Books by N. Thomas Hakansson
International Journal of African Historical Studies, 2008
Journal articles by N. Thomas Hakansson
Oxford Research Encyclopedias, African History. https://doi.org/10.1093/acrefore/9780190277734.013.675, 2021
The Pangani Valley region in northern Tanzania is dominated by an arc of highlands that stretch f... more The Pangani Valley region in northern Tanzania is dominated by an arc of highlands that stretch from Usambara to Arusha. In this region, ecotonal variations in environments have shaped-and were in turn shaped by-cultural, political, and economic forces. Since the early 18th century three major events and shifts in regional and world systems dynamics affected significant economic and political changes on the highlands. First, the international ivory and slave trade increased in volume and organization; second, this led to an expansion of specialized pastoralism through an increased availability of cattle in the region; and third, at the end of the 19th century the region was included into a colonial state.
Economic Anthropology, 2019
The looming alteration in climate has spurred a veritable industry over the past two decades of o... more The looming alteration in climate has spurred a veritable industry over the past two decades of overly simplistic scenario modeling and theoretical
predictions of future changes brought about by global warming, some based on research on human responses to fluctuations in rainfall and temperature
in the past. Scholars who stress the complexity of climate and social processes have critiqued such crude models from two different approaches:
resilience thinking and political ecology. In this article, I assess the resilience framework through an analysis of the effects of droughts over a long time
perspective, between circa 1800 and 1950, in two East African communities: the Kamba of Kenya and the Gogo of Tanzania. My conclusion is that
political ecology theory provides a better explanation than the resilience approach. In both cases, rather than primarily adapting to climate events, the
ability of communities and households to cope with droughts varied depending on how they were integrated into regional economies and the world
system when those droughts occurred. The effects of droughts and long-term fluctuations in precipitation were mediated through exchange networks,
the flow of currencies, and the processes of stratification in local resource control, which in turn affected land use and settlement patterns.
Keywords Political Ecology; East Africa; Droughts; History; Exchange; Trade
Ikaros, 2014
Trots att den rådande utvecklingsdiskursen ofta ser västerländsk teknologi som lösningen på värl-... more Trots att den rådande utvecklingsdiskursen ofta ser västerländsk teknologi som lösningen på värl-dens matförsörjning, finns i den globala södern, eller tredje världen, landskap byggda av små-bönder som under århundraden har investerat arbete och resurser i högproduktiva och hållbara jordbruk. Sydostasien har en lång historia av risodling på sten-skodda terrasser som klättrar längs bergssidor, och slättland med vidsträckta fält som bevarats genom arbetsintensiva metoder och innovationer långt före den "Gröna revolutio-nen". I Afrika har forskning under de senaste årtiondena ifrågasatt den vitt spridda föreställningen om att konti-nenten karaktäriseras av svedjebruk och markförstörelse. Man har belyst de ännu existerande och förhistoriska intensivjordbruken som inkluderar konstbevattning, markbevarande me-toder som terrassering, gödsling, träd och gräsplantering. I Sydamerika har ny arkeologisk forskning i ökande om-fattning visat att liknande etablerade generaliseringar om det primitiva sved-jebruket är felaktiga. Där har man kart-lagt tidigare okända anläggningar med upphöjda kontinuerligt odlade fält, konstbevattning i An-derna, samt de fruktbara, av människor skapade, bördiga så kallade "svarta jordarna" i Amazonas. Dessutom finns det på olika platser i världen utanför optimala jordbruksområden sinnrika, inhemskt utvecklade metoder för att i torra områ-den bevara vatten och samtidigt producera rikliga skördar även i klimatologiskt missgynnade områden. Det märkliga är att förhållandevis lite uppmärksamhet har riktats mot dessa teknologier och metoder från det glo-bala utvecklingssamhället, varken från organisationer som FN, nationella biståndsorgan, NGO:s, eller från akademiker. Istället har okunnighet om inhemska metoder länge rått, tillsammans med rekommendationer, planering, och imple-Text: N. Thomas Håkansson DEn föRStA gRönA REvOLUtiOnEn: