Coping with the Double Crisis: Lake Chilwa Recession and the Great Depression on Chisi Island in Colonial Malawi, 1930-1935

• Published in: Human ecology : an interdisciplinary journal Vol. 45; no. 1; pp. 111 - 117
• Main Authors: Nagoli, Joseph, Green, Erik, Mulwafu, Wapulumuka, Chiwona-Karltun, Linley
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York Springer 01-02-2017; Springer US; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Anthropology; BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS; Change detection; Colonial introduced cash crops; Colonialism; Coping; Depression; Ecology; Economic Geography; Ekonomisk geografi; Environment; Environmental history; Environmental Management; Geography; Great Depression; Historia; History; Human behavior; Human Geography; Kulturgeografi; Lake Chilwa Basin; Malawi; Mental depression; Natural environment; Recession; Resource scarcity; Resources; Samhällsvetenskap; Scarcity; Social and Economic Geography; Social och ekonomisk geografi; Social Sciences; Social Sciences Interdisciplinary; Sociology; Tvärvetenskapliga studier; Malawi; Resource scarcity; Malawi; Colonial introduced cash crops; Lake Chilwa Basin
• ISSN: 0300-7839; 1572-9915; 1572-9915
• DOI: 10.1007/s10745-016-9882-1

Environmental history is to a large extent framed by the neoclassical principle of generalized scarcity that recognizes that nature changes, both independently and in response to human actions, and thus changes the context in which human history unfolds (McNeill 2003). At the same time, political ecology puts more emphasis on power and inequalities as direct drivers of scarcity (Blaikie and Brookfield 1987; Peet and Watts 2004; Robbins 2012). However, both approaches can enhance our understanding of the influences acting upon coping strategies during resource scarcity