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How does the local memory of past repression affect whether individuals fight for or rebel against the government perpetrator? The authors theorize how information about past repression is transmitted across generations to shape long-run patterns of loyalty and rebellion toward the state. To assess this argument, they study how the legacies of the 1845–49 Irish Potato Famine affected the decisions of subsequent generations of Irishmen to fight for or against Britain. Leveraging data on more than 150,000 Irish combatants, the authors show that individuals in places more severely affected by the Famine fought in the pro-British Irish Militia and the British military in World War I at lower rates. By contrast, those individuals rebelled against Britain at higher rates. Additional quantitative analysis provides evidence consistent with the theoretical argument: constituencies more severely affected by the Famine were more likely to vote for the pro-Irish, anti-British Sinn Féin Party. This article demonstrates how the local memory of past repression can play a crucial role in shaping long-run patterns of participation in conflict. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article is a case study in the formation and function of commercial networks in the early Modern Period. Analysing the network structures and strategies of foreign businessmen in urban contexts, the inquiry focuses on the Republic of Genoa's role in the grain trade during the 16th and the 17th centuries. To do so, it examines the contributions of 'Northern' merchants in the creation of new commercial networks on a European scale during a major famine. The crisis forced the Republic to open new supply channels, towards Northern Europe and the Baltic region. Through their correspondents abroad, Northern European traders were urged to send grains and agents to Genoa. They did, and the numbers and the prestige of the German and the Flemish nations in the city increased. Their presence changed the commercial networks of the Genoese victualling institution, the Magistrato dell'Abbondanza, and they gained considerable influence after the famine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Nesir: Journal of Literary Studies / Edebiyat Araştırmaları Dergisi is the property of Nesir: Journal of Literary Studies and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article asks why the victims of the 1944–45 famine in Indonesia's main island of Java are largely missing from Indonesia's public memory and historiography. It surveys relevant studies, to conclude that there is no consensus on the human toll of the famine. The article then traces the origins of an initial estimate of four million mentioned by Indonesia's authorities to data on mortality and births uncovered in late 1945. It discusses the outcomes of a recent study that analysed these data to re-estimate excess deaths of, respectively, 0.7 and 1.2 million during 1944 and 1945. The difference with the initial estimate is that it also included unborn children and an unsubstantiated approximation of victims in 1946. The article analyses the likely reasons why the millions of victims of the famine went missing from Indonesia's public memory and historiography during the 1950s and 1960s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the politics of the commemoration of the Kazakh famine of the 1930s by analyzing the commemoration strategies employed by visual artists in the period from 2012 until 2019. It identifies two types of art production on the topic—governmental public art, which avoids politicizing the famine and reads it as the greatest humanitarian catastrophe of the Soviet period, and art projects by independent artists who call the Kazakh famine a genocide. Although these two positions seem to be ideologically opposed on a rhetorical level, the article shows that the difference in the visual language used to express these opposite political positions is not always as pronounced as one would expect, and proposes several explanations for this incoherence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Paul Lynch's neo-Victorian Famine novel Grace (2017), the protagonist's encounter with the proverbial root of all evil marks a moment of Gothic horror. Much more threatening than a single dead body, the foul-smelling, rotten potato invokes the gigantic number of corpses the blight produced during the Irish Famine of the 1840 s. Rather than a natural disaster, this must be understood as a direct result of what is often broadly referred to as 'ecological imperialism'. This article examines the ways in which Grace positions the Famine as both concrete reality and synecdoche of colonialism. The novel traces how the potato blight, caused by the pathogen oomycete Phytophthora infestans, transforms rural Ireland into an uninhabitable wasteland, populated by dehumanised creatures that are rendered disposable. In a second step, I consider the rotten potato as metaphorical of neo-Victorianism's larger critical potential. As critics have argued, neo-Victorianism is well-suited to intervene in selective and largely nostalgic memorialisations of Britain's imperial legacies. To do so, however, it must properly acknowledge that the soil on which it plants – the textualities, theoretical frameworks, and methodological tools upon which it draws – is saturated with imperialist ideology to an extent that precludes any critical re-readings of the past and its bearing on the present. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Famine remains a persistent challenge in underdeveloped regions, exacerbated by natural disasters and other contributing factors. Insights from past famines are crucial for informing contemporary disaster management. The Little Ice Age intensified famine in Northwest China, offering an opportunity to investigate its geographical distribution and climate correlation. Nevertheless, research on famine as a social crisis has been limited, primarily concentrating on intergenerational and regional approaches. To bridge this gap, our study comprehensively analyzes spatiotemporal characteristics, environmental factors, social impacts, and climatic backgrounds of famine in Shaanxi during the Ming Dynasty (1368~1644 AD). Findings reveal 1251 instances of famine at the county level, with peaks occurring in spring and autumn. The famine index suggests three stages, with severity escalating over time. Incidence exhibited spatial heterogeneity and high positive spatial autocorrelation, especially in Guanzhong. Droughts, floods, and insects were primary environmental factors, exhibiting regional variations. Famine’s societal impact was far-reaching, causing damage to agriculture, the economy, the collapse of social order, and outbreaks of social crises. These impacts exhibit significant spatial variations across regions. Results demonstrate a significant association between famine incidence and climate change, and famine was notably more prevalent during dry and cold periods and areas. These findings emphasize the importance of regional and intergenerational approaches in historical famine research and disaster management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract In this study, we present a machine‐learning model capable of predicting food insecurity in the Horn of Africa, which is one of the most vulnerable regions worldwide. The region has frequently been affected by severe droughts and food crises over the last several decades, which will likely increase in future. Therefore, exploring novel methods of increasing early warning capabilities is of vital importance to reducing food‐insecurity risk. We present a XGBoost machine‐learning model to predict food‐security crises up to 12 months in advance. We used >20 data sets and the FEWS IPC current‐situation estimates to train the machine‐learning model. Food‐security dynamics were captured effectively by the model up to 3 months in advance (R2 > 0.6). Specifically, we predicted 20% of crisis onsets in pastoral regions (n = 96) and 20%–50% of crisis onsets in agro‐pastoral regions (n = 22) with a 3‐month lead time. We also compared our 8‐month model predictions to the 8‐month food‐security outlooks produced by FEWS NET. Over a relatively short test period (2019–2022), results suggest the performance of our predictions is similar to FEWS NET for agro‐pastoral and pastoral regions. However, our model is clearly less skilled in predicting food security for crop‐farming regions than FEWS NET. With the well‐established FEWS NET outlooks as a basis, this study highlights the potential for integrating machine‐learning methods into operational systems like FEWS NET.

The problem of food insecurity is worsening in a multi-crisis world simultaneously affected by socio-economic, health, governance and environmental problems. This article characterizes the geography of food insecurity based on six influential theories that explain the emergence of the most dramatic manifestation of food insecurity: famines. We build a taxonomy of 98 developing countries using a clustering procedure and identify four groups of countries with different vulnerabilities. The multidimensional analysis depicts a complex map of the diversity of human vulnerabilities that trigger hunger and famines across the world.

BackgroundEpidemiological studies have shown that early-life nutritional deficiencies are associated with an increased risk of diseases later in life. This study aimed to explore the correlation between famine exposure during the early stages of life and cataracts.MethodsWe included 5,931 participants from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) 2018 cross-sectional data in our study. Subjects were categorized into three groups by their age during the famine: adulthood group, school age famine exposure group, and teenage famine exposure group. Utilizing binary logistic regression models, we investigated the relationship between early-life famine exposure and cataracts.ResultsCompared to the adulthood group, both the school age exposure group (OR = 2.49, 95%CI = 1.89–3.27) and teenage exposure group (OR = 1.45, 95%CI = 1.20–1.76) had a heightened risk of developing cataracts in elderly stage. And the sex differences in the impact of famine during early years on elderly cataract risk were observed, particularly indicating a higher risk among women who experienced childhood famine compared to men with similar exposure.ConclusionFamine exposure during the early stages of life is associated with a heightened risk of developing cataracts in old age. To prevent cataracts in elderly individuals, particularly in females, measures should be taken to address nutritional deficiencies in these specific periods.

