A Review of Traditional Micronesian High Island Horticulture in Belau, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae
Hunter-Anderson, Rosalind L. (1991). "A Review of Traditional Micronesian High Island Horticulture in Belau, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae". Micronesica. Mangilao, GU: University of Guam. 24 (1): 1–56. ISSN 2374-801X.
- Has attachment: File:9TUI8SLA.pdf
Abstract: Hunter-Anderson surveys traditional horticultural systems across Belau, Yap, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Kosrae, synthesizing archival sources, ethnography, and field observations to identify ecological and cultural patterning; frames Micronesian horticulture within an ecological-anthropological model linking rainfall, soils, slope, and land availability to crop emphasis, with root crops such as taro, yams, and sweet potato associated with seasonal or lower-rainfall settings and tree crops, especially breadfruit, dominant in wetter, steeper environments; critiques earlier ethnographies for fragmenting material and social culture and lacking systems-level analysis of labor, land allocation, and decision-making; documents major crop complexes, swamp taro pits, agroforests, swiddens, and island-specific patterns such as Belauan irrigated taro systems, Yapese swamp reclamation and yam gardening, Pohnpeian agroforests and ceremonial yam production, and Chuukese mixed taro-breadfruit reliance; emphasizes labor organization, prestige, ritual, exchange, and environmental adaptation; and concludes that quantitative comparative fieldwork is still badly needed to document rapidly declining traditional knowledge across Micronesian high islands.
