| 1. Title: Food in the domestic economy of the Tallensi. Author: Fortes M; Fortes SL Source: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 1936 Apr;9(2):237-276. Abstract: The hinterland of the Gold Coast north of the 10th parallel N. Latitude is a land of sparse forestation lying within the Sudanese Zone. The continuous plains, the monotony of which is, in the dry season, broken only by scattered trees, occasional patches of low bush or a low range of hills, have been described as belonging to an 'Orchard bush' type of country. The Tale settlements occupy an area of some 200 square miles, immediately north of the White Volta river, and have a population density of over 170 to the square mile in the settled parts. Agriculture is the basic industry of the Tallensi and their neighbours, but their farms yield only a bare living to the majority of the populace. Unduly late rains or a visitation of locusts spells food deficiency bordering on famine for thousands. Food, therefore, is a major practical issues in Tale social life. It is also, as in all primitive societies, a fundamental constituent of innumerable social situations not directly connected with nutrition, e.g. sacrifices to ancestral spirits or funeral ceremonies. How diverse are the functions of food in a primitive society may be gathered from Dr. A.I. Richard's Hunger and Work in a Savage Tribe. The comprehensive approach adopted by her is impossible in this short paper; nor shall we able to take up all the questions enumerated in Dr. Raymond Firth's paper on native diet. We shall confine ourselves to an ethnographical description on the place of food in the domestic economy of the Tale. It must be regarded as merely a tentative account. (excerpt) Language: English Keywords: GHANA | RESEARCH REPORT | DATA COLLECTION | TRIBES | ETHNIC GROUPS | FOOD SUPPLY | ECONOMIC CONDITIONS | DIET | FAMILY AND HOUSEHOLD | CULTURAL BACKGROUND | AGRICULTURE | ANTHROPOLOGY, CULTURAL | Developing Countries | Africa, Western | Africa, Sub Saharan | Africa | Research Methodology | Population Characteristics | Demographic Factors | Population | Natural Resources | Environment | Macroeconomic Factors | Economic Factors | Nutrition | Health | Anthropology | Social Sciences Document Number: 285731 |
| 2. Title: Problems of African native diet. A note on the general situation. Author: Orr JB Source: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 1936 Apr;9(2):146-149. Abstract: In devoting the present number of Africa to the problems of native diet, the Institute is dealing with a question of immediate practical importance, for there is at present very little accurate knowledge as to the food supply of the different African peoples. The influence of Western civilization is changing the native's mode of life throughout the African continent. In mining and industrial areas he often has to adapt himself to a different climate and altitude and new systems of housing and clothing. He usually has to work for longer hours and with greater intensity than before and is subjected to unaccustomed nervous strains and difficult psychological conditions. The Governments and the industrial undertakings concerned are giving careful attention to the question of a suitable diet for natives working under these new conditions, but insufficient evidence is so far available as to what changes, if any, should be made in their accustomed diet, and whether those articles of European food which the native adopts of his own accord are in fact good substitutes for those on which he formerly lived. In the tribal areas the problem is different, but no less urgent. Research may show that in some cases the diet deficiency is so serious as to impede the possibility of further development for the native. In others, a food supply which was formerly ample may have become inadequate owing to shortage of land, lack of knowledge of intensive methods of cultivation, the migration of male labour, or some break- down in the tribal economic scheme. Here again we have to admit we do not know. Pioneer work has been done by Orr and Gilks among the Masai and Kikuyu, but scientific studies of the diet of natives actually living under tribal conditions in their own villages have yet to be made. (excerpt) Language: English Keywords: AFRICA, SUB SAHARAN | PHILOSOPHICAL OVERVIEW | INTERDISCIPLINARY STUDIES | INDIGENOUS POPULATION | DIET | FOOD SUPPLY | ANTHROPOLOGY, CULTURAL | Africa | Developing Countries | Population Characteristics | Demographic Factors | Population | Nutrition | Health | Natural Resources | Environment | Anthropology | Social Sciences Document Number: 285729 |
| 3. Title: On the food and nutrition of African natives. Author: Worthington EB Source: Africa: Journal of the International African Institute. 1936 Apr;9(2):150-165. Abstract: Food and nutrition together provide a subject with many ramifications, and yet one on which but little direct research has been attempted in Africa. To gain an all-around view one must digress on the one hand into subjects such as agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, economics and sociology, in order to understand what food supplies exist for the native, and how they are being or might be used; while on the other hand there are involved medical and physiological studies on the native himself in health and disease, in order to estimate the results of nutrition whether good or bad. Treated in its widest sense nutrition lies at the root of many of Africa's problems. The pastoral native depends directly on the grazing of his stock, and so on the pasture. This introduces a whole set of subjects such as the fertility of soils, the deficiency of certain constituents in soils, which appears to be all too frequent in Africa, and the erosion of soils which results from too heavy grazing. Similarly the cultivator depends on the food which his crops can obtain from the soil, and all too often crop nutrition is restricted by limiting factors (i.e. deficiency in particular constituents). Hence the widespread practice of shifting cultivation has grown up, and this has led to other types of soil erosion. More complicated and less well understood are those nutritional series or food-chains on which fishing tribes depend. A few considerations such as these illustrate the vast field involved in the food and nutrition of African natives; only the surface has been scratched, and that only in a few corners of Africa. Clearly it is impossible to cover such a field in a short article, but the wide biological issues must be kept in mind to appreciate the narrower field exhibited in the direct relationship between man and his food. (excerpt) Language: English Keywords: AFRICA, SUB SAHARAN | RESEARCH REPORT | EVALUATION | INDIGENOUS POPULATION | NUTRITION | FOOD SUPPLY | ANTHROPOLOGY, CULTURAL | DIET | Africa | Developing Countries | Population Characteristics | Demographic Factors | Population | Health | Natural Resources | Environment | Anthropology | Social Sciences Document Number: 285730 |
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