intEnSivjORDBRUKEtS UPPKOmSt OCh UtvECKLing ARtiKEL Bönder är inte bara intresserade av att arbeta så lite som möjligt för brödfödan. För att förstå traditionella inten-sivjordbruks utvecklingar måste vi se till mer än effektivitet, visar N. Thomas Håkansson. Puebloindianerna och Ifugaofolket visar att teorierna om jordbruksförändring måste modifieras. mentering av projekt där västerländsk teknologi och grödor står i centrum. Konstgödsel, herbicider och insekticider an-ses vara lösningen på, till exempel, Afrikas matförsörjnings-problem. Dessa i århundraden hållbara jordbrukssystem, både de som fortfarande existerar och de som sedan länge övergivits, vittnar om stora arbetsinsatser och driven ingenjörskonst. Till skillnad från industriellt jordbruk baseras de på lokal arbetskraft snarare än maskiner; på naturgödsel snarare än konstgödsel; och på blandade växtföljder snarare än mono-kultur. Som en del av en diversifierad helhet är jordbrukssys-temen funktionellt integrerade i ett landskap med olika re-surser, till exempel träddungar, fiskevatten, betesmark, och husdjur. Återbäringen på sådana långsiktiga investeringar i markbundet kapital sträcker sig ofta långt fram i tiden, bortom den enskilde brukarens livslängd, och investering-arna kan därför inte förklaras utifrån ortodox ekonomisk te-ori. Markbundet kapital är ett begrepp som innefattar jord-bruksmark som förbättrats genom markbevarande åtgärder, som gödsling, terrassering, och konstbevattning (Blaikie and Brookfield 1987; Håkansson and Widgren 2014). Att människor som bedriver icke-industriellt jordbruk arbetar för att långsiktigt bevara marken kan kanske vid för-sta påseende tänkas vara naturligt. Men om man anlägger ett globalt och historiskt perspektiv står det klart att hållbart nyttjande av marken ingalunda är en självklarhet.
T HIS article is a contribution to the knowledge of the distribution and natural history of the h... more T HIS article is a contribution to the knowledge of the distribution and natural history of the herpetofauna in the cultivated zone of the Kenyan coastal hinterland. Although agricultural communities have existed for at least 2,000 years on the Kenyan coast, the last 100 years have seen an unprecedented increase in population, urban expansion and tourism development. These processes have transformed the environment by reducing the forest cover, expanding cultivation and human habitations. The effects of such changes on the distribution of reptiles and amphibians are poorly known. The present report is based on observations of reptiles and amphibians collected during residence in the coastal hinterland of Kenya from 1985 to 1986. Most observations were made around Kaloleni town, a small market center 25 Km northwest of Mombasa, situated on the coastal ridge ca. 20 Km inland from the coast (Fig. 1). The East African coast represents an important biogeographical region with high herpet...
Ethnology, 1989
While the extended family acts as a property-holding unit in relation to other extended families,... more While the extended family acts as a property-holding unit in relation to other extended families, rights in property are complex and vary by social status; e.g., husband, wife, extended family head, daughter, or son. While the composition of extended families vary, the group forms the basis for the h-p system. This system is adapted to polygynous families, a common and highly desired form traditionally in the societies of eastern Africa. The extended family is itself divided into more or less independent units, called houses,
The impact on human ecology of the ivory trade entailed direct and indirect effects. First, the r... more The impact on human ecology of the ivory trade entailed direct and indirect effects. First, the reduction or extermination of elephant populations had direct effects on the vegetation patterns over large areas. Second, the economic activities connected with hunting, transport, and trading affected regional systems of exchange and thereby, indirectly through the political economy, settlements, patterns of resource utilization, population parameters, and specialization of production. Ethnohistorical information from the 1800s suggests how coastal goods interacted with regional systems of exchange and environmental exploitation. Although such information cannot be directly projected onto the more distant past, it can be used to establish some possible pathways through which the hunting of elephants and transportation and trade of ivory could have affected the ecology of human resource use.
