On the other hand, the situation of Guyanese Amerindians appears to be largely favourable relative to that of many of their neighbours, current circumstances and recent experiences appearing to better those of Amerindian peoples in Brazil and Venezuela [eg. Foster 1990, Cleary 1990, MacMillan 1995: 122-126]. They are also currently the subjects of an unprecedented volume of outside attention. Numerous foreign NGO's are currently operating projects in Amerindian communities, including Conservation International , Red Thread, Voluntary Service Overseas, Youth Challenge International and operation Raleigh. Guyana currently has no less than four separate Amerindian organisations - Guyana Organisation of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP), Amerindian People's Association (APA), the National Amerindian Council (NAC), and The Amerindian Action Movement of Guyana (TAAMOG). These organisation have arisen in recent years largely, apparently largely as a result of the growing sense of Amerindian identity in Guyana and throughout the Americas. Aside from the Wai-wai and a few scattered groups from other tribes, Guyanese Amerindians are conventionally thought to be highly acculturated. Though this concept, under its strict definition, refers to any process of cultural change resulting from prolonged contact between previously isolated cultures, it is more commonly used to refer to the assimilation by Western culture of tribal peoples, a process which tends to produce convergence among previously isolated societies [eg. Steward 1977]. The uncritical application of this latter sense is dubious, however, as it obscures the inherent and essential dynamism of cultural systems, as well as the fact that distinct societies tend to incorporate western culture in idiosyncratic ways2 . Despite having changed markedly over the last five centuries, Guyanese Amerindians seem to have largely retained their senses of tribal identity, as well as adopting a sense of unity as Amerindian peoples whose growing strength is reflected in the proliferation of interest groups referred to above.
Conservation interest in Guyana is a relatively new phenomenon, as it is only within the last decade that the country has been freely accessible to outsiders, but largely because there has, until recently, been very little pressure on the country's abundant natural resources. Economic stagnation under the Burnham regime led to the decline of the forestry and mining industries throughout the 1980's [Thomas 1993: 142, 146]. Coupled with the low population density in the interior, and consequent lack of agricultural pressure on land, this resulted in the country retaining almost all of its forest cover into the present decade. However, this situation has been changing since 1989, and the advent of economic liberalisation under a programme of structural adjustment promoted by the World Bank and IMF [Colchester 1994: 45]. A pressing need for new sources of revenue and foreign exchange has led attention to be turned to the vast natural resources of the interior. It is estimated that over 80% of previously unexploited state-held forests have been alienated in Timber Sales Agreements since 1985, mainly to foreign companies [Forte 1995b: 4]. International concern over the future of Guyana's forests was by 1995 sufficient to provoke the World Bank and Britain's Overseas Development Administration into expressing concern over the matter to the Guyanese government, and the ODA to make the granting of a loan for the strengthening of Guyana's forest department conditional upon a three-year moratorium on the handing-out of new logging concessions [Colchester 1997: 113-4]. Recently, however, several foreign timber companies have been granted 'exploratory leases', agreements based upon recently-introduced legislation according to which companies may prospect an area as a precursor to the possible future commencement of logging. The areas involved greatly extend the area of state forest (that over which the Guyana Forestry Commission has legal control), a matter of grave concern to environmental and human rights groups [eg. GHRA 1997], despite governmental assurances that environmental protection, sustainability and human rights will key factors in the operation of any concessions eventually given [Chandarpal 1997]. It has been suggested that, for a number of reasons, the economic benefits to Guyana from such rampant expansion of the timber industry are likely to be slight, and the potential environmental and social costs great [Colchester 1993]. Guyana's relatively late entrance into the global economy has provided a great opportunity to learn from the mistakes that have been made in other South American nations. For example, 10% of forests in Brazilian Amazonia have been cleared in the last 20 years, at a total investment cost of 15 billion dollars, but the overall effect on human welfare has been a decidedly negative one [Moran 1993: 159-160]. Evidence from this and other cases highlight the inappropriateness of the conventional development paradigm for the situation of countries such as Guyana; the need for attention to be turned to the exploration of alternatives which would allow the need for long-term conservation of natural resources, and their exploitation for much-needed economic development that would benefit the whole of Guyana's population, to be reconciled is pressing [Sizer 1996].
Several historical texts have provided useful background information. Vere Trevalyn Daly's [1975] textbook covers the entire period from first European contact to the time of publication, and has been the most useful general historical text. Texts focussing on particular periods include Spinner's [1984] work on the mid to late 20th. century. The early colonial period is covered by a historical work of Thompson [1987], who focuses mainly on colonial issues during the time of Dutch occupation, 1580-1803, but incorporates such historical information on Amerindians at the time as is available. Guyanese historian Mary Noel Menezes has worked extensively on the situation of Amerindians during the 19th. century, though her work is also largely concerned with their relationships with the colonial regime [Menezes 1979].
