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The Ecology of Rural Ethnic Groups and the Spatial Dimensions of Power 1
Author(s) -
CANFIELD ROBERT L.
Publication year - 1973
Publication title -
american anthropologist
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.51
H-Index - 85
eISSN - 1548-1433
pISSN - 0002-7294
DOI - 10.1525/aa.1973.75.5.02a00200
Subject(s) - ethnic group , dimension (graph theory) , politics , geography , economic geography , spatial ecology , ecology , adaptation (eye) , power (physics) , degree (music) , cultural ecology , spatial distribution , demography , sociology , political science , mathematics , anthropology , biology , remote sensing , physics , quantum mechanics , neuroscience , acoustics , pure mathematics , law
What mechanisms influence the locations of rural ethnic groups? Some authors have suggested that such groups are distributed merely in respect to ecological conditions. Political tensions between competing societies, however, also have a dimension that influences spatial locations. To illustrate this, the locations of the rural ethnic groups in a region in central Afghanistan are analyzed. In this case, variations in ecological adaptation do not adequately account for some of the spatial groupings. Effective distance, however—a time‐cost measure of the degree of separation and accessibility of different locations—is advanced as the primary factor, for it controls the degree to which the various local groups have been able to interact profitably with each other and the outside. The history of the area is presented to indicate that political alignments manifest locational controls on social relations in this region.