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| Title: | Maintaining a Life of Subsistence in the Bemba Village of Northeastern Zambia |
| Author: | Sugiyama, Yuko |
| Year: | 1987 |
| Periodical: | African Study Monographs: Supplementary Issue |
| Issue: | 6 |
| Pages: | 15-32 |
| Language: | English |
| Geographic term: | Zambia |
| Subjects: | Bemba subsistence economy Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups) |
| External link: | http://repository.kulib.kyoto-u.ac.jp/dspace/bitstream/2433/68345/1/ASM_S_6_15.pdf |
| Abstract: | Based on research carried out in different periods over the years 1983-1985, the author describes the 'traditional' life of subsistence in the Bemba village of Mulenga-Kapuri, northeastern Zambia, where the customary type of slash-and-burn cultivation called 'citemene' is still practised. People depend chiefly on self-sufficient subsistence strategies ('citemene', small-scale mound cultivation, hunting, gathering), in combination with cash-getting strategies (peddling, selling local beer). Both strategies are based on finger millet and in this sense, 'citemene' is the primary subsistence source. The basic unit of subsistence activities is the household. Within each household, there is a clear sexual division of labour and as a result, differences in household composition result in different outputs of subsistence activities, which may produce social disparity, for example between a widow's household and a household with a husband. However, the 'levelling mechanism' based on the social principle of sharing, works to balance the differences at the community level. Abstr., bibliogr., notes. |