Contemporary accounts of some ethnographic value began to emerge from diverse sources during the period covered by Menezes, and provide a useful complement to her work. Among the earliest of these are Robert Schomburgk's accounts of his extensive exploratory journeys [Schomburgk 1922, 1923]. These include numerous anthropological observations, the majority on the Macusi people with whom he spent the most time but covering several tribes, along with a wealth of information on natural history, and are refreshingly devoid of the ethnocentric arrogance typical of the age. This is not the case with William Brett's account of his missionary labours amongst numerous tribes [Brett 1868], although he also recorded information of significant ethnographic value, nor with the work of reputed champion of Amerindian causes William Hillhouse [Hillhouse 1979]. Everard Im Thurn's account of his anthropological expeditions into the interior is the earliest piece of writing of which I am aware which is based on specifically anthropological research; the writer's botanical inclinations make this, like Schomburgk's work, particularly useful in providing early documentation of human exploitation of wild species [Im Thurn 1883]. None of these are ethnographies in the modern sense, and all are highly prone to make unfounded generalisations across, and even among, tribes. Nonetheless, they are invaluable and unique records of life among Guyanese Amerindian people whose lifestyles had not yet undergone radical change in response to European contact. More comprehensive and in-depth studies were undertaken in the early decades of the twentieth century - the tireless efforts of Walter Roth resulted in the production of an epic account of Amerindian material culture [Roth 1924, 1929], and a large anthropological expedition of several years duration was conducted by the University of Pennsylvania [Farabee 1918, 1924]. These lack the rigour of modern ethnography - they are pre-Malinowskian in method (Farabee apparently relied largely on interviews with a small number of informants) and include little in the way of quantitative ethnographic data - but nonetheless remain of relevance in the present day.
Modern-day ethnographic study in Guyana began with Gillin's 6-month study of the Barama river Caribs [Gillin 1936], and continued with Iris Myers' wartime work on culture contact among the Macusi [Myers 1944], and later Audrey Butt's 2-year doctoral study of the Akawaio [Butt 1954]. The bias towards study of the Carib-speaking tribes continued in subsequent years, particularly after the establishment of missionaries in Wai-Wai country facilitated access by anthropologists to the last remaining Guyanese tribe living according to their traditional pattern. Two Wai-Wai studies quickly followed [Fock 1963, Yde 1965], and in the late seventies George Mentore conducted a comprehensive, largely structuralist analysis of Wai-Wai social organisation, producing several papers of interest in the present study [Mentore 1983-4, 1995]. The Wai-Wai remain the best-studied of Guyana's Amerindian tribes, but the country as a whole remained largely underattended, aside from Kathleen Adams' follow-up to Gillin's Carib research [Adams 1981]. This is reflected in the small amount of Guyanese data incorporated into several summary works which appeared over a short space of time. A compendium of research on Carib tribes included a little Guyana information [Basso 1977], as did a volume of Antropologica dedicated to Guianese Carib tribes, concluded and summarised by Butt-Colson [1984], and Peter Riviere's synthesis of the ethnography of the Guianas [Riviere 1984]. The Arawak tribes were even less well-attended, and remained barely studied throughout the Guianas as a whole. Two doctoral research projects focused on ethnicity and relations with broader Guyanese society among coastal Arawaks (Lokono) and 'true' Caribs on the Pomeroon river [Drummond 1977] and in the mixed Arawak-Warrau communities of the Correntyne [Sanders 1987]. These are of little direct relevance to the current project, particularly Sanders' monograph, a particularly poor example of Geertzian interpretivism, and condemned in the study community for its inaccurate portrayal of life there. More recently, Gloria Tang has produced a doctoral thesis concerning development in Region 9 of Guyana, based largely upon research conducted in the large Wapishana village of Aishalton [Tang 1995]. On the basis of extended interviews with Aishalton residents on their perception of and attitudes towards development, and case studies of two specific development initiatives in the area, she criticised the application of top-down development in the region. Despite the presence of a broad natural resource base, development projects in the area had floundered due to the lack of consultation with and participation of the local people, and deficiencies in the local infrastructure. She advocated the implementation of a bottom-up development strategy based on local natural resources, combining community-based initiatives with appropriate centrally-implemented schemes to improve infrastructure and enhance the functioning of the regional administration. The former point is a key feature of the present project, which aims to investigate the use of natural resources from an indigenous perspective with a view to assessing the potential for making this the basis of projects in community-based sustainable development.
The recent upsurge of academic interest in Guyana's Amerindians has occurred largely under the direction of the University of Guyana's Amerindian Research Unit, which began life as a purely linguistic project but now operates with a vastly broader remit. The ARU's own publications are the most important sources of recent information, most pertinent of which are a report on Wapishana material culture [ARU 1993], and background papers on various aspects of the Amerindian situation [Forte 1993, 1995a, 1995b]. Other relevant ARU material includes a survey of the status of Amerindian women and children [ARU 1993], a collection of papers concerning Amerindian use of forest resources [ARU 1995], and ongoing demographic studies in Amerindian communities throughout Guyana [Forte 1990a]. There has also been a relative proliferation of new publications concerning development issues in the country, including a summary of a government-sponsored investigation into how economic exploitation of forest resources may be reconciled with the need for conservation [Sizer 1996]. A recent book by Marcus Colchester is concerned with the issues surrounding development in Guyana's interior [Colchester 1997]; despite being less than objective in certain respects, this is of great use as the most up-to-date summary of the threats faced by the country's indigenous peoples. More balanced is a recent collection of papers, mostly by Guyanese writers, on development and land use in both coast and interior [Williams et al 1997], whose contrast in approach makes it complement Colchester's work well.
The literature on the Brazilian state of Roraima is very sparse, but includes a few items which are informative about the situation of Amerindians there, and of relevance to the present study. Most notable of these in the present context is Nancy Fried Foster's doctoral dissertation on Brazilian Wapishana identity [Foster 1990], which deals largely with relationships with Brazilian society, and includes more ethnographic information than the author gives herself credit for, although very little of this is quantitative. Peter Riviere's [1972] ethnography of Roraimense cattle ranchers includes some information on the position of acculturated Amerindians within the unique social system of the state; although the pace of change in Roraima over the thirty years since his study means it has dated rather rapidly, it is perhaps not unreasonable to suppose that many of the attitudes and perceptions governing interracial relationships still endure. A recent volume of papers on Roraima [Furley 1995] provides much-needed background information, some of which is relevant to the Rupununi; one chapter in this documents the history of Amerindian-settler relations, and updates Riviere's coverage of this somewhat {Hemming 1995].
