Dennis Werner

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Human Ecology / Ecologia Humana Article Abstracts / Resumos de artigos

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1995 A Ecologia Cultural de Julian Steward e seus desdobramentos. Florianopolis: Antropologia em Primeira Mão, UFSC.

• A "ecologia cultural" de Julian Steward frisava três pontos epistemológicos esquecidos por outros antropólogos, inclusive alguns dos seus sucessores.1. Ao estudar "causas" só podemos especificar o causa alguma diferença -- no caso de Julian Steward, trata-se de explicar mudanças culturais. Não explicamos culturas como um todo, senão a diferença de um momento para outro. 2). Um dos lugares mais produtivos para buscar estas explicações está na vida prática -- o ganha-pão de todo dia. 3) Para testar explicações a respeito de mudanças, podemos buscar paralelos em várias culturas para averiguar se podemos prever quais culturas passariam por quais mudanças.

1985 A Child's Work is Never Done. unpublished manuscript.

• Statistical comparisons of different counties of Santa Catarina State based on data from the 1980 agricultural census showed child labor was most common in sugar cane (paid child labor) and tobacco-growing regions (family child labor). Children worked most and began working earliest in those counties where properties were smallest (20 hectares) versus counties where families had more land (40 hectares). Interviews with farmers and their families in these different regions showed that arguments about what children can physically do change easily (in regions with less child labor, farmers argued that plowing was too heavy work for 12-year olds, whereas in the tobacco regions this activity was considered fine for children). Mostly children were prohibited from doing those tasks that required responsibility (e.g. spreading precious seed on seed gardens) but not from tasks that were heavy or dangerous (for example using herbicides).

1985 Psycho-Social Stress and the Construction of a Flood-Control Dam in Santa Catarina, Brazil. Human Organization 44(2): 161-167.

• This study uses quantitative data to show that Indians and farmers most affected by a flood-control dam in Santa Catarina suffer greater psychosomatic stress (as measured by the Cornell Medical Index) as well as greater social stress (as measured by fear of crime, loss of confidence in leadership, fights with neighbors, etc.) than do their peers.

1985 Duas Respostas Simplistas sobre os Direitos dos Indios à Terra.IN: S.C.dos Santos, D.Werner, N.S. Bloemer and A.Nacke (Org.). Sociedades Indígenas e o Direito: uma Questão de direitos humanos. Editora da UFSC e CNPq: Florianópolis. p.38-51.

• Defensores dos direitos de índios muitas vezes argumentam que precisamos garantir que as reservas indígenas ficam como "propriedade comum", e que, de toda maneira, precisamos deixar que os próprios índios decidam o seu destino. Estas respostas deixam de lado as questões mais cruciais. Há muitas formas diferentes de organizar "terra em comum" (ejidos, kibbutzim, comunas, etc.). Estas diferenças têm profundos impactos sobre as pessoas que residem nestas terras. A idéia de "deixar eles decidirem" ignora o problema das hierarquias indígenas e a sua manipulação para beneficiar alguns em detrimento aos outros.

1984 Terra de Indio. Ciencia Hoje 3(14): 26-32.

• Um resumo de estudos de ecologia humana em terras indígenas mostra correlações entre redução do tamanho das reservas, caça de animais menores, agricultura mais intensiva, níveis mais baixos de fertilidade do solo, nutrição empobrecida, e maiores problemas de saúde.

1983 Fertility and Pacification among the Mekranoti of Central Brazil. Human Ecology 11(2): 227-245

• Demographers and anthropologists have recently turned their attention to the fertility increases that seem to have occurred with the "demographic transition." This study examines various explanations for historical changes in fertility among the Mekranoti-Kayapo Indians of Central Brazil. Data from pregnancy histories and genealogies suggest that changes in health status, use of contraceptives, lactation periods, and post-partum sexual abstinence are not as important in accounting for Mekranoti fertility as is warfare. Because of high male mortality from war, many Mekranoti women spent a large portion of their reproductive years without a husband, and their fertility was significantly lower as a result. This fnding may have imphcations for demographic changes elsewhere and in other periods of human evolution.

