147 4.3.1 CRISES AND HIKES IN PRODUCTION AND TRADE 148 4.3.2 ELEMENTS OF RESILIENCE 149 5. ANIMALS IN FARMS 151 5.1 INTRODUCTION 151 5.1.1 RELEVANCE OF “CROP-LOSSOLOGY” IN THE CONSERVATION DEBATE 152 5.1.1.1 From invisible pests to flagship species 153 5.1.2 RECORDS OF CROP LOSS IN GUINEA-BISSAU 153 5.2 SPECIFIC METHODS 155 5.2.1 ASSESSING CROP LOSS IN FARMS 155 6 5.2.2 FARMERS REPORTING CROP LOSS 157 5.2.2 ASSUMPTIONS OF COMPARING THE ‘ACTUAL’ AND THE ‘PERCEIVED’ 158 5.3 RESULTS 159 5.3.1 AN OVERVIEW OF CROP LOSS 159 5.3.1.1 Mangrove rice and water management 162 5.3.1.2 Upland farms 166 5.3.1.3 Fruit trees 171 5.3.4 Legumes 180 5.3.2 SEVERITY AND INCIDENCE: RANKING CROP LOSS 181 5.3.3 ASPECTS OF CROP LOSS THAT ESCAPE QUANTITATIVE APPROACHES 185 5.3.4 PERCEPTIONS OF CHANGE AT THE EDGE 185 5.4 DISCUSSION 186 5.4.1 EDGES OF FORESTS AND FARMS 186 5.4.2 THE MEASURED AND THE REPORTED: COMPARING KNOWLEDGE OR COMPLEMENTARY IMPRESSIONS? 188 5.4.3 SEVERITY, INCIDENCE AND LIVELIHOODS 190 5.4.3 ANIMALS IN CANTANHEZ FARMS 190 6.
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