The modern settlement pattern tends to consist of clusters of related households, often separated from others within the same legally demarcated village by several miles [ARU 1992: 4, Foster 1990: 129]. Riviere observed shelters in the forest close to the farms sufficiently substantial to suggest some duration of settlement there [Riviere 1984: 24]. This is confirmed by the finding that Wapishana in both Brazil and Guyana usually have a second - or in some cases sole - dwelling near the farm [Foster 1990: 130, Tang 1995: 29]. Polygamy is reported to have been practiced [eg. Im Thurn 1883: 223], but at a low frequency compared with other tribes [Schomburgk 1923: 32]; it is unlikely the practice continues, as it is not mentioned in any of the more recent texts. Agriculture continues to be the major subsistence activity, and is concerned mainly with numerous varieties of cassava; yams, sweet potatoes, rice, eddoes, dasheen, sugar cane, corn, peppers, pumpkin, banana, watermelon, papaya, pineapple and mango are also grown [ARU 1992: 6-7]. Foster reports that much agricultural labour is performed collectively. Clearance of fields is performed by all-male work parties assembled by household heads via the provision of kari, a drink with apparently invigorating qualities produced by the fermentation of cassava, and usually a meal at the end of the working day. The process is repeated several weeks later following burning. Both men and women participate in subsequent tasks such as planting, which is finished by the start of the rains in late May/early June, and the farm is productive by September [Foster 1990: 158-161]. Hunting, fishing, gathering forest foods, and rearing livestock are the other important subsistence occupations [ARU 1992: 7-13]. Foster observed men going out to hunt or fish every 2-3 days, with variable success depending upon the local population density and proximity to non-Indian settlements. It is possible that the frequency of hunting was greater in the past - Schomburgk [1923: 32] makes mention of the abundance of hunting trophies, and of dogs, in the Wapishana settlements he visited. Schomburgk also identifies many of the species of plant foods collected by Amerindians in the South Rupununi. Some of his observations were of his Macusi guides, but it is unlikely that the food sources they used would be ignored by Wapishana. These include the use of the fruits of Eugenia cauliflora , Psidium turbiniflorum , and P. pomiferum for making drinks, and the consumption of the berries of a species of Malphigia [ibid: 7-12]. The fruits of Melicocca bijuga, Genipa marianae, and G. edulis were reported to be collected and eaten specifically by Wapishana [ibid: 36], along with those of Maximilia regia [ibid: 53]. Recent declines in these activities may have been enforced in some areas - the depletion of wild plant and animal resources by settler activity was condemned in the Brazilian villages of Baxio and Medio within the context of a clear ethic of conservation and sustainability [Foster 1990: 163-166]. It is hoped that the present study will provide a more substantial picture of the ecological relations of Wapishana subsistence, and some information on the social context in which they operate.
Im Thurn described Wapishana, Atorai and Amaripa as being highly active in inter-tribal trading - including salt collected from natural sources in the area and cassava graters manufactured by the Wai-Wai - and general intermediation. He accorded them further distinction as the great canoe-builders among the interior tribes, and also by the use of farine rather than cassava bread [Im Thurn 1883: 169, 263, 265, Farabee 1918: 21]. The Taruma were reported to be the best breeders of hunting dogs, hybrids of domestic dogs introduced by the Spanish and either or both of the indigenous species of canid [ibid.: 232].
The negative consequences of involvement in the cash economy aside, the Rupununi ranching industry has since its establishment provided employment, and more recently a means of independent livelihood, for Wapishana people. Despite the massive decline of the industry following the Rupununi uprising in early 1969, it continues to exert a profound effect on their lives. Cattle are reported to be kept in every Wapishana village, and a few individuals have set up as independent ranchers. The most enduring influence has been the ongoing conflict with the Rupununi Development Company, whose massive land holdings in the south-central savannas literally fenced in several Wapishana communities. For many years, the latter expressed resentment concerning the inadequacy of their own titled lands in providing sufficient grazing for their herds [ARU 1992: 14-18]. The decline of the RDC herd eventually led it to submit to requests to hand over some of its land holdings to South Rupununi communities, although the same has not occurred in the northern savanna [Colchester 1997: 48-9].
As in many other areas of Guyana, mining is an issue which is increasingly affecting the Amerindian people of the south Rupununi. Many young Wapishana men leave their native area in order to work as divers in mining operations in other parts of the country. Others are involved in prospecting locally, particularly in the gold-rich areas of Marudi and Bat mountains, to the south of Aishalton. In 1990 there were reported to be extensive camps of miners in these areas, dominated numerically by coastal Guyanese but also including significant numbers of Amerindian people. This had visible detrimental effects upon the lives of local people, in terms of rising food prices, long-term absenteeism of male heads of households, and the consequent neglect of farming activities [ARU 1992: 29]. The situation is likely to have deteriorated since this study, as incursions by Brazilian garimpeiros into the Marudi and Kanuku areas is reported to have increased following clampdowns by the Roraimense authorities against illegal mining activities [Forte 1997: 73]. More recently, a company called Romanex (Guyana) Exploration has begun development of a 50 square mile concession in the area, setting up an operation they themselves compare to the notorious OMAI gold mine. This will entail the construction of a feeder road connecting the area with the recently completed Georgetown-Boa Vista highway at Lethem, the consequences of which are hard to predict [Colchester 1997: 89]. Generally, the impact of expansion in the mining sector has rarely been beneficial for local Amerindian communities. The best studied Guyanese example is the Upper Mazaruni, where the observed effects include increased economic stratification, extensive environmental damage including pollution of water supplies, nutritional decline resulting from the neglect of subsistence activities and the consumption patterns associated with mining culture, and social impacts as young men and women become increasingly involved in the mining business, including the breakdown of traditional family systems and an increase in schoolgirl pregnancy [Forte 1997: 77-81].
