Contested Ecologies: Gender, Genies, and Agricultural Knowledge in Zanzibar

-Erin Dean

Erin Dean begins this article by examining several different methods of knowledge separation within environmental discourses, including the distinction between “traditional” and “scientific” approaches to environmental practices. She uses this as a background to analyze the people of Jongowe, Zanzibar and break down how different identities, specifically gender, further contribute to the knowledge pools being drawn upon for natural resource management. Within the Jongowe community, gender represents a significant demarcation within occupation and space. This translates to a complicated hierarchy where female agricultural labor and ecological knowledge are largely overseen and controlled by male citizens, whose power derives from spiritual connections. Through firsthand exposure and qualitative data collection, Dean explains how while the gender divisions are fairly rigid within this community the system must be analyzed in the context of its unique cultural, religious, and political factors. In terms of how these identities impact environmental practices, Dean describes how “the systems…practiced by the farmers [are] responsive to the subsistence needs of the community, the ecological requirements of the specific crops, the control of agricultural pests, and the need to rest and rejuvenate the soil.” Despite this fact, Dean highlights a difference of opinion on practices such as crop rotation and controlled burnings between a local government official and the predominantly female agricultural practitioners that mirrors the binary of scientific and indigenous knowledge. This is significant because it shows how understanding intersectional identities are crucial to executing effective environmental management.