Societal Impact Statement The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference emphasised the need to modify practices that negatively impact biodiversity and food security in the context of global change. Following Madagascar's drought‐induced famine, our systematic review supports the theory that grasslands of the Malagasy Central Highland that are subjected to human‐lit fires are anthropogenically derived. Furthermore, these overly frequent fires that characterise much of the Malagasy Central Highland grasslands select poorly palatable grasses. Given the reliance on pastoralism as insurance against crop failure in Madagascar, fire‐dependent practices that degrade rangeland emerge as a threat to food security and biodiversity. Education can mitigate against future humanitarian crises. Summary Food insecurity is greatest in countries where impacts of global change are predicted to be severe. Many, like Madagascar, rely on livestock‐based pastoralism (and consequently palatable rangelands) for insurance against natural disasters and crop failure. It is recognised that derived grasslands can impact climate and biodiversity. Furthermore, the well‐established palatability‐flammability trade‐off predicts that overly‐frequent fires select increasingly unpalatable, fire‐adapted grassland. The drought‐induced Malagasy famine of 2021 highlights the need to identify factors that threaten food security. Given the ubiquitous practice of rangeland preparation through annual, landscape‐scale human‐lit fires, we evaluate whether Malagasy grasslands are derived and then test for fire‐driven selection of increasingly degraded and unpalatable rangelands across Madagascar's largest grassland system, the Malagasy Central Highland (MCH). We conducted a systematic literature review, evaluating for a palatability‐flammability trade‐off, by determining dominant Malagasy grass species, and then applying functional traits, and palatability ratings to these species. Data were extracted using a suite of relevant search terms, and of 1977 studies identified, 145 were directly relevant to the questions posed. Evidence from the review is compelling for much of the Malagasy highland grassland being derived. Furthermore, Malagasy dominant grass species are fire‐adapted with poor forage‐value, suggesting current burning practices negatively impact both biodiversity and pastoralism. Decreasing rangeland palatability caused by human‐lit fires in a society suffering food insecurity emphasises the need to re‐evaluate pastoralist burning practices. Identifying optimal fire frequencies can avert breaching fire‐induced tipping points to rangeland palatability and the humanitarian crises that may follow.

Introduction. The study analyzes a variety of newly discovered archival documents and materials for a comprehensive insight into the 1921–1922 mass famine in Uralsk Governorate. To facilitate this, the paper shall examine the causes, mitigation measures, and consequences of the famine in the designated region of present-day Kazakhstan. Materials. So, the study focuses on related documents from the State Archive of West Kazakhstan Region that have never been introduced into scientific discourse and received only fragmented attention. Results. The work provides a historiographic review on the topic under consideration, while some key research results are based on analytical insights into the archival papers. Our narrative centers around the causes and socio-demographic consequences, conditions of livestock breeding and agrarian industries, famine mitigation measures. Statistical data contained in the reports of governorate-level commissions prove most instrumental in evaluating the 1921–1922 famine’s scale and tracing negative socioeconomic dynamics. Conclusions. Uralsk Governorate happened to be a most famine-affected region of Kazakhstan, which was dramatically preceded (and paralleled) by harsh natural and climatic conditions, such as drought, crop failure, zud (jut), and livestock reduction. These were aggravated by poor agrarian development of the region and reduction of cultivated areas — only to be face the early twentieth century political cataclysms (e.g., Russian Civil War, increase of taxation, etc.). The famine’s consequences included increased mortality rates, population decline, dramatic fall of living standards, and large numbers of orphans and homeless children.

