Home gardens as agrobiodiversity sites amid agrarian transformations in Jeju, Korea (1960–2016)
Open Access
- Author:
- Hong, Yooinn
- Graduate Program:
- Geography (PHD)
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- April 21, 2021
- Committee Members:
- Leland Glenna, Outside Unit & Field Member
Erica Smithwick, Major Field Member
Karl Zimmerer, Chair & Dissertation Advisor
Brian King, Major Field Member
Cynthia Brewer, Program Head/Chair - Keywords:
- home gardens
agrobiodiversity
smallholders
agricultural modernization
tourism development
agrarian transformations
rural changes
livelihood diversification
agricultural commercialization
cash crop
political ecology
ethnobotany
Korea
Jeju
green revolution
development
conservation - Abstract:
- Geographic research has focused on identifying spaces of agrobiodiversity amid rural changes that may threaten continued cultivation and the future of farmer-based evolution. This dissertation investigates home gardens as important agrobiodiversity sites in rural Jeju, South Korea, where land and livelihoods have been fundamentally transformed over the past few decades as a result of widespread adoption of commercial cropping and livelihood diversification associated with agricultural modernization and tourism development. The dissertation draws upon and contributes to geographic literature in three broad areas: the environment–society geographical investigations of home gardens as agrobiodiversity sites, the political ecology investigation of the state’s role in agrarian development and modernization, and geographies of agrarian transformations, especially agricultural commercialization and livelihood diversification. The findings demonstrate how local people have re-configured home garden agrobiodiversity in response to agrarian changes. The research also tests several environment–society hypotheses currently under debate regarding factors influencing home garden cultivation practice and agrobiodiversity. Three broad sets of questions guide the dissertation’s research. These are: (1) which types and categories of plants are cultivated in contemporary rural home gardens (in 2015), and which household and community factors, especially those related to the locale’s diversified livelihoods, influence the plant diversity and composition of home gardens? (Chapter 2); (2) how did farmers use home gardens as agrobiodiversity sites amid state-led agricultural commercialization and adoption of improved crops and crop varieties (1960–1980), and what do the uses of home gardens reveal about the opportunities and risks that such agrarian transformations presented to smallholders? (Chapter 3); and (3) how do agrarian transformations (agricultural commercialization and livelihood diversification) affect the local land use and land cover, and how do local people adapt to the changes in terms of ethnobotanical plant use (1972–2016)? (Chapter 4). The dissertation has three major findings. First, despite the challenges posed by agricultural commercialization and livelihood diversification, Jeju home gardens have maintained their identities as food and medicinal plant production sites. Their provisioning function continues to be important for a portion of the population, including geographically isolated communities and older people. Second, the successful adoption of citrus as a cash crop was facilitated by the crop’s high spatial compatibility with the local farming system. This compatibility resulted from an interplay between the availability of marginal lands in the farming system, the region-specific state interventions that were supportive of farmer autonomy, and crop characteristics, rather than the inherent trait of a crop alone. Third, the home gardens functioned as a refuge site for wild plants perceived to have become unavailable in the wild but with value to local people. Such wild plant incorporation in home gardens was more prominent in villages with a higher proportion of wild and semi-wild land cover, indicating that such villages allow greater human–nature engagement, ensuring the continuity and spread of knowledge and value of the plants among the locals.