Foster's presentation of Wapishana as bereft of "culture" is of course misleading, and although the modifying influences of Guyanese, and especially Brazilian society have been huge, even in Brazil some aspects of Wapishana tradition remain. Although Portugese kinship referents are used, for example, their meanings are distorted so that 'aunt' and 'mother-in-law' are synonymous, reflecting the ideal of cross-cousin marriage [Foster 1990: 146-7]. Foster also reports that the division of labour and responsibility according to sex and gender is retained in theory, and largely in practise, although it is not carried over into the wage labour market [ibid.: 150-4]. Belief in kanaima remains widespread, and indeed a survey as recently as 1986 found over half of all deaths were still attributed to this agency [ibid.: 172]. As is normally the case, kanaima killings are attributed to outsiders - interestingly, these included Guyanese Wapishana as well as members of different tribes, suggesting nationality to have become an important aspect of identity [ibid.: 139].
The major general difference between the situations of Guyanese and Brazilian Wapishana is with respect to land rights. As in Guyana, Amerindian villages - known there as malocas - are state-designated administrative units. However, there is nothing corresponding to the reservation system and villages are isolated from each other, located on small pockets of land separated by settler-owned territories from which Amerindian people are generally excluded. The villages are not demarcated, and Amerindian protection is regulated by the highly ambiguous Indian Statute [Foster 1990: 127-129], which provides little scope for combating illegal encroachment by ranchers onto village lands [ibid.: 164-5]. The extent of the latter problem on occasion borders on to the ludicrous - such as the occupation of the very centre of the village of Baixo by the ranch of a squatter, tolerated by FUNAI despite its illegality - and there is great support for land demarcation, despite the fixing of boundaries that this would entail [ibid.: 132-3]. The absence of available land prevents the establishment of new settlements, thus eliminating the traditional means of resolving disputes - irreconcilable conflicts generally result in one party moving to another maloca or to Boa Vista [ibid.: 135-8]. Foster views social relationships in Roraima as having crossed a threshold sometime around the 1950's, beyond which interactions between non co-resident Amerindians came about largely as an incidental consequence of relationships between Amerindians and Brazilians, such as employment relationships [ibid.: 86, 122-4].
Tang has criticised the top-down approach to development in region 9, asserting that the absence of Amerindian involvement in the planning and decision-making process observed in her specific case study reflected general weaknesses typical of development projects, both in Guyana and generally [Tang 1995: 29, 42-44].
Ellen's work has also provided important methodological information. Ellen emphasises the importance of not allowing one's research methods to constrain the results which might be obtained in studies of ethnoclassification [Ellen 1986: 87-89]. Berlin's methods are a classic example of how this occurs [eg. Berlin et al 1974: 56-8], and the quality of his above-mentioned analysis testimony to Ellen's criticism of such an approach. Also of great use is Gary Martin's book dedicated exclusively to ethnobiological methodology [Martin 1995], the only one of its kind, which is appropriately broad in scope and down-to-earth, if at times a little idealistic. Methods of investigating perceptions of ecological zonation are derived from research into classifications of soil types [Johnson 1974]. The only study of which I am aware which deals with indigenous perceptions of the ecology of particular animal species is a piece of ethnoprimatological research. Simple questions on the behavioural ecology of local primate species were put to a single Colombian Indian collaborator and compared with the published literature; the two were found to be in almost total agreement [Townsend 1995].
A second current has attempted to employ models derived from behavioural ecology, notably optimal foraging theory (OFT), to the study of human ecology in Amazonia. Models derived from OFT have been used fairly successfully in trying to account for data on, amongst others, the hunting behaviour of the Siona-Secoya of Ecuador and Yanomamö and Ye'kawana of Venezuela [Hames & Vickers 1982], and the hunting and gathering of the Aché of eastern Paraguay [Hawkes et al 1982]. Both of these studies concentrate only on energetic costs and benefits and as such could be accused of exhibiting the 'calorific obsession' common to many areas of ecological anthropology. In a similar vein was Behren's [1981] application of a linear programming model to data on time allocation to hunting and fishing among the Shipibo of Peru, an improvement on the aforementioned studies in that it also took protein intake into account. Sponsel [1986: 83] points out the need to consider the full range of nutritional requirements in such studies - a point of which the above researchers are undoubtedly aware but which is beyond the logistical means of majority of anthropological studies - in continuing the general trend towards improved theoretical sophistication in studies of human ecology. In addition, it is worth noting that subsistence is not the only important component of human survival - the Machiguenga of the Peruvian Amazon, for example, are reported to abandon settlements in response to a scarcity of firewood [Johnson 1982: 415-6]. Furthermore, evolutionary models are not concerned with survival but with lifetime reproductive success - to return to the Aché, it is reported that successful hunters are more frequently involved in extra-marital affairs, a factor which in the evolutionary context probably outweighs purely nutritional considerations [Hawkes et al 1982]. The evolutionary naivete of the application of these models to human situations is more fundamental, however. OFT assumes that the foraging behaviour of the subject of investigation is genetically based and has evolved so as to maximise its inclusive fitness [Hamilton 1964] within existing constraints. In the absence of any adequate heuristic theory of cultural evolution and consequently of the evolution of human behaviour, the application of OFT to human situations has no theoretical basis. Connections between the quantities being measured and their evolutionary consequences are not adequately explored, even to the extent of specifying whether the entity being reproduced is the individual, a cultural trait or traits, or the social group. Adaptation takes different, possibly contradictory, forms at each of these levels - Carneiro [1982] observed that many Amazonian people will express a 'need' for meat even if their physiological requirements for protein are abundantly satisfied. This ignores the possibility that the need reflects a deficiency in some other nutrient supplied by meat, but the point is that cultural factors unrelated to physiology may affect the dietary needs of humans, and hence the nature of their adaptation to their environment. The future development of OFT approaches to human ecology needs to be closely allied to the search for evolutionary theories of culture, and the construction of models of foraging behaviour integrated with the development of models of cultural evolution such as that of Durham [1982]. The other major flaw in these studies is their tendency to be componential, focusing on a single subsistence activity in isolation, an approach which can lead to analytical problems. Bari hunting and fishing behaviour, for example, can be seen to fit the predictions of OFT models only if the two are considered simultaneously, as complementary parts of an integrated foraging strategy. So long as progress continues to be made in overcoming these current limitations, the potential contribution of OFT to the study of human ecology may be vast.