The peer-reviewed two-volume publication of documents was prepared by Samara archivists (responsible compiler Dubrovina E.N.) under the supervision of Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor Paramonov V.N. The authors set out to recreate a multifactorial complex documentary picture of the social humanitarian tragedy of the 1920–1930-ies in the Samara province and the Middle Volga region. The implementation of this task required a lot of effort and many years of work. The first volume, entitled «Famine in the Samara Province in the 20-ies of the XX century», is more than 32 printed sheets (514 p.) was published in 2014, the second – «Famine in the Middle Volga Territory in the 30-ies of the XX century», with a volume of 50 printed sheets (798 p.) was published in 2021. Both volumes contain 718 documents from six local and central archives, as well as a number of published collections of documents. Such a voluminous publication significantly supplements the factual base of previous editions, primarily due to materials from local archives. The scientific and reference apparatus of the publication has been professionally completed; archaeographic processing of documents was carried out at a high level. The publication under review is a significant event in historical knowledge and allows in many respects to take a different look at the events of the 1920–1930-ies.

Background: Evidence has shown that early‐life famine exposure and obesity in adulthood are independently associated with the risk of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, few studies had revealed the combined effect of these risk factors. Methods: Two sets of groups from the China Health and Retirement Longitudinal Study (CHARLS) were selected. The fetal‐exposure group born in 1959–1961 from 2011 wave (N = 958) and nonexposure group born in 1963–1965 from 2015 wave (N = 1540) were selected as Comparison 1. The early childhood‐exposure group born in 1955–1957 from 2011 wave (N = 1510) and fetal‐exposure group born in 1959–1961 from 2015 wave (N = 943) were Comparison 2. Logistic regressions were applied to examine the associations of different famine exposure periods and obesity patterns with T2DM risk. Results: Compared with nonexposed participants without central overweight/obesity in adulthood, central overweight/obesity in adulthood together with nonexposure (odds ratio [OR]: 1.89, 95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.19–3.00) or fetal‐exposure (OR: 1.99, 95% CI: 1.23–3.23) was associated with higher risks of T2DM. Compared with the early childhood‐exposure group, the fetal‐exposed participants showed higher risks of T2DM (OR: 1.30, 95% CI: 1.02–1.66). The coexistence of fetal famine exposure and central overweight/obesity in adulthood was associated with higher risks of T2DM (OR: 1.82, 95% CI: 1.19–2.79). Consistent associations were observed among males and participants from less severely affected areas. Conclusions: In conclusion, central overweight/obesity in adulthood is associated with the increased risk of T2DM, but the effect of early‐life famine exposure is not very clear. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Great Persian Famine of 1917–1919 is one of the greatest calamities in the history of Iran. While some scholarly work has explored the causes and dynamics of the famine, less attention has been paid to its memorialisation. This paper aims to understand how the Great Persian Famine is remembered – or not – in public and personal spheres in Iran. Discussing the historical events that have been silenced, neglected or publicly recognised and commemorated before and after the Islamic Revolution, the paper focusses on the processes that hinder public and private memorialising of hunger violence. Drawing on existing literature, personal diaries, artistic representations, and interviews with persons whose parents or grandparents experienced the Great Persian Famine, we discuss why it has not figured prominently in the national historiography or commemorative practices, except during a brief period (2008–2013) when it found its way into the prevailing political discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Famine theory has overlooked the role of memory in constituting the social meaning of famine. This seminal collection of papers restores the cross-disciplinary study of famines, foregrounding social anthropology, history and comparative politics, in the question of how famines are understood by those in the afflicted societies, and how memories and meanings are shaped by social and political context. The collection plays an important role in focussing attention on transitional justice mechanisms for starvation crimes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bengal famine of 1943 is one of the most catastrophic and violent outcomes of British colonial rule in India. Recently, there has been a surge in understanding the famine from an anti-colonial perspective. However, the relation between the impact of the famine and caste-based subalternities has not received adequate attention. The immediate concerns that arise with the task of filling this gap are ethical-methodological and narrative: even from the lens of caste-subaltern consciousness, how does one arrive at and share stories of the famine, and can they ever be 'recovered' and 'represented'? This paper narrates the story of fieldwork-filming, carried out as part of ongoing research in artistic practice, which attempts to understand and engage with caste-subaltern (especially Dalit) experiences of the Bengal famine of 1943 and to explore methodologically how these experiences can be creatively and collaboratively imagined and negotiated. The paper proposes that there is a need to shift away from 'recovery' and 'representation' of the 'authentic' caste-subaltern experiences of the famine and towards negotiated imagination. To illustrate and make a case for this shift, this paper provides a detailed description and analysis of methodological processes and their implications that emerged during the fieldwork-filming. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the role of social media in the memorialisation of the Biafra famine. It argues that given the absence of Biafra famine narratives in the official post-Civil War memory spaces in Nigeria, social media has emerged as a site where silence and hegemonic discourses around the Biafra famine are disrupted, contested and unmoored. Thus, the study contributes to the contemporary debates on digital media and memorialisation of mass atrocities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Processes of justice and accountability have long overlooked the death and suffering resulting from famines. This article examines how various domestic and international actors involved in the Red Terror Trials (1992–2010) framed the 1984–1985 famine in Ethiopia and what explains the absence of famine-related cases from the trials. Based on archival sources and interviews, the article discusses how the Red Terror Trials offered an opportunity to prosecute famine-related cases. The study shows, however, that despite the framing of the famine as 'political' and an act of crime by various actors, the Red Terror Trials were silent about the famine. One explanation is the difficulty of establishing a legal case based on famine-related casualties, coupled with a lack of incentive as there were already enough criminal cases to prosecute former Dergue regime officials. The complicated political history of the famine and its causes, which might implicate various domestic and international actors and not just the Dergue officials, can also explain the absence of the famine-related cases from the trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite its devastating impact on the population, the 1977–1979 famine in East Timor scarcely features in global studies of hunger. This article traces how the famine was dealt with in international politics during the Indonesian occupation (1975–1999), and in Timor-Leste during the United Nations administration and as an independent nation-state. The East Timor case extends our knowledge of the workings of conflict-induced famines, provides insights into the attempts by transnational activists and diasporic actors to mobilise international action on crises such as famine, and examines the options for dealing with famine and its community-wide legacies in post-conflict societies including under a transitional justice model. By analysing the activities of the country's transitional justice institution, the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation (Comissão de Acolhimento, Verdade e Reconciliação, CAVR) and its successor, the Centro Nacional Chega! (CNC), as well as grassroots initiatives, the article outlines some of the challenges of delivering justice for famine victims and survivors in post-conflict societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much of the literature echoes the Chinese Communist Party (CCP)'s official explanation of the Great Leap Famine (1959–1961) to argue that the Party survived the legitimacy crisis posed by the famine by blaming the weather. While several have suggested that the CCP held the local cadres responsible for generating the famine, little evidence had been gathered to show how this was done. This article reconciles the above arguments by asserting that the CCP, by exploiting the urban–rural informational asymmetry, employed a dual propaganda approach that combined an urban explanation that blamed the weather with a more important rural strategy that admitted the famine's man-made nature but shifted the blame onto local leaders, to direct the responsibility away from the Party centre. By leveraging local government archives in Henan Province's Nanyang Prefecture, this study analyses how the Party propagated the rural explanation through the Rural Party Rectification Movement (1960–1961) to placate immediate peasantry discontent and reconstruct long-run famine memories. Interviews conducted in 2021 show that the re-engineering of the famine narrative contributed to the peasants' distrust of local cadres. This perception persisted over time, at least partially affecting the peasants' willingness to cooperate with local policies in the 1990s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this article is to describe instances of charity accounting relating to a natural disaster in Sweden and to analyse the relationship between charity accounting and dimensions of moral conception prevailing in Sweden in the second half of the nineteenth century. Drawing on accounts of the Stockholm Relief Committee for Norrland, a temporary charity organisation established during the Swedish Famine of 1867–1869, the study shows that moral conceptions affected not only the distribution of relief but also what was accounted for. There are also indications that accounting was used to enhance the morality of the propertied class to act in the interest of those in need. In this way, the broader social implications of accounting history are considered, and previous conceptions of accounting as a one-sided technology exclusively favouring propertied interests and enhancing the morality of the poor are challenged. