Sustainability in the context of natural and social environments : An actor-oriented interpretation from South-West Tanzania

Abstract: Sustainable use of the natural environment is conventionally interpreted as a result of the successful or unsuccessful adaptation of the human being to the natural environment, whereby factors such as 'knowledge' and 'structural conditions' are taken to be decisive in the success of efforts to adapt. In contrast to this kind of interpretation, this paper takes the influence of social factors on people's activities into account. People's adaptation to the natural environment is shown from the perspective of structural theories as a variable within human actions that orient themselves according to the actors' perceptions of everyday life, which in turn are subject to historical change. Using examples drawn from the Ufipa Plateau in South-west Tanzania, the paper illustrates how a historical re-valuation of 'labour', from a 'use value for food security' to an 'exchange value on the market', and the accompanying re-valuation of the 'effort involved in labour in the fields' has affected.... https://www.erdkunde.uni-bonn.de/article/view/2481

Object Details

• Location: Deutsche Nationalbibliothek Frankfurt am Main
• Extent: Online-Ressource
• Language: Englisch

References and Relationships

• Bibliographic citation: Sustainability in the context of natural and social environments ; volume:56 ; number:2 ; year:2002 ; Erdkunde ; 56, Heft 2 (2002)

Contributors, Places and Time

• Creator: Tröger, Sabine

Further information

• DOI: 10.3112/erdkunde.2002.02.05
• URN: urn:nbn:de:101:1-2410281844202.657163573236
• Rights: Open Access; Der Zugriff auf das Objekt ist unbeschränkt möglich.
• Last update: 15.08.2025, 7:32 AM CEST