Games against Nature An Eco-Cultural History of the Nunu of Equatorial Africa [Paperback]

Robert Harms explores nature and culture in the story of the Nunu.Robert Harms explores nature and culture in the story of the Nunu, who live in and around the swampy floodplains of the Zaire River. Increasing population impinged upon the limits of available resources in the late eighteenth century, eventually resulting in civil war in the 1960s.Robert Harms explores nature and culture in the story of the Nunu, who live in and around the swampy floodplains of the Zaire River. Increasing population impinged upon the limits of available resources in the late eighteenth century, eventually resulting in civil war in the 1960s.In this book, Robert Harms makes an important advance toward recovering the history of the people of the rain forest by telling the story of the Nunu, who live in and around swampy floodplains of the middle Zaire River. Using concepts drawn from game theory, Professor Harms explores the changing relationship between nature and culture among the Nunu. Picturing Nunu society as animated by a never-ending competition among lineages and households, he traces how the competition pushed people into new environments, and how adaption to the new environment, in turn, led to new forms of competition.1. Introduction; 2. The antecedents; 3. The tactics; 4; The strategies; 5. The Drylands; 6. The river; 7. The core; 8. The region; 9. The traders; 10. The troubles; 11. The opportunities; 12. The battle; 13. Conclusion: nature and culture.