Title

Making A Living In The Tropical Forest: Yuquí Foragers In The Bolivian Amazon

Keywords

Bolivian Amazon; foraging strategies; resource use; tropical forest ecology; Yuquí Indians

Abstract

Questions concerning the availability of resources in tropical rain forests have given rise to the current debate centering on whether human subsistence based solely on foraging is possible in these biomes without agricultural subsidies. This paper takes the position that changing perspectives on ecological pattern and process in tropical forests and the significant variation among tropical forests on a worldwide as well as regional scale must be taken into consideration. Human disturbance is also proposed as a cause of dependence on agriculture by modern human foragers rather than as a necessary precondition for successful exploitation of the tropical forest. These issues are discussed against the background of a case study of the Yuquí, who, until very recently, were true foragers in the Bolivian Amazon. For the Yuquí, the sustainability of their subsistence system depended on a finegrained knowledge of their environment and the freedom of movement over a large territory to access resources within it. © 1991 Plenum Publishing Corporation.

Publication Date

6-1-1991

Publication Title

Human Ecology

Volume

19

Issue

2

Number of Pages

245-260

Document Type

Article

Personal Identifier

scopus

DOI Link

https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00888747

Socpus ID

0026380856 (Scopus)

Source API URL

https://api.elsevier.com/content/abstract/scopus_id/0026380856

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