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Malnutrition in early life increases the risk of osteoporosis, but the association of early-life undernutrition combined with adulthood obesity patterns with low-energy fracture remains unknown. This study included 5323 community-dwelling subjects aged ⩾40 years from China. Early-life famine exposure was identified based on the participants' birth dates. General obesity was assessed using the body mass index (BMI), and abdominal obesity was evaluated with the waist-to-hip ratio (WHR). Low-energy fracture was defined as fracture occurring after the age of ⩾40 typically caused by falls from standing height or lower. Compared to the nonexposed group, the group with fetal, childhood, and adolescence famine exposure was associated with an increased risk of fracture in women with odds ratios (ORs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) of 3.55 (1.57–8.05), 3.90 (1.57–9.71), and 3.53 (1.05–11.88), respectively, but not in men. Significant interactions were observed between fetal famine exposure and general obesity with fracture among women (P for interaction = 0.0008). Furthermore, compared with the groups with normal BMI and WHR, the group of women who underwent fetal famine exposure and had both general and abdominal obesity had the highest risk of fracture (OR, 95% CI: 3.32, 1.17–9.40). These results indicate that early-life famine exposure interacts with adulthood general obesity and significantly increases the risk of low-energy fracture later in life in women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bengal famine of 1943 has received significant attention from academia, politicians and the public. This is the result both of its considerable death toll and the range of factors held responsible, including politicians. However, despite the quantity of discussion and controversy that it has generated, three areas have thus far been insufficiently addressed: the results of the Bengal Food Drive, the geographic link between famine and the 'denial policy', and the economic Balkanisation of India. This article addresses these areas to draw a more rounded conclusion on the debate around the famine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the first city-states established in Mesopotamia, grains are the most basic comestibles that determine the political and economic process. Grain famine, which emerged due to natural and political factors, led to the collapse of states. B.C. The 4.2 kiloyear event that started around 2200 BC caused the geographical structure of Mesopotamia to change. The migrations that followed this climate event also changed the political structure of Mesopotamia. The settled and nomadic societies in northern Mesopotamia migrated south due to extreme droughts. Although the societies in Southern Mesopotamia continued to use the river resources for a while, agricultural lands became aridity due to salinization as a result of continuous irrigation with river waters and grain famine occurred. It is seen that these famines continued during the establishment of the Third Dynasty of Ur. In order to prevent famines, agricultural lands were fallow and drainage systems were developed. However, the population pressure that emerged in the cities due to the continued Amorites migrations required continuous cultivation on agricultural lands. With these grain famines in the Third Dynasty of Ur, the tax system was broken, the rations could not be paid with barley, and the number of livestock offered as offerings to temples decreased. In addition, as a result of the overvaluation of barley against silver, the supply-demand balance deteriorated and the kingdom collapsed economically. After these developments, Elam attacks started and some cities affiliated to the kingdom declared their independence. As a result of all these events, the Third Dynasty of Ur collapsed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Societal Impact Statement: The 26th United Nations Climate Change Conference emphasised the need to modify practices that negatively impact biodiversity and food security in the context of global change. Following Madagascar's drought‐induced famine, our systematic review supports the theory that grasslands of the Malagasy Central Highland that are subjected to human‐lit fires are anthropogenically derived. Furthermore, these overly frequent fires that characterise much of the Malagasy Central Highland grasslands select poorly palatable grasses. Given the reliance on pastoralism as insurance against crop failure in Madagascar, fire‐dependent practices that degrade rangeland emerge as a threat to food security and biodiversity. Education can mitigate against future humanitarian crises. Summary: Food insecurity is greatest in countries where impacts of global change are predicted to be severe. Many, like Madagascar, rely on livestock‐based