Coming of age in the Netherlands: An osteological assessment of puberty in a rural Dutch post-medieval community.

OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to apply pubertal stage estimation methods to a sample from a rural community: the post-medieval Dutch skeletal collection from Middenbeemster. Puberty is a key developmental period involving transition to physical adulthood with broad societal relevance through its impact on fertility, morbidity, and mortality. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Individuals (n = 55), including 27 of known sex and age-at-death, between the ages of 8 and 25 years were assessed for six skeletal markers indicative of pubertal growth spurt. Recent novel osteoarchaeological methods from Shapland and Lewis are used to reconstruct the timing and duration of pubertal stages. RESULTS: Pubertal acceleration occurred earlier in females (10.38 years, n = 8) than males (13.30 years, n = 6), whereas maturation occurred later in males (21.36 years, n = 11) than females (19.30 years, n = 5). Onset appears earlier and completion later compared to other archaeological skeletal samples with osteoarchaeological evidence of puberty. Age shortly after menarche was reconstructed at 20.45 years, substantially later than historic records and bioarchaeological research reports suggest. CONCLUSION: This early onset and late completion caused a "stretch" of the overall duration of puberty compared to other collections, especially of the last three stages. This prolonged development is reflected in historically known social expectations for the Netherlands, for example, that marriage and children should not occur before about 22-23 years of age. Increasing the range of past peoples with puberty stage reconstruction will permit more insightful interpretations of the biological and cultural patterns of this important life stage.

Community Health in Rural America During the Mid-20th Century.

The Council on Rural Health (1945-1975) of the American Medical Association (AMA) collaborated with domestic health care organizations in the mid-20th century to improve access to health care in rural areas. This council promoted health and farm safety education, public health measures, insurance plans, and construction of health facilities. It also lobbied state and county medical societies to form rural health committees. AMA archive materials document these activities and demonstrate physicians' involvement and investment in the communities they served.

[Biological Standards of Living in Rural Catalonia over the Long Run: A Comparison with Urban Areas (1840-1960)]. / Niveles de vida biológicos en la Cataluña rural en el largo plazo: una comparación con las áreas urbanas (1840-1960).

OBJECTIVE: to assess the long-term evolution of biological living standards in rural Catalonia and to compare it with the corresponding figures in urban areas. METHODS: using data from military records of conscripts from six towns in western Catalonia, we construct an annual height series. Height is standardised at the age of 21 years. We also construct a body mass index (BMI) for conscripts born in 1891 and 1934-39. The annual height series for western Catalonia is systematically compared to the series for Reus, Catalonia's second largest city during the second half of the 19th century. RESULTS: comparing the cohorts born in the periods 1840-49 and 1951-60, we find that height increased by 5.7 centimetres over this period. However, the increase was not distributed equally over time. In the second half of the 19th century, rural heights stagnated over the long run and declined relative to urban heights. In the cohorts born in the decades between 1910 and 1950, rural heights rose by more than 5 centimetres, and converged with those of Reus. CONCLUSION: we provide new evidence for the current debate on the rural-urban height gap. Between the 1840s and the 1950s, heights in rural western Catalonia grew at rates similar to those recorded in certain urban areas, but growth rates differed depending on the period of analysis. This study underlines the importance of adopting long-term perspectives, and stresses that rural-urban height differences tend to be time-and space-specific.