Both the limiting factor and optimal foraging approaches have been criticised by William Balée for ignoring the dialectical aspects of the relationship between culture and environment, the analytical distinction between which should be rejected if Amazonian cultural ecology is to be properly understood [Balée 1989: 2]. He presents evidence to suggest a minimum of 11.8% of 'natural' Amazonian forests to have been modified by prior human activity, which has had the effect of increasing the abundance of economically important plants such as Brazil nut (Bertholletia excelsa) and numerous species of palms. A case study of two Amerindian groups resident in an area containing a high proportion of such anthropogenic forests, the Araweté and Asurini of the Upper Xingu, shows them to rely extensively on anthropically enriched terra preta soils and on numerous tree species found most abundantly in forests disturbed by prior human activity [ibid.: 6-14]. Also in the Xingu basin, the foraging Guajá tribe are highly dependent on plant resources produced largely as an incidental by-product of the activities of the ancestors of their agriculturalist neighbours (and one-time mortal enemies), the Ka'apor [Balée 1993]. The Kayapó of the campo cerrado of central Brazil extensively manipulate their scrub-savanna habitat by inducing the formation of bush islands (apêtê) , almost the entire floristic composition of which consist of plants for which they have some practical application [Anderson & Posey 1989]. I have already made reference to the increase in game abundance that occurs in the vicinity of 'old' (and of actively cultivated) swiddens. In one of the few fully quantitative, contemporaneous studies of this, it was found that the amount of the fresh game entering a Ka'apor village that had been caught in or near swiddens was disproportionate relative to the amount of time spent hunting there [Balée & Gély 1989: 137]. Phillipe Descola, coming from a vastly different, less empiricist perspective than Balée, also argues for the rejection of the culture/environment dichotomy; his study of the Achuar of the Ecuadorian Amazon portrays their interactions with their environment as a process of socialisation of nature [Descola 1994]. His work is also a reminder of the need to consider human ecology in a much broader context than the techniques used to study the ecology of non-human species can provide. One major determinant of differences in ecological relations, and numerous other features of society, that existed among the different Achuar groups and the other Jivaro peoples in the area, for example, was the duration and nature of missionary contact, which is a demonstration of how different societies occupying ecologically identical habitats can manifest radical cultural and social differences as a result of historical factors without any relation whatsoever to the local ecology [ibid.: 20-35]. Audrey Butt's comparison of three tropical forest peoples in the Guianas makes a similar point. The differences in social organisation and ecological relations between the Waiyana Indians and the Boni, both resident on the Upper Maroni river, she attributes to historical factors, specifically the retention by the latter of the systems of land use employed by their ancestors in the forests of West Africa, adapted to reflect the differences between the two habitats [Butt 1970].
The nineties have seen an increasing focus on the practical and applied dimensions of Amazonian human ecology, and in particular an increased interest in the potential for the development of extractive industries. The sustainable harvesting of non-timber forest products such as fruits and nuts [Clement 1993], palm products [Kahn 1993] can form part of a multi-faceted production system which reconciles use of the forest as an economic resource with the long-term maintenance of biodiversity and ecological functions [Lescure & Pinton 1993, Clement 1993: 140]. Interest in this approach also stems from the fact that such industries would necessarily be based largely upon indigenous knowledge of the properties of the local biota [eg. Posey et al 1984] and, indeed, often depend upon the very floral resources now recognised to be the products of past human activities [Balée 1989]. The economic importance of extractivism is already vast - it was estimated in 1982 to employ 1.5 million people in the Brazilian Amazon alone, producing an annual income of around 100 million dollars [Anderson & Ioris 1992: 178]. The island of Combu, in the Guamá river near Belém, supports over 600 people at a population density of 43 per km2, 92% of which rely on extractive industries for the majority of their income [ibid.: 184-5]. The economic viability of extractivism compared to alternative land uses - specifically permanent agriculture and livestock raising - has been investigated by Susanna Hecht. She found that, although the alternatives were more lucrative over a single short-term cycle of 10-15 years, if the cost of land degradation was incorporated into her models extractivism was the only economically viable option. In other words, the potential for sustainable practice makes extractivism a more economically sound long-term management option than the alternatives [Hecht 1992]. The concept of the extractive reserve has its social and political roots in the rubber-tapping industry of the Brazilian Amazon; the concept has proved politically acceptable there, where numerous such reserves now exist, and is being widely adopted in conservation and development circles elsewhere. The Siona and Secoya of Ecuador are successfully adapting to the economic realities of modern times, along lines firmly based in their own culture and traditional activities, by the use of a system of resource exploitation in which extractivism is a major and vital part [Vickers 1993]. Maya people resident in the Uaxactún-Carmelita multiple-use reserve in the Petén of northern Guatemala benefit financially from an management regime based upon the extraction of palm leaves (Chamadorea oblongata and C. elegans), allspice (Pimenta dioica and P. officinalis) , and chicle gum, in combination with nature/archaeology tourism [Nations 1992]. The use of faunal resources has been largely underattended in the literature, despite its nutritional importance in subsistence economies [Redford 1993: 227]. One collection of papers which deals with this [Robinson & Redford 1991] includes several of relevance to Guyanese fauna. The incorporation of hunting and trapping into sustainable forestry programmes is not straightforward however, requiring a great deal of background data on the population dynamics and carrying capacities of the species concerned [Feer 1993: 692-699], and careful attention to the social and ecological effects [Redford 1993: 243-4]. The present study will provide a much-needed addition to this small body of literature, and will furthermore be the first to consider human use of forest fauna within a framework which links ethnobiology and human ecology in a fashion explicitly geared towards the investigation of resource management issues.
