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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Reproductive Decisions by Gabbra Pastoralists in the Face of Demographic Risks
Authors:Mace, RuthISNI
Sear, Rebecca
Year:1997
Periodical:Nomadic Peoples
Volume:1
Issue:1
Pages:151-163
Language:English
Geographic term:Kenya
Subjects:Gabbra
pastoralists
family planning
Peoples of Africa (Ethnic Groups)
Law, Human Rights and Violence
Miscellaneous (i.e. Demography, Refugees, Sports)
Women's Issues
Marital Relations and Nuptiality
Cultural Roles
Demographics
External link:https://doi.org/10.3167/082279497782384686
Abstract:Evolutionary theory predicts that parental behaviour is adapted to maximize long-term reproductive success. Life history theory predicts that there are trade-offs between reproduction and mortality, which has been used to explain why people might not always reproduce at the maximum rate. High fertility might increase the mortality of both mothers and their children. In agricultural and pastoral societies, heritable wealth is an important part of parental investment in children. Heritable resources provide an additional reason why parents may not maximize fitness by reproducing at the maximum possible rate. Children that cannot be given sufficient resources to form their own households may have low or no reproductive success. Hence children that are born without hope of inheriting resources may simply use up family resources with little likelihood of contributing to the long-term fitness of their parents. This is the situation that prevails for Gabbra pastoralists - a group of camel-keeping, nomadic pastoralists that inhabit the area east of Lake Turkana in northern Kenya. The author describes a model of reproductive decisionmaking based on the Gabbra herding system and uses it to predict the influence of demographic risks on the reproductive decisions of parents. The model is informed by data from a 1993/1994 demographic survey. Bibliogr., sum. in French and Spanish.
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