Objetivo: analizar la evolución en el largo plazo del nivel de vida biológico en la Cataluña rural y explorar hasta qué punto esta fue diferente a la de las zonas urbanas. Métodos: utilizamos datos de los registros militares de seis localidades rurales del poniente catalán con los que construimos una serie anual de estatura estandarizada a la edad de 21 años con las cohortes nacidas entre 1840 y 1960. También elaboramos un IMC para los reclutas nacidos en 1891 y 1934-1939. La serie rural de estatura se compara sistemáticamente con la de Reus, el segundo mayor centro urbano catalán de la segunda mitad del siglo xix. Resultados: los datos muestran que la estatura aumentó 5,7 centímetros entre las cohortes nacidas entre 1840-1849 y 1951-1960, aunque desigualmente distribuidos a lo largo del tiempo. En la segunda mitad del siglo xix hubo estancamiento en el largo plazo y divergencia con las estaturas urbanas. Entre 1910 y 1950 la talla rural mejoró en más de 5 centímetros y terminó convergiendo con la de Reus. Conclusión: se aporta nueva evidencia al debate sobre la brecha rural-urbana en el nivel de vida biológico. En el periodo analizado, las tasas de crecimiento de la estatura fueron parecidas en ambos ámbitos, aunque con diferencias según el periodo de análisis. Este estudio subraya la importancia de adoptar perspectivas de largo plazo y señala que las diferencias de estatura rural-urbana tienden a ser específicas de tiempo y espacio.

Medical provision and urban-rural differences in maternal mortality in late nineteenth century Scotland.

This paper examines the effect of variable reporting and coding practices on the measurement of maternal mortality in urban and rural Scotland, 1861-1901, using recorded causes of death and women who died within six weeks of childbirth. This setting provides data (n = 604 maternal deaths) to compare maternal mortality identified by cause of death with maternal mortality identified by record linkage and to contrast urban and rural settings with different certification practices. We find that underreporting was most significant for indirect causes, and that indirect causes accounted for a high proportion of maternal mortality where the infectious disease load was high. However, distinguishing between indirect and direct maternal mortality can be problematic even where cause of death reporting appears accurate. Paradoxically, underreporting of maternal deaths was higher in urban areas where deaths were routinely certified by doctors, and we argue that where there are significant differences in medical provision and reported deaths, differences in maternal mortality may reflect certification practices as much as true differences. Better health services might therefore give the impression that maternal mortality was lower than it actually was. We end with reflections on the interpretation of maternal mortality statistics and implications for the concept of the obstetric transition.

Biological welfare and the commons: A natural experiment in the Alps, 1765-1845.

In the late 18th century hundreds self-governing alpine communities in Northern Italy came under the direct control of centralized states (Austria and France) at different times. We exploit the timing and location of these interventions in a DD type design to investigate the effects of removing CPR institutions on biological welfare. We find a significant and persistent increase in infant mortality rates and a more modest decrease in birth rates as a result of state centralization. We provide evidence that these demographic changes reflect a critical loss of natural resource income caused by the disruption of communal institutions. Impacts are most severe in communities that have no prior experience with formal institutions.

Two worlds apart: Determinants of height in late 18th century central Mexico.

Anthropometric literature on the American territories of the Hispanic monarchy before their independence is still scarce. We attempt to expand the field with a case study that includes some important novelties. Albeit our main source, the military records of the Censo de Revillagigedo (conducted in the early 1790s), has already been used, the sample size and the geographical scope are unprecedented: 19,390 males of four ethnicities (castizos, españoles, mestizos, and mulatos) aged from 16 to 39 from 24 localities, including towns and villages scattered across central regions of the Viceroyalty of New Spain. We build a database that, complemented with information on resource endowments obtained from other sources, permits to analyze the determinants of height. Our results show the importance of spatial differences as well as the significance of ethnicity, occupation, rurality, age and resource endowments as determinants of height. Unprivileged mulatos are only 0.5cm shorter than, assumedly privileged, españoles in the "first world" (El Bajío) and 1.3cm taller in the "second world" (Eastern Central Highlands). In turn, living in the "first world" implies being between nearly 1.5cm and 5cm taller than the inhabitants of the "second world". Our estimates of physical statures are placed within an international comparative context and offer a relatively "optimistic" picture.

Sexual dimorphism in two mediaeval Muslim populations from Spain.