The detailed reasons given by Trexler for CITES' lack of effectiveness as an item of conservation policy are relevant here in so far as they illuminate the Guyana situation. He points out that since the year 1600, the importance of live trade as a cause of extinction in all four classes of tetrapod has been minimal. Furthermore, the numbers of individuals involved in international trade are generally small compared with those removed from the wild for subsistence or domestic live trade, and that the effects of these factors are difficult to separate. The conservation impact of the international wildlife trade is small compared with that of habitat loss and degradation - in fact only a small proportion of it affects endangered species, and is therefore of conservation relevance - but its glamour and the possibility of control have led to it being the focus of an inordinate amount of attention [Trexler 1990: 4-15]. Although there is some truth in these arguments, they are also naive in many respects. The current wave of anthropogenic extinction lacks any precedent, making inference from historical trends of dubious relevance. In addition, there are interactive effects between species depopulation and habitat degradation. Firstly, the depletion of local populations of species with important roles in the ecosystem, such as in dispersal or pollination of plant species, can itself be a component of habitat degradation, and it is therefore incorrect to assume that this is of conservation importance only when it directly threatens the wild populations of harvested species [Mulliken et al 1992: 9-11]. Second, extensive loss or degradation of a species' habitat can increase the vulnerability of the remaining population to significant depletion by live capture, as is becoming true for many species of psittacines in the neotropics [Collar & Juniper 1992: 12-13].
Literature on the wildlife trade in Guyana is minimal - a brief report on the trade in live birds was published by TRAFFIC international in 1992 [Edwards 1992], but there has been no independent study of the situation since, and it is unlikely to have been unaffected by the radical economic and social changes the country has undergone since that time. Guyana became a CITES signatory in 1977 [ibid.: 77]; legislation concerning the wildlife trade currently takes the form of the third revision of the 1987 wildlife regulations, dated June 10 1995, and concerned with both the conservation of wild species and the welfare of individual animals involved in the trade. The most significant element of this from the conservation perspective is the quota system - since 1987 national export quotas have been set for all species which can be legally exported from Guyana. The levels of these quotas were set in the absence of any baseline population data at conservative levels assumed to be below those at which wild populations might begin to be threatened; many of these have since been revised downwards under advice from the CITES secretariat [ibid.: 80]. It has been suggested that the scientific naivete of these figures might mean they exceed sustainable harvesting levels [Thomsen & Mulliken 1992: 229]. On the other hand, it is reported that exporters were generally of the opinion that the size of wild populations is sufficient that the export quotas were in fact unnecessary, especially since only around 10% of the available habitat is exploited in this way and a vast reservoir of habitat therefore available for repopulation [Edwards 1992: 79]; however local depopulation is obviously a possibility. Although it is not unlikely that the legal international trade is within the limits of sustainability on a national level, it is quite possible that there may nevertheless be declines in local populations. Furthermore, the regulated trade may be only a small proportion of the total catch of live animals; the magnitude of the domestic trade is unknown, (but assumed to be substantial due to the popularity of keeping pets, especially birds and monkeys) [ibid.: 84], as is that of illegal export across the land borders to Brazil, Venezuela and Suriname.
The economic importance of the wildlife trade in Guyana in 1992 was estimated by Mrs. Reece of the Guyana Wildlife Exporters Association. She calculated that the industry involved 16 exporters employing a total of 430 people, and around 7540 trappers and domestic traders, meaning that around 50,000 people (including the families of all those involved in the trade) receive some form of direct financial benefit from the trade, along with an estimated 2,000 who benefit financially from the provision of goods or services to those directly involved. Amerindians comprise around 75% of these people, and the vast majority of trappers are Amerindian men, who may operate individually or as part of a village cooperative [Edwards 1992: 82-83]. It is notable that this is an economic activity based upon exploitation of natural resources via the application of local knowledge of the biology and behaviour of the animals involved. The most conspicuous component of the trade involves birds, mostly of the order Psittaciformes (parrots, macaws and relatives), but also including several species of toucans and other taxa. In terms of quota sizes, birds are actually outnumbered by reptiles, several species of which are exported in numbers of 10,000 or more per annum. A small number of species of amphibian are exported, and small quotas exist for several species of mammal [P.E. Williams, pers. comm. 1997]. The export of numerous species is totally banned, including all native CITES-listed species [IUCN 1996], and it seems unlikely that any native Guyanese species is threatened with extinction by capture for the live export market.
The above question is broad and vague, and in order to design a methodology that can answer it, it must be deconstructed into simpler, specific questions :
1) a) What are the most important conservation issues nationally ?
b) What are the most important conservation issues locally ?
c) How do the answers to these questions differ among different interest groups ?
