From Sago to Rice, from Forest to Town: The Consequences of Sedentarization for the Nutritional Ecology of Punan Former Hunter-Gatherers of Borneo

Food and Nutrition Bulletin - Tập 28 Số 2_suppl2 - Trang S294-S302 - 2007
Edmond Dounias1, Audrey Selzner, Miyako Koizumi, Laurène Feintrenie2
1Centre d’Ecologie Fonctionnelle et Evolutive
2Gouvernance, Risque, Environnement, Développement

Tóm tắt

Background The last nomadic peoples of the world are facing strong governmental incentives to renounce their foraging lifestyle. Nevertheless, the shift to a sedentary way of life and the adoption of agriculture do not always result in the promised improvement in diet and health conditions. Objective We compared the dietary regime and nutritional status of three groups of former hunter-gatherers, the Punan of Borneo. All three groups adopted extensive upland rice cultivation almost 6 decades ago, but each has some degree of dependence on agriculture versus forest resources, which varies along a gradient of accessibility of urban facilities. Methods The diet of three distinct Punan groups living in the dipterocarp forest of East Kalimantan was assessed both qualitatively and quantitatively and analyzed in relation to the seasonality of resources and human activities. The physical fitness of the Punan was also estimated from repeated anthropometric measurements. Results The more remote the Punan community was from urban facilities, the more diversified was the diet and the better were its nutritional status and physical fitness. The contribution of forest resources to the dietary regime also decreased with urban proximity. However, the higher dependency on agriculture is not the proximate cause of the deterioration in diet and physical fitness, which is rather due to the transition from the nomadic to the settled way of life. Conclusions The brutal shift in lifestyle among the Punan of Borneo has profoundly affected the integrity of these societies and impacted their social, cultural, symbolic, and political features. In the long run, this may compromise their health status and ecological success.

Từ khóa


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Thông tin
Thông tin xuất bản

Food and Nutrition Bulletin

Tập 28 Số 2_suppl2

S294-S302

Thông tin tác giả