Colonial Famine Flashcards
Comment on the stability of period between 1920 - 1960
Give two reasons for this
Famine relatively uncommon
- partly due to better rainfall
- partly because colonial state ignored local definitions of famine
I.e. Irreversible household impoverishment
When did famine return?
Why could thus be?
1968
Due to the decline food production per capita since the early 1960s
In the modern day, how self sufficient is Africa regarding food production?
Largely inefficient
- only produce 85% of its total food production
(However it should be considered that Britain has been self sufficient in food production since the 16th century)
In what region is soil erosion particularly damaging?
Why is this?
Northern highlands of Ethiopia
Repeated cultivation with the on driven plow
In which northern region of Ethiopia had food production been declining for 60 years?
Tigray
During colonial rule restrictions were placed on urbanisation causing high population densities. Which area of Southern Africa suffered from this?
Lesotho
What is the percentage of cultivable land in Egypt and Algeria?
3 - 4%
How did E.P Stebbing fuel the narrative of African environmental self destruction
He wrote ‘the Sahara moving forward, the silent invasion of the great desert’ in 1934 which articulated how west Africa was undergoing progressive desertification and argued that only western science could identify and solve this epidemic as Africans were more oriented towards locality rather than globalism and environmentalism
Which two texts fed accusations of African self destruction and soil erosion ?
The Rape of the Earth, Jacks and Whyte
1938
The Spreading Desert, E.P Stebbing
1934
Emphasised that unlike Europeans, Africans failed to control livestock, causing overgrazing - particularly in Nigeria
Comment on the 1970s spreading desert
What were the flaw in this study?
Lamphrey used satellite images to demonstrate the desert boundary had moved 100km in the 17 intervening years since E.P Stebbing’s reports
This was exaggerated and extrapolated across the whole continent
How did colonialism impact pollution?
Infrastructure - transport links connected people
Employment - wages
Young men contributing to wage economy plus more men getting marriage increasing birth rates
Urbanisation - work factories would group men together - leads to a rise in prostitution