Resources are not everything, and what is a household? A critique of common approaches to analyzing livelihoods

Geiselhart K (2016)


Publication Type: Journal article, Original article

Publication year: 2016

Journal

Publisher: African Specialty Group of the Association of American Geographers

DOI: 10.1080/19376812.2016.1235501

Abstract

Studies on livelihoods have frequently focused on the household, surveying the
assets available to households as the means of their subsistence. However, such studies
make two assumptions which must be critically questioned: first, that those people
who live in a house by nature are interested in developing a collaborative
economic unit with their cohabitees; and second, that all the resources available to
the household are in fact made use of. Neither of these assumptions can be taken as
indisputably given. The economic cooperation of individuals is strongly shaped by
cultural values, although these values often dissolve in the face of growing individualism.
Further factors of societal transformation make traditional economic activities
appear unprofitable or unattractive, with no successfully proven alternatives having
been handed down. Individuals react in varying ways to the factors that influence
these transformations. A wide range of attitudes to life has emerged, which often lead
to the disintegration of traditional household structures. Most geographical research
in many sub-Saharan African livelihoods contexts has yet to take these transformations
into account.

Authors with CRIS profile

How to cite

APA:

Geiselhart, K. (2016). Resources are not everything, and what is a household? A critique of common approaches to analyzing livelihoods. African Geographical Review. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/19376812.2016.1235501

MLA:

Geiselhart, Klaus. "Resources are not everything, and what is a household? A critique of common approaches to analyzing livelihoods." African Geographical Review (2016).

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