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February 05, 2006
Chipping away
The view of downtown Providence from the Rock is a worthy background for a Sunday spent immersed in great questions.
From Jared Diamond: why did some people shift, albeit slowly and unknowingly, from hunting and gathering to domestication (including herding) and agriculture? From Cynthia Weber: why do International Relations theories appear to be based in truth/explain the world? From W.B. Stanford, in Ulysses Theme: how is Odysseus a unique hero, and one whose traits have been inherited, questioned, challenged and embraced by numerous schools, philosophies and societies since Homer immortalized him?
I seem to have done quite a number to my page formatting. Like a Mesoamerican cultivating wild corn, I started by adding a Technorati search tag to the sidebar. Then I decided to move the calendar a little lower...of course, that blunder had an impact on the rest of the sidebar. A few clicks later, and I'd pretty much mucked everything up. At least it is readable as it stands now. I've conscripted the help of our webmaster, who I hope will be sympathetic to my very genuine interest in code mechanics.
Finally, while I have absolutely no idea how it happened, I seem to have connected with an avid reader, thousands of miles away in the savannah of southern Guyana. My aunt, Alice, is living there with her son and husband. You can see her feeback by clicking on the Comments link at the bottom of my earlier posts. Maybe she'll have something to say about the development of agriculture among the residents of Yupukari.
Posted by Henry Shepherd at February 5, 2006 06:50 PM
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Comments
My Makushi (indigenous Guyanese) neighbors are farmers, but their crops are generally low maintenance and low yield. Limited by poor soil (esp. in the village, where it's lateritic gravel and even the cow manure is seasonal); the leafcutter ants are incredibly rapacious (no pesticides); a long dry season (no irrigation). Cassava (hundreds of cultivars) is king, but plantain, banana, pineapple, mango, cashew, citrus, and papaya (all shrubs/trees) arrive suddenly and abundantly and then disappear for months. Little is known about Makushi history, but I have read that they have lived in settlements for only about two-to-three centuries (since Dutch & then English conquest).
Posted by: anty at February 12, 2006 07:35 PM
