Gardening

I signed up for a small plot with UGA family and graduate housing this morning. The area for gardening is approximately 10' X 10'. Not huge, but I can grow some peas and spinach and maybe something else. My work with the farmers in Mozambique inspired me, but I haven't had the chance until now to put my enthusiasm into practice.

I was never the gardener with enthusiasm that Chris was but I do like to garden. My parents kept a large garden to supply the table when I was a kid. My job was to help with weed control which I hated. Probably why I'm not so keen on gardening as others might be. As an ethnobotanist, I now realize that many of the weeds I was pulling were actually edible. Someday, maybe I'll garden just weeds.

UGA groundskeeping is holding a gardeners meeting on Wednesday evening to talk about how we can garden under drought. They're installing rain barrels, but of course there are other possibilities. I'm thinking dirty dishwater and the water run at the beginning of a shower are perfectly acceptable for watering my garden.

Scams in Science

My adviser forwarded me an interesting email the other day. It seems someone was interested in my dissertation research. All NSF grants are posted online with their abstracts as part of the US Freedom of Information Act. Since grantees receive taxpayer funding, we are required by law to post information about our research. No biggie. (my award) At any rate, someone at a European publishing company found my grant application and contacted my adviser. They contacted him because he is listed as the lead principal investigator – that’s how it works for doctoral dissertation improvement grants.

Here are some of the sections from that email (real names have been removed and all that):

We are producing a special report at the end of February with a focus Social, behavioural and economic science from a small number of National Science Foundation funded projects; promoting these projects to a European audience, we would like you to work with us to create a professional dissemination article.

Ultimately we are aiming to work with a small number of NSF projects to enable:

• Commercialisation/exploitation exposure to a highly targeted audience in Europe
• Wide spread dissemination of the results of the NSF project to European peers
• Establishment of research partnerships and knowledge exchange
• Contact building for participation in FP7 (European Commission’s €50 Billion Euro R&D funding program launched last year)

Our goal of widespread exposure and dissemination for selected NSF projects, academic institutions, nationally funded projects and commercial research units is achieved via a high profile communications drive, targeting approximately 39,000 key decision makers across both the private & public sectors throughout Europe. Each of the projects and institutions involved will be working closely with us to produce high quality professional dissemination material.

Once we allocate your position within the report I will assign to you a dedicated Editorial Manager and Editorial team from ZZZ Publishers. But a general guideline of material to be developed would be based around the following;

• Case Study
• Project Profile
• White Paper
• Interview with leading Project member
• Pre-Defined article which you may have produced previously

All material developed will be agreed upon and approved by you, before publication. We would also request it is approved by your project officer. ZZZ Publishers are an independent company; this means the content of the report is completely unbiased and independent.

Sounds pretty good, right? The email goes on with some testimonials, lists distribution across Europe (numbers), and describes a work plan to get out the slick, color publications that will wind up collecting dust on some politician’s coffee table or be used to fill in space in an overfull landfill. Here’s the fine print at the very end of the email:

The cost for each of the projects involved in this report is fixed at only $ 3,800 USD

Someone forgot to tell this publishing company, that anthropologists and definitely PhD candidates in anthropology, have zero funding to publish their own work and that unless it is some sort of report for the government or funding agency peer-review is expected (well, unless it is National Geographic or something, but I think they must have some sort of review system). This is why we publish in academic journals (large readership) and write book proposals that go through an approval process based in part on previous work validity. I mean, my research could be absolute shit (I believe it isn’t) and this chap is offering to publish it without peer review. Huh? If I wanted that, I’d set up a website or a blog and…

Finally, the last thing that sort of niggles at the back of my brain is why? Why was my project picked? I took a thorough look at the publisher and their in-house magazine. They publish a lot of engineering and profit-producing scientific research. The magazine target audience is not only politicians but corporations. Hmmm…. wild plant harvest, conservation, Africa… I know that the business of companies is to make money and that the communities where I work are extremely poor, but I would really hate to see poor folk be made poorer. And I don’t think I’m paranoid as there have been cases where companies went in, bought up rights to wild plant materials, and then the community could no longer access the plants they have depended on for centuries. It is called biopiracy, and I have no desire to be involved with it.

