Figure 2- - uploaded by Ryo Nakamura
Content may be subject to copyright.
Source publication
This article examines the socio-cultural structure of a Swahili maritime society in which many ethnic groups continue to live together. The focus of the article is on Kilwa, a Swahili island off the south coast of Tanzania famous for the prosperity it secured from Islamic Indian Ocean trade in the era of the medieval Kilwa Kingdom. By analysing the...
Context in source publication
Context 1
... island is 23 km in circumference, 12 km 2 in land area, and supports less than 1,000 inhabitants. Situated at the mouth of three rivers, Kilwa is surrounded by an inland sea covered with mangroves to the West and an open sea with a fringing reef to the East ( Figure 2 of the residents practicing agriculture and 260 engaged in fisheries. Most families cultivate staple foods: corn, sorghum and rice as well as other crops, such as cassava, okra, peanuts, sesame seeds and cashew nuts. ...
Similar publications
Understanding how diversity is organized is essential for inference about appropriate scales for natural resource research and management. In this study, we investigated variation in scleractinian coral taxonomic richness and community diversity in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) at different spatial scales. We sampled corals in 331 sites across nin...
Citations
... Fishing in the open sea whose depth range from six to thirteen meters is exclusively by men, mainly carried out from boats using nets or lines and hooks. The third zone (intermediate) which is shared by both the inland and open sea fishers has a depth of between four and eight meters (Nakamura 2011). ...
Historically, fishers (both men and women) have engaged in different activities ranging from preparing fishing equipment (traps, nets, fishing vessels), weather forecasting, and sailing to fishing grounds and they continue to do so today. While sailing, fishers paddle collaboratively when the wind is low and when the boat is leaking, some crew will bail the vessel. Once they arrive at the fishing grounds, fishers cast anchor, mend the fishnets, and fix the boat foresheets. If successful, the fishers collect their catch, weigh the anchor, return to shore, and prepare to sell their fish. These fishing activities have always been accompanied by maritime customs, traditions, rituals, stories, and gestures. For instance, singing is one key tradition that has continued to accompany the fishing process from the start to the end. This paper documents and present the songs that have always been part of the fishing process in Kilwa Kisiwani, along the southern coast of Tanzania. The fishing songs are presented in the context of intangible cultural heritage of the east African Swahili coast.
... In his ethnography of fishers from the Lamu archipelago, A. H. J. Prins (1965:139, 141) notes that shark-fishing methods such as trolling in the open sea and fishing with a tangle net (jarife) required "strenuous work" and "much capital." These continue to be observed along the Swahili coast; the gear and vessels are often owned by traders or sponsors who get a large share of the fishing profits (Nakamura 2011), a differentiation that may be attested archaeologically at the 17th-century site of Kua on Mafia Island (Christie 2011). Perhaps propelled by the opening of new exchange markets (Pouwels 2002:371), the early second millennium was marked by important changes that defined the Swahili coast, such as the rise of well-known urban commercial centers (LaViolette 2008:29). ...
Resumen:
En este artículo, evaluamos la hipótesis de que los pueblos Swahili de la costa oriental africana fueron una sociedad marítima a partir del primer milenio E.C. Basados en información histórica y arqueológica, proponemos que la asociación de la sociedad Swahili con el mar incrementó considerablemente con el tiempo y se manifestó de una forma significativa particularmente desde principios del segundo milenio E.C. Utilizando teorías recientes sobre maritimidad en otras áreas del mundo, así como investigaciones sobre los Swahili, discutimos tres temas que marcan las diferencias del nivel de orientación marítima de esta sociedad costera entre el primer y segundo milenio. Éstas son la variabilidad y discontinuidad en la localización y permanencia de los asentamientos; evidencia de una conexión mayor con el mar a través de la tecnología de pesca y navegación; y desarrollos arquitectónicos especializados que incluyen instalaciones portuarias, mezquitas, y casas. Las implicaciones de este estudio indican que debemos considerar otros aspectos de una sociedad aparte de su localización costera para determinar su maritimidad. Hay que considerar cómo el mar y sus productos son parte de la vida social y evaluar si existe una influencia recíproca entre el ambiente marítimo y los patrones de organización sociocultural, las prácticas, y las creencias de los Swahili y otras sociedades. [marítimo, pesca y navegación, comercio a larga distancia, Swahili, África Oriental].
... Darwall 1996). An important study is that of Nakamura (2011), which divides the aquatic regions around Kilwa Island into 'ecological zones'. He associates these zones with distinct sets of resources and fishing strategies in order to understand the mechanisms of fishing practices connected to both social and ecological factors. ...
Historical and archaeological records of consumption practices indicate that people living along the Swahili coast relied largely on fish for subsistence; however, little research has been done to explore how aquatic subsistence strategies varied among different settlements in the region, both spatially and chronologically. Such questions are particularly interesting, as the communities were largely urban, and relied on fish for the bulk of their protein consumption.
We compared evidence of subsistence strategies and exploited fish habitats in two Swahili regions that represent different maritime landscapes. Because particular fish species generally inhabit different sections of the marine environment, the composition of these species at each site can be used to estimate the variable exploitation of these habitats. Overall, the analysed samples showed a heavy exploitation of fish found around coral reefs, but with varying proportions of other exploited habitats, such as estuary, mangrove, sandy/muddy, and outer reef zones. The general pattern indicates that samples from offshore islands have higher representations of fish from coral/rocky habitats while samples from near-shore islands show a lower reliance on coral species. Over time there is an increase at certain sites in the exploitation of oceanic and pelagic fish that coincides with the more frequent consumption of domesticated bovids. We discuss the historical and environmental implications of these variable patterns of aquatic subsistence strategies along the East African coastline, and propose that there is a close link between their ability to exploit these marine resources, their success as urban settlements, and the development of feasting rituals.
