Kinship and seasonal migration among the Aymara of southern Peru: human adaptation to energy scarcity
The people of the southern Peruvian highlands have adapted to a condition of energy scarcity through seasonal migration to lowland areas. In the disrict of Sarata (a fictitious name for a real district on the northeastern shore of Lake Titicaca) people spend three to seven months of every year growing coffee in the Tambopata Valley of the eastern Andes. This migratory pattern, which is hundreds of years old, provides the context for an investigation of human adaptive processes. This study presents models of the flow of energy through high-altitude households and shows that energy is a limiting factor for the population. There are two periods when energy subsidies from lowland regions become crucial to the continued survival of highland households. These are the periods of peak growth and reproduction experienced by households early in their developmental cycles, and times of sharply lowered productivity caused by environmental crises such as drought or killing frosts. Seasonal migration provides the subsidies that households rely on during these periods.
- OSTI ID:
- 6775286
- Resource Relation:
- Other Information: Thesis (Ph. D.)
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
POLICY AND ECONOMY
ENERGY SHORTAGES
SOCIAL IMPACT
PERU
POPULATION RELOCATION
SEASONAL VARIATIONS
MIGRATION
POPULATION DYNAMICS
DEVELOPING COUNTRIES
LATIN AMERICA
SHORTAGES
SOUTH AMERICA
VARIATIONS
290200* - Energy Planning & Policy- Economics & Sociology
530100 - Environmental-Social Aspects of Energy Technologies- Social & Economic Studies- (-1989)