For my own research I needed to know what species are useful in order to determine if community habitats are more biodiverse than similar reserve habitats because people are manipulating the landscape in order to have useful plants nearby. I was interested in whether a species was useful for construction, food, firewood, medicine, etc., but not how to prepare them for consumption. My recording of any extra information people volunteered was solely for the community. That was the research agreement that I made with the chief and induna (council of tribal elders). If the community wants to take the information I have recorded for them and do something more with it, that is their business. But seriously, none of the species people told me about were new to the literature. Botanists in southern Africa, particularly SANBI, have done a very good job of collecting data on plants used in magic, medicine, food, fuel, construction, alcohol, etc.

Am I being cynical? Is there some sort of results publishing that I don't know about? I hope that the intent was more innocent. I emailed the guy back to let him know I had no money, and he backed off quickly. Then I emailed my adviser. He replied that it looked like a 419 scam to him, but he left the decision up to me what to do with the guy. I guess I’m still the padawan.

If you're interested in the name of the company and magazine, I'm more than happy to send it along if you drop me a line.

Confronting a Prejudice

I have finally finished all my interview work (for now). I return to Madjadjane on Wednesday to give a presentation on my research - purpose, preliminary results, and photos of the community.

Catharanthus roseus
This last week of interviews was really difficult. I am burnt out on interviews, much of the interview was devoted to saying good-bye (for now), and I was physically exhausted. Many people that I didn't interview, but passed on the road or passed by their homes, stopped me for a chat and said that they will really miss me. I will really miss them too.

Madjadjane, and Gala, are the type of communities that just don't seem to exist in the United States anymore. People make jokes about "it takes a village to raise a child" but this really happens. So does Ubunto, and knowing all your neighbors, and sharing what you have even if it isn't much, and pooling resources to get a bigger project accomplished.

One of my good friends, Sr. Mateus (who loves to talk) told me this week that he was glad I came and stayed, and hopes that I can return soon. But besides that, he told me that my questions about how people and culture and landscape are tied together opened many people's minds. He felt pride in where he came from and his community. That made me feel good - like I had accomplished something tangible and useful.

So what does this have to do with prejudice? During the interviews this past week I spent a significant amount of time asking about plant identification and use. Over the past 9 months I took photos of plants people mentioned during interviews and plants that caught my eye or were common in the community. A couple of the plants were very pretty flowers (photos in this blog). During the interview, people mentioned how beautiful these flowers were. They might not know the names, but they all said that people planted these flowers in their yards to make their homes beautiful.

I was surprised that people would plant flowers to make their homes beautiful. These flowers have no other utility for most people (specialists did mention that one species could be used as a medicine). I had assumed that residents didn't have the time or the space to plant anything around their home that had no utility as a food or a medicine. Or that they would even care about making their homes beautiful. They do talk about different trees being beautiful, but most trees around homes were already growing when the homes were built. Also, these trees usually provide fruits, medicines, or construction materials.

When I realized the depth of the assumption I had made, I felt horrible. Why wouldn't poor people/African farmers care about making their homes beautiful? Why wouldn't they see beauty in their surroundings? Why should brancos corner the market on landscaping?

I think that my prejudice stems from the fact that the landscaping in cities like Maputo, Pretoria, and other African cities I've visited is modeled on a Western ideal. The people I see landscaping are low level workers, usually black. I never thought that they might take an interest in the work other than that it was a job that paid the bills. I also think that some of my horror in the discovery comes from my own research and reactions to Westerners who describe agriculture in southern Mozambique as messy, wasteful, and inefficient. I always answer that multi-cropping milho (maize), squash, bean, and peanut helps keep soil fertility and conserves biodiversity. And all those "weeds" are medicines or wild foods.

The African landscape is different in many respects from an American or European landscape. I find the African landscape very beautiful, but at the African household scale I still carried some baggage. I'm glad that my mind was opened, and I was forced to rethink my point of view.


I would identify the plants in this blog, unfortunately I have already mailed home all my plant identification guides. I'll post the species if anyone is interested when I return to the States.

