The seminar, “Forests and Indigenous Peoples in Central Africa” by Emeritus Professor Mitsuo Ichikawa (Kyoto University), was held on 10th December 2021. It was co-organized by the IAfP office and the Center for African Area Studies. It was held virtually, with Zoom as its platform, and 61 participants attended it from various countries including African countries.
In the seminar, Prof. Ichikawa gave a presentation on hunter-gatherer societies of the tropical rainforests of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Cameroon based on his long-time research from 1974 to the present, showing detailed results on the diverse knowledge and uses of natural resources by the hunter-gatherers, the coexistence with the neighboring farmers, and its transformation. He indicated three approaches, Cultural Ecology, Historical Ecology, and Political Ecology grasping the dynamics of the societies of hunter-gatherers. Finally, he showed the results and prospects of a joint research project which has been carried out in cooperation with the counterparts of Cameroon in recent years. In the Q&A session, a lively discussion ensued on the current situation and future of hunter-gatherers in Cameroon with Cameroonian researchers and other researchers from Japan and abroad.