These will be addressed by means of structured interviews with people from the following groups :
A) Academics, civil servants, staff of NGOs, politicians, and any other appropriate figures within Georgetown. These will take place as and when the opportunity arises during any time the researcher should spend in the city.
B) Key figures locally in a number of villages - especially captains, council members, teachers, health workers. These will take place as part of the initial surveys in which a suitable study site will be sought.
C) As large and representative a sample as is possible from the host village. The exact interview schedule is likely to differ between each of these groups, reflecting the different levels of knowledge of local- and national-level conservation. However, enough correspondence between them will be retained to allow some direct comparison to be made.
2) What are the local perceptions of the importance of different forest species, in economic, conservational, symbolic and aesthetic terms ?
This question will be addressed by extension of the interviews to be performed with groups B and C in (1), to include questions such as 'what kinds of plant and animal are most important to you, and why ?' and 'what kinds of plant and animal are most important to the forest, and why ?'.
3) What information is conventionally regarded as necessary for the management and sustainable exploitation of populations of these species, according to ecological theory ?
Reference to published literature - eg. Robinson & Redford [1991] and others cited above as appropriate, IUCN publications re. protected area management, protected area management plans concerning these species or their ecologically similar, close relatives.
4) a)How much biological data is available on these species ?
b)To what extent does the available data, in theory, satisfy the demands identified in (2) ?
Review of literature, direct contact with researchers at relevant institutions.
5) a)What is the extent of local knowledge regarding the behaviour and ecology of these species ?
b)To what extent can this satisfy the demands identified in (2) ?
Prompted elicitation of ethnoecological knowledge with key collaborators, both in village and field.
6) a)To what extent are the bodies of data used in (4) and (5) consistent, and to what extent contradictory ?
b)Assuming contradictions exist, are any patterns identifiable either within or between species ?
Direct comparison of 2 data sets.
It may be possible to use computer modelling, or database operations, to create
indices of correspondence or some other quantitative means of comparison.
7) If the contradictions identified in (6) are amenable to empirical
investigation -
How are the contradictions between the two bodies of data resolved by empirical
research ?
Empirical ecological research with Amerindian researchers, concentrating on areas of contradiction relevant to local resource management needs.
The exact schedule of work at this stage should be determined in discussion with relevant institutions in Guyana, particularly the Ministry of Amerindian Affairs, in order to obtain information suitable to their activities and needs. Provisionally, it is hoped to survey opinion and knowledge about conservation issues locally, nationally, and globally, and perceived needs and wishes in the use and management of natural resources. A combination of interviews with key figures in the communities - toushau, councillors, schoolteachers, community health workers, and any other individuals the above might suggest - and open fora will be used to achieve this. A participatory method along these lines for introducing proposals for new projects has been developed specifically for use in Guyanese Amerindian communities [Shook 1995], many of whose methods have relevance to the current situation. It is also hoped that interviews with a certain degree of overlap in content with the above might be performed with members of various groups in Georgetown and Lethem - including academics, politicians, civil servants and NGO staff - as opportunity might arise on occasions when the researcher is in these places.
Given the vagaries of travel in the Rupununi, the exact duration of this is hard to predict - 6 to 8 weeks would probably be a realistic period of time to allocate. It would be appropriate to contact the relevant toushaus by post in advance, as well as the regional administration in Lethem, in order to inform them of these plans and request permission to visit the communities.
The research goals and methodologies for this phase of study can be determined by reference to a number of criteria. Most important from the Guyanese perspective is the work of the ARU on village sizes, composition and demography - by consultation with them it should be feasible to modify the questionnaire design so as to produce information that will be useful to this ongoing research programme. Also relevant is a study sponsored by Demerara Timbers Limited of the situation of the community of great falls [Fox & Danns 1993], in which basic information sheets largely compatible with the aims of the present study were designed and used. Tang conducted interviews with Aishalton residents on attitudes towards development [Tang 1995: 68-70]; replacing the term 'development' with 'conservation' would make the questions she asked fairly appropriate to the present study. APFT's own research guidelines also provide suggestions as to the areas that this phase of the study should focus upon [Kocher-Schmidt et al , n.d.].
It is proposed to conduct semi-structured interviews as widely as possible within the host village to obtain information on the following : Population, demographic structure, kinship ties, residence patterns, educational and employment background, linguistic competence, income, relationships with other communities (Amerindian & non-Amerindian).
Importance of forest resources - economic and otherwise.
Perception of conservation - awareness of issues, knowledge and understanding of terms. Assessment of local conservation situation, knowledge of national and international situation and their relationships to the local. This will overlap to a large extent with the interviews conducted in section 3.2.1, in order to provide comparable data sets.
Knowledge and perception of relevant organisations, institutions and programmes. Although the exact period of time dedicated to these activities depends on the size of the survey population, the enthusiasm with which people participate, and the time dedicated to other activities, it may be expected to be the major activity for 8 to 10 weeks. Further collection of data by observation and questioning will occur throughout the study period, as and when opportunities arise.
The ethnoecological studies will have two main dimensions - local perceptions of ecological zonation and spatial differentiation of biotopes and local knowledge of the autoecology of native species, focussing on animal species of economic (commercial or subsistence) importance. The former will use methods based upon Johnson [1974], who investigated categorisation and investigation of soil types using questions that may be simply modified for the present purposes. Maps will also be used at this stage: both asking collaborators to draw their own maps of the local area, and to annotate whatever maps of the area may be available, should be informative at this stage. The latter component of this will involve direct, open-ended questioning on the habits, diet and behaviour of the focal species [following Townsend 1995]. One problem with this approach is that the structure of the questions used inevitably reflects preconceived notions of the investigator stemming from his education in the scientific tradition, and there is a danger of forcing the results into the theoretical framework underlying the questions. A way round this might be to ask literate collaborators to write their knowledge down ad libitum prior to engaging in the formal interview situation. Potential collaborators whose activities mean they have extensive contact with forest wildlife, will be identified in the initial village-wide ethnographic surveys, and asked if they would be interested in participating in these further studies. The focal species with which this stage of the study will be mostly concerned will be those identified by interviewees as important to them, and of which they themselves profess to knowledge. It is hoped that more extensive field-based studies will be conducted with the same collaborators at later stages in the project.