In the field

Planting peanuts
It has been quite some time since my last post. I have been blogging in my field notebook, but I don't have an internet connection out at the reserve. So here are some excerpts from my notebook and photos to give you a sense of what I've been up to lately. It won't be a daily blow by blow, just some of the things that happen.
My new translator Salema and I
1 October 2007
"The rains started the night before last around midnight with a bang. Big thunder and lightning storm. The rains began at midnight last night and the night before. They finished yesterday before 6am. Today the rains were still going at 8:30am. They stopped by 8:45. It is 9:20 now, but the clouds still look very full of chuva [rain]. So I have a day to do… whatever. After lunch I called Sr. Mathe about a translator. I can’t be waiting around all day. I don’t have time. The more interviews I can do now the more I can accomplish. He has found me someone. So tomorrow I will need to contact Hussaine [current translator - always calling in sick]. I’m not contacting him until I meet the new person. TIA - there is always a chance something will go awry."
Inside Sr. Abraham's Office
2 October 2007
"While I was speaking with Jorge, Olga, and Mateus, Sr. Victoriano came by and requested that I stop by on my way home. I had a hunch that it had to do with the camera. It did. He was having trouble with using it. He had wanted to take a photo of Abraham (his son) wearing a cobra around his neck. I’m not sure if this was before or after they killed and skinned the snake (spitting cobra) or not. It was the problem of not advancing the film. Not a big deal. I finally got to meet his son who is a Rongan sangoma. He completed his training in South Africa, and… speaks English!!! Of all the individuals in the community to speak English I would never have imagined it to be the sangoma. Abraham invited me into his office. Holy mackeral. The real deal. Simba skins, an elephant legbone, various drums, other animal parts on the walls, bottles, jars, and containers full of unknown liquids and dried plants. There were some red, white and black capulanas hanging up too (colors of danger and magic I was informed when I asked). Then he said I could take all the photos that I wanted. I hope I didn’t come off as too excited, I really thought this sort of thing only happened on National Geographic. Abraham does divinations and from that helps diagnose social and relationship problems – a counselor, Marcia’s gonna love that. Wait til I tell her about the snakes. He also does medicine for the body and of course, rituals. Abraham told me that his family are always curandeiros."
Butterfly on esteira mat
4 October 2007
"At this point, Salema [translator] and I met up with Sra. Amelia (one of the very first people I interviewed, had a wound on her right ankle). She was holding a tortoise/turtle shell on the end of a stick as she walked along. From a distance I thought it was a big spoon. The turtle shell was about 10-11 inches long – it looked like the same species as Happy, the turtle Leocadia found in Gala. I asked if she had eaten it. Amelia said no and had this look of yuck on her face that was priceless. She found the shell and was taking it to the IUCN camp for sale there. Tourists buy strange things I was told. They are also building a office/museum/center of investigation so maybe it will find a home there. That is the building that Sr. Jeremias was working on."
Albertina
6 October 2007
"Our first interview was with Stella, wife of Vus who works at IUCN doing construction. It went well, but little Albertina was terrified of me. She started crying when I tried to get close to take a picture for her mom. She is 1 years old and I probably look scary. The older toddlers call me mulungo still, but aren’t so afraid. Hey, I’m realistic. I know that all sorts of stories are told about white people – we eat little African children, we steal them, we are ghosts or evil spirits or the ancestors… It reminds me of the time my Uncle Fred visited. My dad told me he was born in Transylvania and that he was a vampire. Then Uncle Fred showed me his teeth and I didn’t sleep a wink all night. I was 7 or 8 at the time."

I traveled back to Maputo for a week, was a bit under the weather, and generally way too busy to blog here. Entering data is not fun.
Eating breakfast, Papai sits at the table
17 October 2007
"I had a larium dream last night. They're pretty rare because my dreams are intense for the most part anyway. I slept horribly, had a horrible nightmare where I was pulling my brains, or at least something more solid and stringy, out of my nose. One of those dreams where is was so real I could feel the hot, wet stringy tissue moving around in my nose and hanging down my chin."

