Thesis (M.S.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1983. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 161-164).

The purpose of this study was to analize the combined effects of the two agrarian reforms 1969 and 1980 on a peasant group in the Chicama valley - Peru. Until now Magdalena de Cao, a peasant group in Chicama valley had not been examined in light of the recent agrarian reforms and their effects on this peasant group. The data were collected mainly through informal interviews with minimum participant observation. Comparative information on lifestyles among the people representing all types of agrarian constituents were obtained as part of the data. Some questions, if not hypotheses, have been generated and raised. A census of 177 families or 870 individuals was obtained by this researcher alone. Magdalena de Cao, as a peasant group, provides an empirical case of independent peasants and their adaptive strategies to confront the challenge of social development. Their strife is not only relevant to Chicama valley, but also in the broader national picture. / Department of Anthropology

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Poor people in rural areas of developing countries are considered to be particularly vulnerable. Research shows that the rural poor tend to live in risky environments and face greater difficulties coping because they are excluded from formal safety nets and have few assets. Today, there is much concern that risk, especially environmental risk, contributes to perpetuate poverty and threatens livelihood security, yet our understanding of the implications of environmental risk for rural livelihood remains incipient. This dissertation explores peasant livelihood within the context of environmental change through a study of peasant responses to rapid river changes along the Central Ucayali River, a highly active meandering river and a major Amazon tributary in Peru. / Livelihood responses to floodplain dynamics were examined using the case of a recent meander cut-off near the city of Pucallpa as a "natural experiment." Participant observation and a household survey with 68 ribereno households, in three different villages upstream and downstream from the cut-off, served to investigate: (1) livelihood before and after the cut-off; (2) the role of humans in facilitating the cut-off, (3) land tenure; and (4) the links between shocks and asset evolution. / Descriptive analysis indicates that riberenos modified their livelihoods in response to the biophysical changes attributed to the cut-off and derived important economic opportunities. Results suggest that riberenos actually intervened to facilitate the cut-off to reduce travel time and make boat travel safer. Despite the potential for unclear rights and overlapping claims, due to land instability and the coexistence of formal and customary tenure rules, land disputes did not result in physical violence. Examples from two villages were used to illustrate how tenure rules are renegotiated as the resource base expands or contracts. Descriptive and statistical analyses show that riverbank slumps were the main form of risk along the Ucayali and, despite their direct effect on land holdings, environmental shocks did not necessarily constrain land accumulation or increase inequality. This study argues that environmental risk can increase vulnerability and reduce welfare but, under certain circumstances it creates new opportunities for rural people in developing countries. The implications of these findings for vulnerability reduction, human adaptation to environmental change, and Amazonian cultural ecology are discussed. / Les populations pauvres des regions rurales des pays en développement sontconsidérées comme étant particulièrement vulnérables. Les recherches passées ontdémontré que les membres de ces populations tendent à vivre dans des environnements àrisques et font face à de plus grands défis parce qu'exclus du filet de sécurité socialeformel et parce que possédant comparativement moins de biens mobiliers et immobiliers.Aujourd'hui, de beaucoup s'inquiètent de la contribution de ces risques, en particulier desriques environnementaux, à perpétuer la pauvreté et du danger qu'ils posent pour lemaintient des modes de vie. Malgré ces inquiétudes, notre compéhension desimplications des risques environnementaux pour les modes de vie ruraux demeure faible.Cette dissertation explore le mode de vie paysan en période de changementsenvironnementaux. Il s'agit d'une étude de la réponse des paysans du moyen Ucayali auxrapides changements dans la dynamique du fleuve. L'Ucayali est un affluent majeur dufleuve Amazone, au Pérou.