These field trips will commence as soon as is possible, given the need for a certain amount of prior research and the dependence on the itineraries of the local participants. They should continue certainly throughout the first stage of research, and probably into the second, in order that any seasonal variation be documented. The evident danger in this is that the presence of the investigator will distort the normal pattern of activities, if participants should modify their schedule in order to accommodate his wishes or obtain renumeration for their assistance. It is hoped to be as unobtrusive as possible and not compromise people's prior plans in the early stages - in this situation substantial renumeration will not be appropriate, and it is anticipated that there will be little problem in communicating a desire to observe a 'natural' pattern. As time passes, it is anticipated that collaborators will develop sufficient appreciation of the goals of the investigation to allow explicit steps to be taken to avoid this problem in discussion with them. By this stage it should prove feasible to combine study of hunting and trapping with extensive field-based ethnoecological interviews using phenomena directly observed as stimuli to discussion. Prior to this, opportunities to record such data will be taken opportunistically, but it is expected that in a field situation these should arise with a reasonable frequency.
It is also hoped to find the time to follow the fate of trapped animals that enter the live trade, to obtain some information on their destinations and the social and commercial networks within which this trade operates. Consultation with the relevant institutions in Georgetown - the Wildlife Department and Ministry of Agriculture - will provide essential background information on the wildlife trade, and assist in placing the local trade within its national and institutional context.
The investigator will attempt to set up a system of the sort described above at as early a stage of research as proves possible. The initial community-wide surveys should prove instructive as to how this can best be achieved in practice.
It is difficult to assess how soon it will be possible to conduct research of this sort. However, it is anticipated that it will commence in the latter half of the first stage of research, becoming the major research activity at this stage, and merge into the more extensive field activities of the second stage, during which time ethnoecological enquiry will continue as appropriate.
Stanley Herman is a young Arawak man who for many years has worked as a macaw trapper. It is proposed to employ him to work as research assistant, to conduct unsupervised research on the ecology of all four macaw species present at Orealla, for the duration of the project. He has a keen interest in wildlife and has expressed an interest in building upon this in a professional capacity, if the opportunity were available. It is proposed to employ him to spend several days each month engaged in observational research upon the ecology and behaviour of macaws, and any other species that might take his interest. Initially, the design of this research will be left entirely up to him, but at later stages some training in conventional biological research methods will be given, and incorporated into a framework largely of his own design. It is hoped that this might lead to the collection of data relevant to such local management programmes as might develop in the future, as well as helping him to develop skills which will be useful to the community in its efforts to begin to make more prudent use of local natural resources. From the research perspective, there is also the possibility that this exercise could prove to be an interesting experiment, abliet one that, with a sample size of one, is somewhat limited in scope. The major anthropological interest will be in the ways in which the research goals and methods develop under the assistant's initiative according to his own experience and insights, and how the conduct of research affects his own outlook on and perception of the subject matter of this research. These will be investigated by interviews - an initial, extensive ethnoecological interview, to be repeated at such times as the investigator is able to either visit Orealla or arrange for such interviews to be conducted.
William Herman (no relation to the above) is a septagenarian whose skills as a 'bushman' are legendary in Orealla. He appears to possess an extraordinary amount of knowledge of local wildlife, and has expressed a concern that, since his sons show little interest in this subject, this knowledge will be lost on his death. Clearly, he would be a model ethnobiological informant - to attempt to record at least some of his knowledge, and ideally to allow it to be passed on to younger generations, would be a great service to the people of Orealla. Time will permit the investigator only a superficial study of his knowledge, but such a study could be a starting point for more thorough documentation by community members themselves. Such an exercise may be in the interests of conservation and development NGO's - Conservation International , for example, run a 'Shaman's Apprentice' programme in Suriname which is similar in outlook,and have recently made moves to extend it to Guyana - who may be persuaded to collaborate. If funds are available, assistants could be employed within the village to collect background data along similar lines to those in the Wapishana study, but modified as local needs dictate.
In addition to the time spent with the above individuals, the investigator will also attempt to offer such advice and guidance as is possible on the ethnobotany and ecotourism projects, especially by providing informative literature on similar projects and suggesting appropriate organisations to contact. The accessibility of Orealla from the coast - a round trip from Georgetown takes as little a 2-3 days - makes it feasible for occasional short visits to be made by the investigator over the course of the research programme, following an initial stay of around 4 weeks.
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2. The concepts of 'acculturation', in both senses, do remain useful in social science so long as their limitations are recognised, and are employed, with this reservation, on several occasions in this text.
3. Several legitimate spellings of this word exist, and modern literature includes all the alternatives Wapisana, Wapisiana, Wapishiana and Wapixiana. In addition, Farabee [1918: 13 fn.1] lists several altenative spellings, most of which seem to be obsolete: Wapityans, Wapsichana, Wabijanas, Mapisianas, Uabixanas, Uapixianas, Uapichanas, Vapeschanas. The usage of 'Wapishana' in the present document is based upon what appears to be standard practice in the recent Guyanese literature (eg. Forte [1990], ARU [1992]).