Yeah, I probably didn't need to include this, but it was just way too weird. Larium is the malaria drug I'm taking. It comes with a lot of dire warnings about depression, intense dreams, hallucinations, etc. So far, I haven't noticed much of a difference between being on and off Larium and I've been on it for over 10 months now (with a month off in June). That's kind of scary.
Two year old fallow along a back road.
19 October 2007
"Salema explained that Sr. Tembe is the chief of Madjadjane. This is a hereditary position. He is the grandson of the old chief that was killed in the war. The son of the old chief is in South Africa working. The Induna is composed of all the community elders that are 55-70 years old. At this point they have a lot of knowledge about the region, the community, how things are supposed to work, etc. They are both men and women. Older people are still valued for their knowledge, but they are not necessarily a part of the Induna. From the Induna, people elect secretaries and namzadores (both men and women can act in these positions). The secretários resolve problems within the community and work with the induna to settle disputes. Sr. Joel, Sr. Edesse, Sra. Arminda are current secretários. Basically, they act as justices. Namzadores seem to be a cross between detective and lawyer. They discover information about particular problems in the community and then present the information to the chief, secretários, induna, and other namzadores. Currently, Srs. Jeremias and Lapião are namzadores. Interestingly, both investigators are immigrants to the community."
Ncathlo - Tabernamontana elegans
24 October 2007
"After the firing discussion, he said that the 2 guards that poached are still working for the reserve. Guards X and Y poached 12 reedbuck. I told him that some people in the community were really angry. They live very close to the reserve boundaries, along the path that elephants migrate to Salamanga, and see the poaching as driving elephants out of the reserve. It makes it worse that guards were doing it because they are supposed to be protecting the people in the community from wildlife. A. looked thoughtful and said he hadn’t thought of that. Then he wrote it down, presumably to talk to the administrator about. The relationship between the community and reserve is not great – the poaching makes it worse."
Meninas returning from a macuacua (Strychnos madagascariensis) fruit collecting trip inside the reserve
26 October 2007
So far, everyone has said that resources in Madjadjane are for all residents to use. People may harvest as much as they need – even for production of stuff that is sold to outsiders. Basically, all resources are common pool resources for the community. But this pool is closed to outsiders. Anyone who comes and harvests and is not a resident, or asked for residency and moved in, is considered a thief. The community will catch them (beating them up in the process – Salema was most insistent on this part), take the person to the chief, make the person pay a fine, and then call the police to have them arrested. Those are pretty good deterrents. But how do you identify outsiders then, I asked? I mean, it is obvious for me because I am white, but that isn’t true for everyone. Salema told me that when a relative from outside comes into Madjadjane for a visit or to stay, they first go to Chief Sr. Tembe to make themselves known, explain the circumstances, and ask for permission to stay. Then, the chief will call a community meeting to introduce the person to everyone. That way, if the person is seen walking around in the community people will not be scared of them or suspicious. If the person desires to stay and build a home, the chief will show them places that they could choose for living. Salema said, “you even did this.” People would not talk to you if you didn’t go to Chief Sr. Tembe and then arrange a meeting with the Induna to introduce yourself and why you wish to live and work in the community. Thinking over what Salema said, I’m glad I did meet with traditional leaders. I would really hate to have the shit beat out of me by some suspicious person when I am out harvesting knowledge. And here I was nervous because I thought that it was just about explainig my research project. I didn’t realize that my personal safety was at stake. Salema says that they would not beat me up. But then, what would they do? I asked if an outsider were injured or died how people would respond. He said that they might help, but it would take a while to get a response because the person would not be a known person. Not their responsibility since the person did not introduce themselves to the community. This situation might make ecotourism difficult in Matutuine District. Although given that most tourists are white, staying at the ecotourism lodges, and not harvesting local plants maybe it might work. Also, if they hire a guide then it would definitely work. The upside of all this, is knowing that I am considered part of the community however odd I am."
Rio Futi - where the hippos live among the cane and papyrus
27 October 2007
"Salema showed up at 7am bright and early. He was wearing bling. Big silver bling, saying 50 Cent. It was a little strange on him. Real gangsta thugs eat nice guys like him for breakfast. I’m ain't sayin' he ain’t got skilz, but his skilz is bush skilz, not street skilz. I’ve noted 50 Cent labeled clothing on a couple other young guys in the community. It stands in stark contrast to their respectful behavior and what their parents and younger siblings wear. Salema’s cousin was collecting sura – not Anton – Cecilia’s son Anmanjidiu. Anmanjidiu and Anton are working together on the sura production. Probably because it would be quite a hike every morning for Anton to the reserve, while Anmanjidiu lives next door. They are cousins so the sharing isn’t quite a difficulty. Anmanjidiu was wearing his “Osama is my hero. Islam is my choice.” T-shirt with a rasta knit touk hiding his crazy Alfalfa hair. He really has a big ‘fro. Anmanjidiu and the rest of his family are Wesleyan Methodist. I only had one cup of coffee this morning – a crappy instant cup of Ricoffe – so the irony was killing me. Salema and I stopped at Lucia’s home on the way to Fernando’s for the charcoal interview. Lucia has malaria. I wished her well, but this apparently was a strange thing to do. So many people get malaria that while it is still considered an illness, it is just something you deal with and get on with your life. Kind of like a head cold. Children still need feeding, laundry washed, machambas planted, etc. So wishing one good health is not seen as appropriate. People do stop by to see if there are things they can help with and to make sure you aren’t flat out in bed running a high fever, but there isn’t much else that can be done."
Turn off to Madjadjane
29 October 2007
"We passed through the vale that has the 2 big mango trees. I found out that the local name for this place is Incanducene. Every family in Madjadjane has a big space in Incanducene for a machamba. The area is currently fallowed, but next year it will be used again for crops. People have both tempo quente and tempo fresco machambas here. Milho, amendoim, manioca, muitas hortas, cana doce, banana, ananas, all will grow in this place. The name, Incanducene, comes from the fact that cana de açucar grows in this place according to Salema. Every family has a space along the Futi and in Incanducene."

