Unseasonal Migrations

Jane Lou Collins

Published by Princeton University Press 1988

Unseasonal Migrations

The Effects of Rural Labor Scarcity in Peru

Jane Lou Collins

Volume 5043 in the series Princeton Legacy Library

https://doi.org/10.1515/9781400886968

Overview
Contents

About this book

Jane Collins explores a phenomenon of growing importance in developing nations--the labor scarcity that emerges as farmers in Latin America and elsewhere are forced by economic necessity to seek seasonal work away from their home communities. Such labor scarcity often results in "unseasonal" ecological damage and the deterioration of social relations. Professor Collins focuses on a particular instance in which migration has created labor scarcity: the seasonal journeys of Aymara-speaking highland peasants to east Andean valleys, where they grow coffee. Contrary to the conventional wisdom that labor is an abundant resource in developing countries, the Aymara's situation illustrates a problem common throughout the Third World. Although it was presumed in the 1940s and 1950s that the Aymara would permanently colonize the valley region, they have not done so. This book demonstrates that the unfavorable price for which they must sell their coffee forces them to maintain highland food crop production. Their poor position in the coffee market thus blocks their permanent migration and their ability to make more intensive capital or labor investments in coffee growing. The author argues convincingly that the rural labor scarcity produced by their migrations generates ecological decline in the lowlands and intracommunity conflicts and declining networks of production in the highlands. In discussing the Aymara, she confronts a Third World problem of broad theoretical significance.

Originally published in 1988.

The Princeton Legacy Library uses the latest print-on-demand technology to again make available previously out-of-print books from the distinguished backlist of Princeton University Press. These editions preserve the original texts of these important books while presenting them in durable paperback and hardcover editions. The goal of the Princeton Legacy Library is to vastly increase access to the rich scholarly heritage found in the thousands of books published by Princeton University Press since its founding in 1905.

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Frontmatter Publicly Available Download PDF	i
Contents Publicly Available Download PDF	vii
Figures and Tables Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	ix
Preface Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xi
Acknowledgments Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	xvii
1. Seasonal Migration to the Tambopata Valley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	1
2. The Prelude to Tambopata: Historical Precedents for Migration Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	29
3. The Opening of a New Productive Area Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	67
4. Smallholder Agriculture on the Altiplano Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	87
5. Peasant Diversification and Labor Scarcity Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	121
6. The Ecological and Social Effects of Bizonal Production Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	151
7. Conclusions Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	169
Appendix A. The Aymara Phonetic Alphabet Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	179
Appendix B. Arrival of the Adventists in Moho, 1918 Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	180
Appendix C. Personal Accounts of Migration to the Tambopata Valley Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	182
Reference List Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	187
Index Requires Authentication Unlicensed Licensed Download PDF	209