1983 Why do the Mekranoti Trek. IN R Hames and W Vickers (Orgs.), Adaptive Responses of Native Amazonians. New York: Academic Press pp.225-238.

• The Mekranoti carry garden produce along on their treks, so trekking cannot be attributed to the search for wild foods. Meat consumption does improve because of these excursions. The social benefits of trekking (separating fighting males, preparing for ceremonies,etc.) are allied to the ecological benefits of avoiding over-hunting close to home.

1983 Mudanças Demográficas no Posto Indígena Ibirama. Anuais do Museu de Antropologia 15(16), UFSC.: 24-33.

• Comparações de histórias de gravidez entre os índios Xokleng e agricultores brasileiros vizinhos em diferentes épocas históricas mostraram que no passado os Xolkleng passaram por períodos de maior mortalidade infantil, mas que hoje não há diferenças. Por outro lado, hoje as mulheres Xokleng podem esperar ter em torno de 11 filhos durante a sua vida, enquanto as mulheres vizinhas podem esperar em torno de 5,3 (taxas de fecundidade total).

1982 Variation in Swidden Practices in Four Central Brazilian Indian Societies. Human Ecology 10(2): 203-217 (co-author).

• It has been suggested that indigenous tropical forest agnculture, in contrast with other agricultural systems, is characterized by a high degree of polyculture, and, being similar in diversity to the forest itself has little disturhing effect on the generalized ecosystem that surrounds native gardens. Our comparative study of four Central Brazilian Indian groups shows, however, that while each of these groups practices polyculture to some extent, the crop mix found in their swidden plots is highly patterned, and includes single crop stands at certain stages of garden life. Different crops are planted in the same swidden plot from year to year, in accordance with variation in soil fertility within the swidden cycle. None of the swiddens we observed compares in complexity to the surrounding forest. We suggest that polyculture, rather than heing regarded as the distinguishing characteristic of swidden cultivation, should be considered as a varying dimension - along with other variables such as use of wild plants, soil fertility and exhaustion, tillage practices, the introduction of novel crops, and production for the market-- within the overaíl subsistence strategy of a group.

1979 Subsistence Productivity and Hunting Effort in Native South America Human Ecology 7(4): 303-315 (main author).

• The question of why people work more or less at various activities is an old one in anthropology and recently has surfaced in studies of native South Ámerican societies. Growing out of debates about protien scarcity, arguments have arisen over the reasons why people spend time on hunting and fishing. Some authors suggest that labor allocation and other societal features can be explained with reference to absolute minimum requirements for speciflc nutrients (e.g. protein). This study presents data from four native Central Brazilian societies on the time spent at various subsistence tasks and the productivity of those tasks. The evidence suggests that decisions to allocate labor to hunting and fishing are influenced more by the overall possibilities for production in an area than by the availability of animal proteins alone. Satisfaction of calorie requirements appears to take precedence over satisfaction of protein requirements. In those societies in which gardening is highly productive, people can spend more time on hunting and fishing and improve the overall quality of their diet.

1979 Ecology and Acculturation among Native Peoples of Central Brazil Science 206(4422): 1043-1050 (co-author).

• Simple exposure to Western Goods may not be a sufficient explanation of why isolated village communities increase their participation in external market economies. The degree of market participation by four native villages in central Brazil is realted to the difficulty of making a living from slash-and-burn subsistence agriculture as measured by the ratio of labor input to food output.

1978 Trekking in the Amazon Forest. Natural History 87(9): 42-55.

• The Mekranoti go on month-long treks into the jungle, carrying agricultural produce along with them. The treks serve various ends -- the gathering of ceremonial tortoises, avoiding fights, or searching for some forest product. (article with many photos)