Foragers and Food Production in Africa: A Cross- Cultural and Analytical Perspective

Virtually all hunters and gatherers in Africa today not only depend on foraging for their livelihoods but they also engage in food production and trade of domestic crops, livestock, and other resources. Many of them also take part in various kinds of work for other people in exchange for cash, food, and other goods. Drawing on case studies from western, central, eastern, and southern Africa, this paper assesses the causes and consequences of the shifts from hunting and gathering to agriculture, pastoralism, and small-scale business activities. Today, there are few ‘isolated hunter-gatherers’ who depend completely on foraging and are not enmeshed in the global, national, and local socioeconomic systems. Climate change, globalization, and the expansion of markets are leading to significant changes in local subsistence and livelihood strategies. These and other factors are also contributing to an expansion of innovative efforts to cope with the many serious challenges facing Africa’s indigenous peoples.

Foragers and Food Production in Africa: A Cross-Cultural and Analytical Perspective. Paper for the 48th annual Society for Cross- Cultural Research (SCCR) meetings, Jacksonville, Florida, February 13-16, 2019.