pastoralism (and consequently palatable rangelands) for insurance against natural disasters and crop failure. It is recognised that derived grasslands can impact climate and biodiversity. Furthermore, the well‐established palatability‐flammability trade‐off predicts that overly‐frequent fires select increasingly unpalatable, fire‐adapted grassland. The drought‐induced Malagasy famine of 2021 highlights the need to identify factors that threaten food security. Given the ubiquitous practice of rangeland preparation through annual, landscape‐scale human‐lit fires, we evaluate whether Malagasy grasslands are derived and then test for fire‐driven selection of increasingly degraded and unpalatable rangelands across Madagascar's largest grassland system, the Malagasy Central Highland (MCH). We conducted a systematic literature review, evaluating for a palatability‐flammability trade‐off, by determining dominant Malagasy grass species, and then applying functional traits, and palatability ratings to these species. Data were extracted using a suite of relevant search terms, and of 1977 studies identified, 145 were directly relevant to the questions posed. Evidence from the review is compelling for much of the Malagasy highland grassland being derived. Furthermore, Malagasy dominant grass species are fire‐adapted with poor forage‐value, suggesting current burning practices negatively impact both biodiversity and pastoralism. Decreasing rangeland palatability caused by human‐lit fires in a society suffering food insecurity emphasises the need to re‐evaluate pastoralist burning practices. Identifying optimal fire frequencies can avert breaching fire‐induced tipping points to rangeland palatability and the humanitarian crises that may follow. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Athenaeum: Polskie Studia Politologiczne is the property of Faculty of Political Science & Security Studies Nicolaus Copernicus University and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of Anaquel de Estudios Árabes is the property of Universidad Complutense de Madrid and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The total population of the Union republics is analyzed based on three tabulations of the 1926 population census, conducted in 1927–1928, 1937, and 1939. Through a comparative analysis of the results of the population censuses of 1937 and 1939, it is concluded that the redistribution of the total population among the republics did not seek to eliminate shortcomings in the conduct of the 1926 census since in all these tabulations the main indicator of the total population of the Soviet Union remained unchanged and amounted to 147 027 915 people. Most likely, the aim of this redistribution was to disguise the consequences of the demographic catastrophe associated with the famine of the early 1930s, especially in relation to Kazakhstan. In this context, this article also provides data on the population dynamics of the Central Asian republics from 1926 to 1939, obtained from three tabulations of the 1926 census. The results of these tabulations showed similar trends. It is concluded that the results of the first, earlier tabulations of the 1926 census materials are the least susceptible to distortion and can be used in scientific analysis. Another conclusion is that subsequent changes made to the 1926 census were intended to hide the consequences of the demographic catastrophe in the Soviet Union that had occurred as a result of the famine of the early 1930s. These changes were carried out by manipulating the redistribution of various categories of the population in the Union republics. In the Kyrgyz Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Kyrgyz ASSR), the number of Kazakhs increased by 1749 people. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Food security is discussed with a particular focus on the decades either side of 1300, years characterised by poor weather and significant fluctuations in food availability, evident especially in the varied performance of grain harvests. Examining access to food and the vulnerability of the food supply in a period of particular pressure on food resources allows reflection on stresses on food availability in these decades as well as the range of approaches that individuals and institutions could employ in seeking to respond to them. The article discusses relative entitlement and contemporary perceptions of the same. While its focus is upon rural society and the experience of the peasantry, there will necessarily be some reference to the urban context, which cannot be separated from the experience of the countryside, and the attempts of institutions such as government to respond to issues relevant to food security in this period. