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TREES AS TOOLS, TREES AS TEXT: STRUGGLES OVER RESOURCES IN ZAMBRANA‐CHACUEY, DOMINICAN REPUBLIC
Author(s) -
Rocheleau Dianne,
Ross Laurie
Publication year - 1995
Publication title -
antipode
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.177
H-Index - 98
eISSN - 1467-8330
pISSN - 0066-4812
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8330.1995.tb00287.x
Subject(s) - acacia mangium , acacia , cash crop , agroforestry , geography , land use , tree (set theory) , state (computer science) , government (linguistics) , forestry , ecology , agriculture , biology , archaeology , mathematical analysis , linguistics , botany , mathematics , algorithm , computer science , philosophy
The people of the Rural Federation of Zambrana‐Chacuey, in the Dominican Republic, are engaged in complex and multivalent struggles over resources in a forest and farm landscape subject to rapid land use change. Acacia mangium , a fast growing tree recently introduced as a timber cash crop, has become an object, a site and a tool of struggle in conflicts between local and state interests, and between women and men. Until recently, tree cutting has been illegal, so the government‐approved acacia has reversed the role of trees from liabilities to assets in land tenure. The acacia has also begun to alter the pattern of land use, land cover, and the species composition of the region's forests, gardens, and fields, and could replace women's diverse gardens with single species blocks of timber.