... Most ethnographical treatments of the Swahili have emphasized their mercantile aspects over and above their maritime ones (Horton and Middleton, 2000;Middleton, 1992). Research on the maritime aspects of the contemporary Swahili has emphasized primarily boat technology (Beckerleg, 2002;Chittick, 1980;de Leeuwe, 2005;Gilbert, 1998;Hornell, 1941;Prins, 1959Prins, , 1982 and, to a lesser degree, their engagements with the sea as fisherman (Caplan, 1998;Nakamura, 2011;Prins, 1965). The sea itself is linked with particular types of spirits (Caplan, 1998: 171-3), called majini ya bahari, and which often afflict women. ...
This paper analyses the ancient Maritime Silk Road through a relational island studies approach. Island ports and island cities represented key sites of water-facilitated transport and exchange in the ancient Indian Ocean and South China Sea. Building our
analysis upon a historical overview of the ancient Maritime Silk Road from the perspective of China’s Guangdong Province and the city of Guangzhou, we envision a millennia-long ‘Silk Road Archipelago’ encompassing island cities and island territories stretching across East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, West Asia, and East Africa. Bearing in mind the complex movements of peoples, places, and processes involved, we conceptualise the ancient Maritime
Silk Road as an uncentred network of archipelagic relation. This conceptualisation of the ancient Maritime Silk Road as a vast archipelago can have relevance for our understanding of
China’s present-day promotion of a 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road as part of the Belt and Road Initiative. We ultimately argue against forcing the Maritime Silk Road concept within a binary perspective of essentialised East-West conflict or hierarchical relations and instead
argue for the value of a nuanced understanding of relationality.
Seafood draws on controversial themes in the interdisciplinary field of food studies, with case studies from different eras and geographic regions. Using familiar commodities, this accessible book will help students understand cutting-edge issues in sustainability and ask readers to think about the future of an industry that has lain waste to its own resources. Examining the practical aspects of fisheries and seafood leads the reader through discussions of the core elements of anthropological method and theory, and the book concludes with discussions of sustainable seafood and current efforts to save what is left of marine ecosystems. Students will be encouraged to think about their own seafood consumption through project assignments that challenge them to trace the commodity chains of the seafood on their own plates.
Seafood is an ideal book for courses on food and culture, economic anthropology, and the environment.
The aim of this study is to describe the relationship between fishermen and middlemen by analyzing the practice of Fresh Fish (FF) trade and comparing it to Processed Fish (PF) trade. Lake Chad has been and still is a very important fish supply center in the semiarid zone of West Africa, and PF trade has catered neighboring countries since old times. From the early 1970s, however, FF trade increased dramatically. The main reasons for this were the change of fish fauna of Lake Chad by droughts occurred between 1970 and 1994 and the introduction of modern transit and cold storage technologies. In the relationship between fishermen and middlemen of PF trade, it can be observed PCR characterized by the reciprocal agreement and the exclusivity contract; but this is not the case in FF trade. FF fishermen engage in the migrant fishing with low cost fishing gears, targeting low price but quantitatively stable fish species, and exchanging the catchment immediately by cash according to the market price. Fishermen employ the certain fishery and it is the livelihood and cash earning strategies to reduce the fluctuation risk of fish catches in uncertain fishing environments. While the activation of FF trade contributes to the livelihood of small-capital fishermen live around Lake Chad, it also poses a threat of resource depletion because of the fishing pressure increased. To seek the sustainable use and the appropriate management of the fishery stock is getting an important issue of the fishery in Lake Chad.
The Kilwa maritime society on the southern Swahili Coast in Tanzania realizes more of a sustainable economy adapted to its socio-natural environments than a subsistence economy. As the lack of refrigerated facilities, they have addressed the trouble with seafood preservation by traditional methods of handling; a) selling fish before rot; b) processing fish into salted and dried fish; and c) donating fish (sadaka). Using those three methods, fishermen of Kilwa Island practice different levels of economic activities such as market economy, credit trading, family operation, and gift economy as occasion may demand. Depending on the types of seafood they deal with, the relationships among fishermen, customers, middlemen, and family members change. Fishermen choose their economic pattern in terms of merchandise and relationships according to the situation. This flexible choice of economic pattern by the fishermen who choose not to specialize in certain economic activities is the lifestyle well adapted to the changeable maritime environments and, at the same time, is the economic strategy in maritime societies that have neither cold-storage equipment nor a fishermen’s union.
The aim of this study is to describe the relationship between fishermen and middlemen by analyzing the practice of Fresh Fish (FF) trade and comparing it to Processed Fish (PF) trade. Lake Chad has been and still is a very important fish supply center in the semi-arid zone of West Africa, and PF trade has catered neighboring countries since old times. From the early 1970s, however, FF trade increased dramatically. The main reasons for this were the change of fish fauna by droughts occurred between 1970 and 1994 and the introduction of modern transit and cold storage technologies. In the relationship between fishermen and middlemen of PF trade, it can be observed PCR characterized by the reciprocal agreement and the exclusivity contract; but this is not the case in FF trade. FF fishermen engage in the migrant fishing with low cost fishing gears, targeting low price but quantitatively stable fish species, and exchanging the catchment immediately by cash according to the market price. Fishermen employ the certainly fishery and it is the livelihood and cash earning strategies to reduce the fluctuation risk of fish catches in uncertain fishing environments. While the activation of FF trade contributes to the livelihood of small-capital fishermen live around Lake Chad, it also poses a threat of resource depletion because of the fishing pressure increased. To seek the sustainable use and the appropriate management of the fishery stock is getting an important issue of the fishery in Lake Chad.
