Transitioning economies, cultures, and woodlands: Cashews and deforestation in southeastern Tanzania

In 1985 Tanzanians experienced a dramatic transition in national political economy from African socialism to a free market economy, with far reaching affects on villagers' lives. This dissertation examines how contextual changes have affected the miombo woodlands in Lindi District of southeastern Tanzania. Miombo woodlands are a macro social-forest ecosystem stretching from Tanzania to Angola. The research utilizes a time series of satellite imagery to detect woodland conversions rates and type since 1985. Between 1988 and 1994, the annual rate of deforestation is estimated to be 0.76% per year in the study area. Between 1994 and 2001 this rate increases to 1.2% per year. The main land-cover conversion is for cash crops, particularly cashew trees.; These data are correlated with an ethnographic study of four villages, integrating data from focus group interviews, household surveys, and participant observation. Close examination of village economies and culture reveals transitions that pose new challenges to community management of common property resources. Exemplary of these processes, “a declining sense of community” was the most frequently cited cause of deforestation in one household survey question. The research identifies changes in cultural norms related to the free market economy, with implications for both woodland management and social justice. Dramatic changes in bride prices since 1985, for example, reveal increasing commoditization of women's labor, just one aspect of changing gender relations that is indicative of wider cultural and economic transitions.; An integrating approach is developed—causative contextual behavioralism—that highlights the inherent disjuncture between changing structural contexts, responses by vanguard local agents, and management of natural resources. Building from the perspectives of cultural and political ecology, as well as the LUCC research framework, this approach contributes to the wider debate of analytical methods for understanding global land-use and land-cover change.