Message-ID: <KF16+M8a5lA@ssc.msu.edu> Date: Sun, 11 Feb 1996 15:52:57 EST From: Don Osbor <mailto:don.osborn@SSC.MSU.EDU> Subject: "Mosaic" co-residence & devt. To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
Greetings! Frederick Barth wrote about "`mosaic' co-residence" of diverse ethnic groups in parts of Asia (e.g. Pakistan/1). Such situations also are common in parts of Africa (e.g. the inland Niger delta area of Mali/2). Basically this refers to a situation where different groups with different rural production specializations (i.e., crop farming, herding, fishing) come to occupy different niches in the same region either in "stable co-residence" with "symbiotic economic relations,"/1 or in states of relative conflict leading to one or another group's domination.I am interested to know how rural development programs in such areas deal with this kind of diversity. Is this common? Is it a problem (for conflicts along ethnic lines)? I am interested in any insights or case studies on such situations. There seem to be several approaches by development projects to such ethnic "mosaics": 1) Sector-oriented projects (e.g., crop improvement) which by their nature will deal with one group, but indirectly will affect the overall situation. Usually, I think, such projects will ignore the impact of their efforts on other production systems & the peoples that specialize in them. 2) Projects which attempt to address a range of problems / potential in a region and will attempt to deal with all groups in one way or another (e.g., integrated rural devt. proj's?). 3) Projects which are in theory directed at the whole population of a region, but which in practice work more with certain groups than others for perceived "technical" reasons (e.g., a local forestry project which works more with farmers than herders or fishers, because they are perceived by local staff as being better at planting and caring for plants). 4) Projects which are in theory directed at the whole population of a region, but which for ethnic &/or political reasons are directed towards a specific group(s).
Thanks in advance. Don Osborn mailto:don.osborn@ssc.msu.edu Dept. of Resource Development (Ph.D. student) Michigan State University
1. F. Barth. 1981. "Ecological Relationships of Ethnic Groups in Swat, North Pakistan." In _Features of Person and Society in Swat: Collected Essays on Pathans: Selected Essays of Frederik Barth_, Vol. II. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. Pp. 3-15.
2. Here population distribution of diverse groups was characterized as an "interdigitated pattern" by Derrick J. Thom and John C. Wells (1987. "Farming Systems in the Niger Inland Delta, Mali." The Geographic Review 77(3): 328-342).