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26. Homesteads and Indigenous Knowledge: Rural Life and Women in Bangladesh.
YOSHINO, Keiko.
Published in February, 2013.
Kyoto University Press.
Description
This book investigates the role and the change of homesteads in rural Bangladesh in two research periods (1988-95 and 2004-8). The importance of homesteads as living base, and the existence of various resources supported by indigenous knowledge in limited space under seasonal dynamic hydrological changes were found. Women were the chief managers of homesteads, and the nature of subsistence gives communal characteristics to homesteads. It highlights the importance of homesteads as a living base for subsistence production with the progress of segmentation of land” while detailing how crop patterns changes influenced homestead vegetation and increased women’s burden. The book argues the need for fair evaluation of subsistence characteristics and women’s role in homesteads with wide views such as rural living security, environmental healthiness, and enjoyment of rural life not just economic profitability.