The Biodemography of Subsistence Farming
Population, Food and Family

An exploration of preindustrial agriculture that applies insights from biodemography, physiological ecology, and household demography.

James W. Wood (Author)

9781107033412, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 23 April 2020

512 pages, 214 b/w illus. 85 tables
25.2 x 18 x 2.7 cm, 1.15 kg

Viewing the subsistence farm as primarily a 'demographic enterprise' to create and support a family, this book offers an integrated view of the demography and ecology of preindustrial farming. Taking an interdisciplinary perspective, it examines how traditional farming practices interact with demographic processes such as childbearing, death, and family formation. It includes topics such as household nutrition, physiological work capacity, health and resistance to infectious diseases, as well as reproductive performance and mortality. The book argues that the farming household is the most informative scale at which to study the biodemography and physiological ecology of preindustrial, non-commercial agriculture. It offers a balanced appraisal of the farming system, considering its strengths and limitations, as well as the implications of viewing it as a 'demographic enterprise' rather than an economic one. A valuable resource for graduate students and researchers in biological and physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, natural resource management, agriculture and ecology.

Part I. Introductory Concepts: 1. Thinking about population and traditional farmers
2. Farmers, farms and farming resources
3. Limits
Part II. Macro-Demographic Approaches to Population and Subsistence Farming: 4. A modicum of demography
5. Malthus and Boserup
6. The intensification debate after Boserup
Part III. Micro-Demographic Approaches to Population and Subsistence Farming: 7. The farming household as a fundamental unit of analysis
8. Under-nutrition and the household demographic enterprise
9. The nature of traditional farm work and the household labor force
10. The economics of the household demographic life cycle
11. Seasonality and the household demographic enterprise
12. Beyond the household
Appendix. A bibliographic essay on subsistence farming
References
Index.

Subject Areas: Sustainable agriculture [TVF], Agriculture & farming [TV], Environmental management [RNF], Social & cultural anthropology, ethnography [JHMC], Anthropology [JHM]