Teller Amy S
Brown University.
Sociol Dev (Oakl). 2016 Spring;2(1):25-50. doi: 10.1525/sod.2016.2.1.25.
Climate change is expected to shift seasonality in Tanzania, while smallholder farmers' livelihoods and the economy rely upon the success of rainfed agriculture. However, we should not assume doomsday climate vulnerability scenarios of drought and devastation in the rural global South nor, on the other hand, that farmers will optimally employ local knowledge for effective adaptation. Drawing from qualitative fieldwork in two Tanzanian communities, I question these grand narratives of devastation and local adaptive capacity and introduce an approach that brings inequality to the center. Poorer nations are most vulnerable to climate change, but they are not homogenous and neither are the smallholder farmers living within them. I present evidence on the crucial context-specific dimensions of socio-ecological vulnerability for these smallholder farmers-1) water resources and access to them; 2) agricultural knowledge, including farmers' own knowledge and their interactions with sources like government-run agricultural extension and NGOs; and 3) existing drought-coping strategies-and the heterogeneity among farmers across these dimensions. Ultimately, this case demonstrates how climate change can reproduce existing inequalities within nations by drawing upon how farmers currently respond to drought as evidence. I present the difficult and somewhat bleak contexts within which the farmers are coping, but also illustrate the agency that farmers exhibit in response to these conditions and the adaptive capacity they possess. Finally, I call for more sub-national research on climate and inequality by sociologists and draw connections among within-nation inequality, climate change, and agricultural development initiatives.
预计气候变化将改变坦桑尼亚的季节性，而小农的生计和经济依赖于雨养农业的成功。然而，我们不应假定全球南方农村地区会出现干旱和破坏的末日气候脆弱情景，另一方面，也不应假定农民会最佳地运用当地知识进行有效适应。基于在坦桑尼亚两个社区的定性实地调查，我对这些关于破坏和当地适应能力的宏大叙事提出质疑，并引入一种将不平等置于中心位置的方法。较贫穷国家最易受气候变化影响，但它们并非同质化的，其中的小农也不是。我展示了这些小农社会生态脆弱性在特定背景下的关键维度的证据——1）水资源及其获取途径；2）农业知识，包括农民自身的知识以及他们与政府农业推广机构和非政府组织等来源的互动；3）现有的抗旱策略——以及农民在这些维度上的异质性。最终，这个案例表明气候变化如何通过借鉴农民当前应对干旱的方式来重现国家内部现有的不平等。我呈现了农民应对的艰难且有些黯淡的背景，但也说明了农民在应对这些状况时所展现出的能动性以及他们所拥有的适应能力。最后，我呼吁社会学家开展更多关于气候与不平等的次国家层面研究，并建立起国家内部不平等、气候变化和农业发展倡议之间的联系。