Azania:archaeological Research in Africa, 1989
Current Anthropology, 2010
World Developmenrt, 1998
The use of missionary and other archives can reveal useful information for contemporary planning ... more The use of missionary and other archives can reveal useful information for contemporary planning both by providing sociomedical baselines for understanding change, and by providing practical approaches to development. At the beginning of this century, German Lutheran missionaries in South Pare, Tanzania, implemented a successful campaign to lower child mortality without the aid of modern medical technology. The missionaries achieved this goal through an understanding of indigenous ideas about health and illness, cooperation with indigenous healers, and through communication and mutual learning. By focusing on behaviorally oriented prevention, as well as cures, long-term health care projects based on this strategy may provide more effective basic health improvements than large-scale expensive medical-technological intrusions. 0
Studies of land use and of landscapes as expressions of human activities, in space and time, are ... more Studies of land use and of landscapes as expressions of human activities, in space and time, are gaining increasing attention in a variety of disciplines. This focus has relevance both for our understanding of society, culture, and nature, and for research on fotxl security, land cover change, and biodiversity. The idea behind this special issue is to show that a re^iottal historical approach to land cover changes provides an analytical field that can bridge the gap between local case studies and generalized macro-scale overviews. To reach the goal of a truly regional and historical politieal ecology, this volume gathers an interdisciplinary group of scholars with in-depth knowledge of human-environmental relationships and political economy in northeastern Tanzania. The contributions cover a number of common themes that emphasize history and spatial interactions in one region. All the articles go beyond the focus on economic determinants of land use. so common in the literature. They also show how social institutions and cultural models, both at local and regional levels influence trajectories of changing human-environment relationships.
Published by SLU, Framtidens lantbruk/Future Agriculture ISBN 978-91-576-9090-6 Layout: Karin Ull... more Published by SLU, Framtidens lantbruk/Future Agriculture ISBN 978-91-576-9090-6 Layout: Karin Ullvén, SLU Photos: iStockphoto Printed at Fyris-Tryck AB © SLU, Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet Critical research issues for future sub-Saharan African agriculture Professor Kjell Havnevik, Senior Researcher,
Reviews in Anthropology, 2017
N. Thomas Håkansson (2017) Inequality and the return to structure in
anthropology, , 46:2-3, 106... more N. Thomas Håkansson (2017) Inequality and the return to structure in
anthropology, , 46:2-3, 106-124
Carrier, James G., and Don Kalb. 2015. Anthropologies of Class: Power, Practice and Inequality.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Flannery, Kent, and Joyce Marcus. 2012. The Creation of Inequality: How our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the
Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hayden, Brian. 2014. The Power of Feasts: From Prehistory to the Present. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Morehart, Christopher T., and Kristin De Lucia. 2015. Surplus: The Politics of Production and the Strategies
of Everyday Life. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.
The four books under review are all more or less explicitly
critical of the impact of post-modernism on socio-cultural
anthropology and archaeology. They all call for the building of
anthropology by reconnecting to the earlier traditions of
structural and comparative analysis. Although spanning both
socio-cultural anthropology and archaeology, they set the focus
clearly on the pervasive influence of inequality on social
processes. The different authors demonstrate the explanatory
power of concepts such as class, surplus, inequality, and
structure for a multitude of contexts from prehistoric foragers
to neo-liberal market ideologies.
American Anthropologist, 2000
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Books by N. Thomas Hakansson
Journal articles by N. Thomas Hakansson
predictions of future changes brought about by global warming, some based on research on human responses to fluctuations in rainfall and temperature
in the past. Scholars who stress the complexity of climate and social processes have critiqued such crude models from two different approaches:
resilience thinking and political ecology. In this article, I assess the resilience framework through an analysis of the effects of droughts over a long time
perspective, between circa 1800 and 1950, in two East African communities: the Kamba of Kenya and the Gogo of Tanzania. My conclusion is that
political ecology theory provides a better explanation than the resilience approach. In both cases, rather than primarily adapting to climate events, the
ability of communities and households to cope with droughts varied depending on how they were integrated into regional economies and the world
system when those droughts occurred. The effects of droughts and long-term fluctuations in precipitation were mediated through exchange networks,
the flow of currencies, and the processes of stratification in local resource control, which in turn affected land use and settlement patterns.
