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| Title: | The dietary repertory of the Ngandu people of the tropical rain forest: an ecological and anthropological study of the subsistence activities and food procurement technology of a slash-and-burn agriculturist in the Zaire river basin |
| Author: | Takeda, Jun |
| Year: | 1990 |
| Periodical: | African Study Monographs: Supplementary Issue |
| Issue: | 11 |
| Pages: | 1-75 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Congo (Democratic Republic of) |
| Subjects: | Ngandu (Democratic Republic of Congo) subsistence economy hunter-gatherers shifting cultivation hunting |
| External link: | http://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/68351/1/ASM_S_11_1.pdf |
| Abstract: | This paper describes food acquisition and consumption behaviour of the Ngandu, a Bantu people of slash-and-burn agriculturalists living in the Zaire basin. The study is based on food diaries of two male villagers recorded in 1975-1977. The Ngandu utilize predominantly the resources of the forest and are almost self-sufficient with respect to their dietary needs. The food plants consumed include cultivated plants, wild gathered plants and mushrooms. The animal foods consumed include mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and insects. The cultivation of cassava as the basic staple food is maintained by less labour-intensive efforts which make it easier for the Ngandu to engage in various other subsistence strategies such as hunting. They use elaborate hunting techniques which enable them to utilize a wide variety of animal foods. For this reason, they have not needed to develop symbiotic relationships with hunter-gatherers. Their self-sufficiency, which has been established by a thorough utilization of forest resources, has been of substantial importance both in the process of territorial expansion and in the stability of the forest habitation. Complicated food taboos which seem contradictory to a maximal utilization of resources are observed, and serve as socially regulating factors. Although such food restrictions may be a factor contributing to the reproduction of forest resources, the existence of the agriculturalists with their diversified subsistence strategies may lead to a shortage of forest resources. Bibliogr., notes. |