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bread was the most important item of diet in medieval England. Cereals were consumed in boiled form, but bread was preferred. Bread was not just convenient, but was also symbolic of well-being. Although breads were made from other cereals and legumes, wheat bread occupied a prime position, and in particular white wheat bread was regarded highly by consumers. Reasons are given for these attitudes, including the practical advantage that white bread was an efficient source of energy and was cost-effective. The political management of the corn trade and bread baking through such regulations as the assize of bread was intended to prevent unrest, but occasionally consumers organised 'food riots'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Based on the potential of educational materials to forge and shape the collective memory, this article analyses the representations of the Francoist Hunger Years (1939–1952) in recent history textbooks for secondary schools by a wide range of publishers. The main thesis of the paper is that while there are textbooks that provide a complex narrative of the hunger experiences, others – even some of the most recent ones – depict the period in an oversimplified and historiographically outdated way and fail to address various social perspectives. This article also argues that it is possible to detect the persistence of the official Francoist discourse on the years of hunger in some textbooks that continue to implicitly perpetuate the distortion and oblivion the Franco dictatorship tried to impose on the famine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Elizabeth Gaskell's North and South introduces starving Irish immigrants to critique England's response to the Great Famine (1845-52) and to inspire compassion for the Irish laborers brought in as "knobsticks» or strike breakers in the factory town of Milton. Against this manufacturing backdrop, wherein immigrants are even more desperate than the native working-class, sympathy for the hungry motivates the striking English workers to overcome anti-Irish sentiment and to transcend differences through hospitality. Both working-class Nicholas Higgins and factory-owner John Thornton learn to accept responsibility for alleviating workers' suffering caused by Britain's commercial competition and global expansion, in the process establishing better understanding between classes and cultures. Despite their role as minor characters, the Irish immigrants prove central to the novel's humanistic message as recipients of English hospitality at a time when hosts had little to give. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Standard recommendations to reduce body fat (eat less and exercise more) have been largely unsuccessful at achieving sustained weight loss. Bodies have evolved to deposit fat as insurance against future food shortage. Given sufficient energy income, the amount of fat carried by a body is a physiological choice because thermogenic mechanisms allow the body to dump excess calories to the environment as heat. Bodies evolved to maintain a level of fat that balanced the current costs of carrying fat against the bodily-perceived risk of famine. Intense physical activity favors less fat to lighten the load being carried. Dieting may be ineffective in achieving sustained reductions in fat mass because it causes reductions in thermogenic energy expenditure to protect fat reserves and because it communicates to the body that it had been underinsured, favoring deposition of additional fat once diets relax. Recent increases in body weight hint that bodies perceive the current environment as one with greater need for fat as insurance. Increased economic insecurity associated with recent economic changes may have been interpreted by ancient bodily mechanisms as a reason to store additional fat. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract Background The early life stage is critical for the gut microbiota establishment and development. We aimed to investigate the lifelong impact of famine exposure during early life on the adult gut microbial ecosystem and examine the association of famine-induced disturbance in gut microbiota with type 2 diabetes. Methods We profiled the gut microbial composition among 11,513 adults (18–97 years) from three independent cohorts and examined the association of famine exposure during early life with alterations of adult gut microbial diversity and composition. We performed co-abundance network analyses to identify keystone taxa in the three cohorts and constructed an index with the shared keystone taxa across the three cohorts. Among each cohort, we used linear regression to examine the association of famine exposure during early life with the keystone taxa index and assessed the correlation between the keystone taxa index and type 2 diabetes using logistic regression adjusted for potential confounders. We combined the effect estimates from the three cohorts using random-effects meta-analysis. Results Compared with the no-exposed control group (born during 1962–1964), participants who were exposed to the famine during the first 1000 days of life (born in 1959) had consistently lower gut microbial alpha diversity and alterations in the gut microbial community during adulthood across the three cohorts. Compared with the no-exposed control group, participants who were exposed to famine during the first 1000 days of life were associated with consistently lower levels of keystone taxa index in the three cohorts (pooled beta − 0.29, 95% CI − 0.43, − 0.15). Per 1-standard deviation increment in the keystone taxa index was associated with a 13% lower risk of type 2 diabetes (pooled odds ratio 0.87, 95% CI 0.80, 0.93), with consistent results across three individual cohorts. Conclusions These findings reveal a potential role of the gut microbiota in the developmental origins of health and disease (DOHaD) hypothesis, deepening our understanding about the etiology of type 2 diabetes.