Keywords Political Ecology; East Africa; Droughts; History; Exchange; Trade
anthropology, , 46:2-3, 106-124
Carrier, James G., and Don Kalb. 2015. Anthropologies of Class: Power, Practice and Inequality.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Flannery, Kent, and Joyce Marcus. 2012. The Creation of Inequality: How our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the
Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hayden, Brian. 2014. The Power of Feasts: From Prehistory to the Present. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Morehart, Christopher T., and Kristin De Lucia. 2015. Surplus: The Politics of Production and the Strategies
of Everyday Life. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.
The four books under review are all more or less explicitly
critical of the impact of post-modernism on socio-cultural
anthropology and archaeology. They all call for the building of
anthropology by reconnecting to the earlier traditions of
structural and comparative analysis. Although spanning both
socio-cultural anthropology and archaeology, they set the focus
clearly on the pervasive influence of inequality on social
processes. The different authors demonstrate the explanatory
power of concepts such as class, surplus, inequality, and
structure for a multitude of contexts from prehistoric foragers
to neo-liberal market ideologies.
predictions of future changes brought about by global warming, some based on research on human responses to fluctuations in rainfall and temperature
in the past. Scholars who stress the complexity of climate and social processes have critiqued such crude models from two different approaches:
resilience thinking and political ecology. In this article, I assess the resilience framework through an analysis of the effects of droughts over a long time
perspective, between circa 1800 and 1950, in two East African communities: the Kamba of Kenya and the Gogo of Tanzania. My conclusion is that
political ecology theory provides a better explanation than the resilience approach. In both cases, rather than primarily adapting to climate events, the
ability of communities and households to cope with droughts varied depending on how they were integrated into regional economies and the world
system when those droughts occurred. The effects of droughts and long-term fluctuations in precipitation were mediated through exchange networks,
the flow of currencies, and the processes of stratification in local resource control, which in turn affected land use and settlement patterns.
Keywords Political Ecology; East Africa; Droughts; History; Exchange; Trade
anthropology, , 46:2-3, 106-124
Carrier, James G., and Don Kalb. 2015. Anthropologies of Class: Power, Practice and Inequality.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Flannery, Kent, and Joyce Marcus. 2012. The Creation of Inequality: How our Prehistoric Ancestors Set the
Stage for Monarchy, Slavery, and Empire. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hayden, Brian. 2014. The Power of Feasts: From Prehistory to the Present. Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press.
Morehart, Christopher T., and Kristin De Lucia. 2015. Surplus: The Politics of Production and the Strategies
of Everyday Life. Boulder: University of Colorado Press.
The four books under review are all more or less explicitly
critical of the impact of post-modernism on socio-cultural
anthropology and archaeology. They all call for the building of
anthropology by reconnecting to the earlier traditions of
structural and comparative analysis. Although spanning both
socio-cultural anthropology and archaeology, they set the focus
clearly on the pervasive influence of inequality on social
processes. The different authors demonstrate the explanatory
power of concepts such as class, surplus, inequality, and
structure for a multitude of contexts from prehistoric foragers
to neo-liberal market ideologies.
in terms of people and livestock during the 19th century, which was driven by the
growth of the international ivory trade. This growth may have reached a plateau around the
1880s, only to collapse during the catastrophes of massive cattle disease, human disease, and
droughts during the end of the 1880s and the beginning of the 1890s. The overall effect of the Maasai expansion both into and within present-day Tanzania
seems to have included a transfer of people from the northern part of Maasailand and the absorption
of successful cattle accumulators from other agro-pastoral and agricultural populations
from northern Kenya to the Pangani Valley in Tanzania. As the pastoralist population
expanded, so did the concomitant cultivation and the building of landesque capital in the
form of irrigation systems and semi-permanent fields in the highlands, as well as in enclaves
on the plains.