Reviewed by Marie Norman MNORMAN@gryfalcon.cas.pitt.edu
University of Pittsburgh
ABSTRACT: Change and adaptation are the central issues of this thoughtfully written and theoretically important book. Focusing on the Tamang village of Timling in central Nepal, Fricke demonstrates that population growth is both the outcome of a subsistence adaptation based on diversified household production and a force which is fundamentally altering the social and ecological environment of life in the Himalayas. According to the author, fertility patterns resulting from traditional household organization have led to population growth that is fast outstripping the ability of local land to meet subsistence needs. Faced with land shortages and a growing population, the people of Timling are increasingly compelled to seek wage labor outside the village, where they occupy positions subordinate to other Nepali groups and where traditional patterns of reciprocity and authority no longer have currency. Successfully combining demographic and anthropological approaches, Fricke ably demonstrates how adaptive strategies on the part of households can lead to a destabilization of the social and ecological environment for which those strategies were designed. He employs rigorous data analysis and a strong theoretical base to formulate a compelling argument linking household organization, subsistence and fertility with processes of social change.
Tom Fricke begins _Himalayan Households_ with an
excerpt from his field notes describing a funeral in
the Tamang village of Timling in central Nepal. The
description serves, in his words, as an elegy to a way
of life which is rapidly and irrevocably changing.
Change and adaptation are the central issues of this
thoughtfully written and theoretically important book.
While several Nepal scholars have noted the
catastrophic impact of expanding population on the
subsistence environment of the Himalayas (Bishop 1990;
Macfarlane 1993) Fricke seeks to understand the causes
of population growth as well as its consequences.
Focusing on the Ankhu Khola area, he explains the
rapidly growing population in the Ankhu Khola area as
both the outcome of a subsistence adaptation based on
diversified household production and as a force which
is fundamentally altering the social and ecological
environment of life in the Himalayas. Fricke combines
demographic and anthropological approaches in an
effort to understand the complex interplay among
subsistence patterns, household organization, and
fertility as they affect social change.
Fricke argues that while large family size constitutes a rational strategy on the part of households to best exploit the diverse environments afforded by the Himalayan slopes, the net effect of such an adaptation is to alter the social and ecological environment so as to demand new adaptations. According to Fricke, fertility patterns resulting from traditional household organization have led to population growth that is fast outstripping the ability of local land to meet subsistence needs. Faced with limited land and a growing population, Timling's traditionally egalitarian and largely self-sufficient people are increasingly compelled to seek wage labor outside the village, where they occupy positions subordinate to other Nepali groups. Furthermore, as fewer people have access to land and more become enmeshed in a cash economy, traditional patterns of kin-based reciprocity and authority break down and social stratification emerges.
Drawing from demographers such as Caldwell and McNicoll, Fricke asserts that high fertility is rational in certain settings and must be studied within its larger social context. Fertility must furthermore be viewed as a process involving decisions made on multiple levels within the household, not simply those pertaining directly to family size. Central to his argument is the observation that adaptation occurs at the level of individual behavior, though the net effect of individual adaptations are felt by the group as a whole. In the case of Timling large family size benefits individual households but is fast creating land shortages for the community.
Having set out his theoretical premises, Fricke provides historical and ethnographic background in Chapter Two, situating Timling within a larger geographical, political, and cultural context. Chapter Three then describes Fricke's research methodology, principally the collection of marriage and fertility histories, surveys of land and property holdings, and the construction of life history matrices. Included is Fricke's novel solution for converting local measures of time to equivalent values in the Western calendar.
Fricke discusses the agro-pastoral subsistence economy of Timling in Chapter Four, ably demonstrating that the successful exploitation of mountain "vertical zones" is contingent upon careful timing of seasonal subsistence activities. Fricke displays impressive knowledge of agricultural techniques and processes as he details the wide variety of tasks demanded in the agricultural and domestic spheres, and calculates the number of person-days necessary to accomplish the requisite work. Because of the diversity of production activities, he concludes that large families are better able than small families to exploit multiple resource zones.
The discrepancy between potential and actual fertility in Timling, and a discussion of mortality rates are the subject of the following two chapters. Both provide necessary information on Timling demography although neither are as successfully integrated into Fricke's central argument as preceding and succeeding chapters.
Fricke returns then to the question of timing which is so central to his analysis of relationships among fertility, subsistence, and social change. In Chapter Seven he describes the major life events of a typical Tamang individual, formulating from this a timetable of the developmental cycle of an average household. The timing of births, marriages, deaths, and inheritance (timing over which a family may or may not have control) emerges as critical to a family's economic success or failure. Building on data from earlier chapters, Fricke convincingly demonstrates that family size over time is correlated with household prosperity, since a family with many members is best able to exploit a range of economic opportunities (including wage labor) as well as expand its influence through the creation of affinal ties.
However, while large families may prove adaptive for individual households, the net result is a population increase that threatens traditional systems of landholding and production. Fricke describes how, as population overtakes land availability, the capacity of households to provide sufficient inheritances for future generations is threatened. As a counter-adaptation, described in Chapter Nine, more Tamang are turning to opportunities provided in the cash economy. It is predicted that increased participation in the capitalist market will weaken bonds of kinship and reciprocity upon which more traditional exchange was based, leading to a fundamental alteration of social relations.
_Himalayan Households_ successfully weds a demographers interest in population growth and its consequences with a cultural ecologist's focus on adaptation. Fricke's strength lies in his ability to demonstrate how adaptive strategies on the part of households can lead to a destabilization of the social and ecological environment for which those strategies were designed. However, in his concern for examining the forces of change internal to village life, Fricke may underemphasize external causes of change. External factors are alluded to but not explored, leaving the reader wondering about Timling's patterns of interaction with neighboring groups and with the state, both historically and currently. Despite this, however, Fricke accomplishes an ambitious task, using rigorous data analysis and a strong theoretical base to formulate a compelling argument linking household organization, subsistence and fertility with processes of social change.
Bishop, Barry C. 1990 _Karnali Under Stress: Livelihood Strategies and Seasonal Rhythms in a Changing Nepal Himalaya_. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. Macfarlane, Alan 1993 Fatalism and Development in Nepal. In M. Hutt (ed.) _Nepal in the Nineties: Versions of the Past, Visions of the Future_. Delhi: Oxford University Press.