WinklerPrins and de Souza’s investigation of urban home gardens in Santarem, Brazil describes the integral role such gardens play in informal networks of gift exchange among friends and family. This type of network, referred to as the ‘economy of affection,’ provides an important source of commodity acquisition and kin system maintenance for its participants. Building upon their past research in nearby rural areas, the authors chose participants for this study by following family members from the rural households who had migrated to the city and were growing gardens in their new city dwellings. The intense global rate of urbanization and the fact that over 70% of the Brazilian Amazon's population lives in cities that often lack adequate employment opportunities indicate the relevance of this qualitative study in ethnoecology. Moreover, the authors consider gardens to be 'constructions' and not 'deconstructions' of nature and important sites of agrobiodiversity conservation. Demographic and economic household survey data, garden plant inventories, and monthly data tracing the flow of garden production and other subsistence products into and out of each household were recorded. Data analysis revealed that home gardens directly (through household consumption) and indirectly (through the gifting system) contribute to the economic and social resilience of the urban immigrants. Not only does this gift economy enhance the quality of life and livelihood strategies amongst family and friends in their local Santarem neighborhoods, but it mutually supports the household economics of kin still living in the rural area through reciprocal gifting of garden produce and items that the other can't produce as easily in their respective locations. This unmeasured economic mechanism illustrates a global trend blurring the dichotomy of urban and rural livelihoods, and supports a continuum concept for better understanding experiences and processes of urbanization. The authors suggest that economic development efforts could be improved by studying these informal gift economies and facilitating urban agriculture programs that could help urban home gardens to become even more productive and helpful to household economics.

Prepared by Megan Glore