Yes, this is a huge entry. Sorry about that. I hoped you liked the little slices from my October though.

Student Presentations: Anthropology and Geography

Linda Manjate is an anthropology student at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane. She is interested in the connections between environmental, community, and personal health. Her research will look at how the Reserva Especial de Maputo affects the health of Gala's and Madjadjane's residents, the status/abundance of medicinal plants within reserve boundaries, and whether differences exist between medicinal plants harvested for personal use and market sale. lmanjate at yahoo dot com dot br


Vânia Pedro is an anthropology student at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane. She is interested in traditional wild plant knowledge and how people acquire this knowledge. Her research is looking at how plant knowledge is transmitted and the relationship between types of knowledge transmission and plant management practices. vania.pedro at nambu dot uem dot mz


Sergio Julane is a geography student at Universidade Eduardo Mondlane. He is interested in the socio-economic and physical environment factors that influence where people choose to live and build their homes. His research will assess the spatial distribution of homesteads in Gala and Madjadjane; looking at the influence of factors such as water supply, soil fertility, and livelihood. sejojulane at yahoo dot com dot br

Rare Species Discovered

A rare species of tree grows in Mozambique - the boy tree. These boys were trying to get a good view of the Hash mock wedding ceremony I attended Saturday afternoon - more on that later.

I will keep my eye out for a girl tree.

REM Landscapes and Habitats

This weekend was my first visit to the Reserva Especial de Maputo (REM) this year. I accompanied my Mozambican colleagues on a trip to measure the tree biomass found in various habitat types at the reserve. In addition to helping out with the tree counts, I took pictures of the different types of habitat and evidence of disturbance. The pictures here depict the REM landscape - and I try to give habitat types where I can. Some of the types may not seem very different, however, statistical analysis of tree density, coverage, and biomass shows different levels of emergent (really tall) trees versus shrubs and short trees (less than 5 meters). This is the greenest I have ever seen the reserve, although the last time I was here in 2004, it was the middle of the dry season.

The Research Team (sans me) - Sr. Jotamo, Sr. Domingo, dr. Cornelio, & Sr. Dungo (from left to right)


Futi River Floodplain - this area is seasonally flooded. Up to 5 inches of water still covered the flats in some places, so we didn't get out to the mangal (mangroves) this weekend to take measurements.


