Papers by Joana Sousa
Natural Hazards
Existing knowledge about fires has been challenged by changes in forests and wildfire regimes. We... more Existing knowledge about fires has been challenged by changes in forests and wildfire regimes. We carried out a systematic literature review involving both a global and a case study approach (Portugal) to investigate the configuration of the social dimensions of wildfires in academic literature. We advance two interlocking claims: (i) human dimensions of wildfires are often simplified into shallow indicators of anthropogenic activities lacking social and historical grounding, and (ii) fire knowledge of Indigenous peoples and/or other forest and fire users and professionals remains overlooked. These arguments were manifest from the global-scale review and were confirmed by the case study of Portugal. The individual perceptions, memories and cultural practices of forest and fire users and professionals and the historical co-developments of fires, people and forests have been missing from wildfire research. Including and highlighting those perspectives will both add to existing knowledge and inform policies related to fire management by making them socially meaningful. // Full-text access to a view-only version: https://rdcu.be/cRvgg
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Environmental Conservation, 2017
SUMMARY Representations of animals are diverse and can portray local understandings of nature con... more SUMMARY Representations of animals are diverse and can portray local understandings of nature conservation, information that is often missing from conservation debates. In Cantanhez National Park (southern Guinea-Bissau), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are recognized as animals that share certain features with humans but live independently of them in the forest. However, chimpanzees are also integral to socially mediated, deep-rooted local narratives about sorcery and nature conservation. We use results from ethnographic research to explore local interpretations of chimpanzee attacks on people. Attacks by ‘bush’ chimpanzees occur when an animal is provoked by someone's actions towards it. Unprovoked attacks, however, are either interpreted as the act of a shape-shifted chimpanzee (i.e. a sorcerer) or as the responsibility of conservation stakeholders. In the case of unprovoked attacks, chimpanzee aggression is linked to a perceived abuse of power and to greed, with implicat...
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Agroecology and Sustainable Food Systems, 2014
ABSTRACT Outside of agroforestry disciplines, “orchards” and “forests” are usually studied throug... more ABSTRACT Outside of agroforestry disciplines, “orchards” and “forests” are usually studied through different fields of knowledge or are mired in conflicting views. Our study aimed to provide preliminary information on regeneration in cashew orchards by studying the effect of previous land cover, the surrounding landscape, and orchards’ age on the density of species and number of plants. We followed linear transects in orchards planted in areas previously covered by savannah and forest. We found typical forest species growing in the understory, even in orchards previously occupied by savannah or as old as 42 years. The density of species is higher in orchards planted in previously forested plots and in more forested environments. Species density in the understory decreases as orchards get older, but it seems that it increases again after a certain age threshold. This study shows that cashew orchards in Cantanhez retain their potential for succession to forest, and highlights the continuum that may exist between orchards and forests. More research is needed to assess a possible “forestization” of the savannahs through cashew plantations.
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American Journal of Primatology, 2011
Cantanhez National Park in southern Guinea-Bissau is a mosaic of forest, mangrove, savanna, and a... more Cantanhez National Park in southern Guinea-Bissau is a mosaic of forest, mangrove, savanna, and agricultural fields, with a high prevalence of oil-palm trees (Elaeis guineensis). It hosts many different animal species, including the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus). Very little is known about the ecology of chimpanzees inhabiting this area. The main aims of this study were to evaluate chimpanzee nesting behavior, define trends of habitat use, and estimate chimpanzee density in four separate forests by applying the marked nest counts methodology. From the 287 new nests counted, 92% were built in oil-palm trees with a significantly higher frequency of nests in the forest edge than in forest cores. Differences in nest detection rates were observed in the four monitored forests, with two forests being more important for chimpanzee's nesting demands. The number of nests documented in the forests seemed to be correlated with the frequency of other signs of chimpanzee activity. Although chimpanzees selected nests on the forest edge, they were most frequently observed in forest core areas. Constraints associated with estimating chimpanzee density through oil-palm nest counting are discussed.
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Human Ecology
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International Journal of Agricultural Sustainability
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Diacronie Studi di Storia Contemporanea, 2020
The origins of rice cultivation on the margins of the rivers Sado and Tagus, and the accompanying... more The origins of rice cultivation on the margins of the rivers Sado and Tagus, and the accompanying agroecological and technological changes have not been studied hitherto. Little is known about the dynamics of the salt-fresh water frontiers in those rivers, namely the conversion of marshes into rice or salt paddies, or the role of Black people brought from West Africa and enslaved along the Sado and Tagus rivers. This article presents exploratory research on the links between these newcomers, arriving from places where such transformations were common, and the production of rice during Early Modern Portugal. Over-simplified historiographies have (re)dispossessed enslaved people and their descendants from any historical transformative role. Yet, studies by Judith Carney, Edda Fields-Black, Peter Wood, Daniel Littlefield, and others place enslaved people from West Africa at the core of technology transfer and agroecological change in the Americas. On the European side of the Atlantic, this line of inquiry has yet to be followed. Our study contributes to a more enduring critical approach to the socioenvironmental history of the subaltern in enslaving societies. We propose a research hypothesis reaching beyond the colonial nature-society divide and its implied, further objectification of the enslaved Black person as limited to their metabolic condition. The largely unknown history of rice in the Sado and the Tagus is connected to the untold history of enslaved Black people in Portugal and this article offers a preliminary formulation of these connections.
