Doctoral Dissertation Research: Population, Environment, and the Social History of Smallholder Tree Planting in Malawi

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SBR-9506005 This dissertation-improvement award provides field equipment and assistance for the Student's research into demographic, environmental, and social change in Malawi since the late 19th century. The theoretical argument is that the outcome variation from interactions of particular demographic and natural-resource situations is amenable to historical explanation. The central hypothesis, that a confluence of demographic and institutional changes in the late-19th century provided the basis for current resource scarcity in modern Malawi, will be explored via a three-part research design: a social survey, historical research, and environmental analyses. There are two research sites, one in southern Malawi (the Zomba district) and one in central Malawi (the Kasungu district). Field research is to be undertaken from August 1995 through July 1996. The research seeks to advance population and resource theory by bridging the Malthusian focus on demographic demand on ecosystems and the Boserupian focus on social and institutional determinants of resource use and supply.