Carissa spp. forest (chanfuta) bordering the Futi River floodplain. The yellowy trunks with the light colored leaves are very beautiful. It is often found in sand forest.

On our second day, we were stuck on the floodplains for 4 hours trying to extract the landrover from the muck. Pushing, sticking twigs and vegetation under the wheels for traction, and finally tying the quadrat rope, attached to the tow cable, to a distant shrub and pulling the car out of the muck. Fun times. ;-) This is when I got the shot of the Carissa forest boundary. Now I remember why "going mudding" in a 4x4 has never appealed to me as a fun outdoor activity.

Woodland - found along the Futi River. This type of habitat has the greatest amount of human disturbance. The dense, brushy growth follows the area's use for machambas (agricultural fields) and human habitation. Many animal species (antelope species, elephants, etc.) prefer this type of habitat because it is relatively easy to find food here. Humans hunt in this area even though they may no longer live there or farm. There are very few big trees, but it is possible to find edible fruits. We found some ripe tintsiva (Dialium schlecteri) fruits which tasted very good. There was also lots of calho (Tabernamontana elegans) - another popular local fruit.

Woodland Mosaic - One of the big visual differences between this and woodland is the elephant damage. There were lots of torn branches, Strychnos fruit remains, and elephant dung at this site. We also found some Sclerocarya birrea (marula) trees outside the quadrat. This is a fruit well liked by both humans and elephants. It makes great beer.

Jotamo and Cornelio are measuring trunk diameters (at breast height) in sand forest (floresta areanosa). Sand forest is a rare type of habitat found only in the Maputaland region in Africa - northeastern KwaZulu-Natal to Maputo Bay. There are many large trees in this type of habitat and rare endemic plant species. Ronga people protect some of these sand forests as sacred areas. Chiefs and curendeiros may perform rituals and religious ceremonies in these places for land fertility, healings, and ancestral worship.

Sand Forest

Hygrophillis grassland - basically, this is a seasonal wetland. Most are located in the valleys between dunes and run parallel to the Indian Ocean. Oh, and this is one of the resident elephants that make the reserve famous. There were between 300-350 elephants at last count in 2006 (it was a dung count). REM is one of the last places in Africa where the elephants are free to walk down to the ocean shore and go for a swim in the surf if they like. KwaZulu-Natal, just south of the reserve (about 50km), bills the region as the Elephant Coast.

Open Woodland - here the trees are a little taller than in woodland areas and there is grass in the spaces between trees. Fire helps maintain the grassed areas. At this site, there was lots of Strychnos, both macuacua (S. madagascariensis) and masala (S. spinosa).

Wooded Grassland - not completely savanna yet, however frequent fires keep down the brush and kill the little trees and saplings. This area probably burned within the last few months as the burn marks on the trees seemed relatively fresh. It has been very dry here even though the "rainy" season is currently coming to an end.

Savana - Setting out the quadrat for savanna tree biomass measurements. Once the quadrat was set, the measurements took less than 5 minutes. The trees in the photo were not counted as they are dead. It actually took more time to set and remove quadrat bounderies, than it took to make measurements.

Eucalyptus Plantation - located near the entrance to the Main Guard Camp in Madjadjane. The eucalyptus were planted during colonial times as a scheme to make money from the timber and pulp in an area of low agricultural productivity. Unfortunately, eucalyptus trees suck water out of the ground like you wouldn't believe. The trees were planted along the Futi, a seasonal river. While well meaning, the plantation has caused more problems than it solved. Although no study has been conducted on the effects of eucalyptus plantings at REM, research (one example) in other places has shown harmful effects on local climates and native species. Southern Mozambique is subject to frequent droughts, and there isn't much water in the area to begin with... so in hindsight, not a great idea.

Lagoa Nini - one of several freshwater to brackish lakes found at the reserve. Crocodiles and hippos live in the lakes along with various fishes like tilapia, and parasites like bilharzia and schistosomiasis. So, no swimming for me!!

Me on the savannas of REM the day before my big 3-5.