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In Cantanhez National Park in Guinea-Bissau the construction of meaning made after encounters wit... more In Cantanhez National Park in Guinea-Bissau the construction of meaning made after encounters with chimpanzees is associated with local social life. If a chimpanzee makes an unprovoked attack on a person, its actions are often understood as those of a sorcerer. Chimpanzees are involved in two parallel accusation discourses: one is played in intimate spheres of sociability where sorcerers harm their kin to benefit from secret alliances, and the other addresses a wider audience perceived to benefit from chimpanzees which are being protected at the expense of other humans. Both narratives represent local criticism against transgressions to calculations of redistribution and reciprocity.
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Representations of animals are diverse and can portray local understandings of nature conservatio... more Representations of animals are diverse and can portray local understandings of nature conservation, information that is often missing from conservation debates. In Cantanhez National Park (southern Guinea-Bissau), chimpanzees (Pan troglodytes verus) are recognized as animals that share certain features with humans but live independently of them in the forest. However, chimpanzees are also integral to socially mediated, deep-rooted local narratives about sorcery and nature conservation. We use results from ethnographic research to explore local interpretations of chimpanzee attacks on people. Attacks by 'bush' chimpanzees occur when an animal is provoked by someone's actions towards it. Unprovoked attacks, however, are either interpreted as the act of a shape-shifted chimpanzee (i.e. a sorcerer) or as the responsibility of conservation stakeholders. In the case of unprovoked attacks, chimpanzee aggression is linked to a perceived abuse of power and to greed, with implications for nature conservation locally. Close analysis of local representations of animals contributes to a broader consideration of conservation priorities and practice.
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Our study concerns local knowledge and perceptions of chimpanzees among farming communities withi... more Our study concerns local knowledge and perceptions of chimpanzees among farming communities within Cantanhez National Park, Guinea‐Bissau. We submitted a survey questionnaire to 100 people living in four villages in the Park to enquire about their knowledge of chimpanzee ecology and human– chimpanzee interactions. Local farmers live in close contact with chimpanzees, consider them to be more similar to humans than any other species, and attribute special importance to them primarily due to expectations of tourism revenue. Interviewees' responses, as a function of gender, village, and age, were analyzed statistically using non‐parametric tests (Mann–Whitney and Kruskal–Wallis). Age influenced responses significantly, while gender and village had no significant effect. Youngsters emphasized morphological aspects of human–chimpanzee similarities, while adults emphasized chimpanzee behavior and narratives about the shared history of humans and chimpanzees. Tourism, conservation, and crop raiding feature prominently in people's reports about chimpanzees. Local people's engagement with conservation and tourism‐related activities is likely to allow them to manage not only the costs but also the benefits of conservation, and can in turn inform the expectations built upon tourism. Am. J. Primatol.
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Cantanhez National Park in southern Guinea-Bissau is a mosaic of forest, mangrove, savanna, and a... more Cantanhez National Park in southern Guinea-Bissau is a mosaic of forest, mangrove, savanna, and agricultural fields, with a high prevalence of oil-palm trees (Elaeis guineensis). It hosts many different animal species, including the chimpanzee (Pan troglodytes verus). Very little is known about the ecology of chimpanzees inhabiting this area. The main aims of this study were to evaluate chimpanzee nesting behavior, define trends of habitat use, and estimate chimpanzee density in four separate forests by applying the marked nest counts methodology. From the 287 new nests counted, 92% were built in oil-palm trees with a significantly higher frequency of nests in the forest edge than in forest cores. Differences in nest detection rates were observed in the four monitored forests, with two forests being more important for chimpanzee's nesting demands. The number of nests documented in the forests seemed to be correlated with the frequency of other signs of chimpanzee activity. Although chimpanzees selected nests on the forest edge, they were most frequently observed in forest core areas. Constraints associated with estimating chimpanzee density through oil-palm nest counting are discussed. Am. J. Primatol. 73:1–13, 2011.
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The present study aimed to gather baseline information about chimpanzee nesting and density in La... more The present study aimed to gather baseline information about chimpanzee nesting and density in Lagoas de Cufada Natural Park (LCNP), in Guinea-Bissau. Old and narrow trails were followed to estimate chimpanzee density through marked-nest counts and to test the effect of canopy closure (woodland savannah, forest with a sparse canopy, and forest with a dense canopy) on nest distribution. Chimpanzee abundance was estimated at 0.79 nest builders/km 2 , the lowest among the areas of Guinea-Bissau with currently studied chimpanzee populations. Our data suggest that sub-humid forest with a dense canopy accounts for significantly higher chimpanzee nest abundance (1.50 nests/km of trail) than sub-humid forest with a sparse canopy (0.49 nests/km of trail) or woodland savannah (0.30 nests/km of trail). Dense-canopy forests play an important role in chimpanzee nesting in the patchy and highly humanized landscape of LCNP. The tree species most frequently used for nesting are Dialium guineense (46 %) and Elaeis guineensis (28 %). E. guine-ensis contain nests built higher in the canopy, while D. guineense contain nests built at lower heights. Nests observed during baseline sampling and replications suggest seasonal variations in the tree species used for nest building.
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Book Reviews by Joana Sousa
Revista Medi@ções, 2021
Book review
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Papers by Joana Sousa
Book Reviews by Joana Sousa