Sexual dimorphism in humans is mainly observed as a difference in the anatomy of genitals and breasts. There are also some differences in the stature and metric or morphological traits of the skeleton. Degree of sexual dimorphism varies among populations and depends on their genetic composition and various cultural and environmental factors. In this study, two Mediaeval Muslim populations from Granada, Spain, were compared, testing whether differences in living environment (urban vs. rural) would result in distinct degrees of sexual dimorphism of long bones. We studied skeletal material from urban (Sahl ben Malik, Granada, Spain) and rural (La Torrecilla, Arenas del Rey, Granada, Spain) cemeteries. Only adult individuals (66 from Sahl ben Malik and 72 from La Torrecilla) were selected for the study. Maximum length, minimum circumference of the shaft and maximum widths of the proximal and distal epiphyses were measured in each bone. The index of sexual dimorphism (ISD) was calculated for each variable and each population. The degree of sexual dimorphism was greater in La Torrecilla. These results indicate that Muslim women in large urban centres may have played a more active role in social and working life in comparison to their rural counterparts and may have enjoyed superior living conditions, which contributed to enhancing the body development of women and reducing sexual dimorphism. We conclude that living in an urban or a rural environment may influence the degree of sexual dimorphism.

Coupled Socio-Environmental Changes Triggered Indigenous Aymara Depopulation of the Semiarid Andes of Tarapacá-Chile during the Late 19th-20th Centuries.

Socio-economic and environmental changes are well known causes of demographic collapse of agrarian cultures. The collapse of human societies is a complex phenomenon where historical and cultural dimensions play a key role, and they may interact with the environmental context. However, the importance of the interaction between socio-economic and climatic factors in explaining possible breakdowns in Native American societies has been poorly explored. The aim of this study is to test the role of socio-economic causes and rainfall variability in the collapse suffered by the Aymara people of the semiarid Andean region of Tarapacá during the period 1820-1970. Our motivation is to demonstrate that simple population dynamic models can be helpful in understanding the causes and relative importance of population changes in Andean agro-pastoral societies in responses to socio-environmental variability. Simple logistic models that combine the effects of external socio-economic causes and past rainfall variability (inferred from Gross Domestic Product [GDP] and tree-rings, respectively) were quite accurate in predicting the sustained population decline of the Aymara people. Our results suggest that the depopulation in the semiarid Tarapacá province was caused by the interaction among external socio-economic pressures given by the economic growth of the lowlands and demands for labor coupled with a persistent decline in rainfall. This study constitutes an example of how applied ecological knowledge, in particular the application of the logistic equation and theories pertaining to nonlinear population dynamics and exogenous perturbations, can be used to better understand major demographic changes in human societies.

Long-term health and socioeconomic consequences of early-life exposure to the 1959-1961 Chinese Famine.

This research investigates long-term consequences of early-life malnutrition by examining effects of the 1959-1961 Chinese Famine. Taking into account temporal and geographic variations in famine severity, we construct a difference-in-differences estimator to identify effects of early-life exposure to famine on perceived health and socioeconomic outcomes in midlife. Using a sample of 1716 adults born in 1955-1966 in rural China from a nationally representative survey-the 2005 Chinese General Social Survey-we find that the famine had adverse effects on mid-life health for males born into families where at least one parent was a Communist Party member and females regardless of parental party membership. Being born during the famine had no effects on years of education or income for either gender. Quantile regressions suggest intense mortality selection among males who had no party-affiliated parents. Our study highlights the importance of timing and contexts of life experiences in shaping health.

Black and white body mass index values in developing nineteenth century Nebraska.

Little is known about late 19th and early 20th century BMIs on the US Central Plains. Using data from the Nebraska state prison, this study demonstrates that the BMIs of dark complexioned blacks were greater than for fairer complexioned mulattos and whites. Although modern BMIs have increased, late 19th and early 20th century BMIs in Nebraska were in normal ranges; neither underweight nor obese individuals were common. Farmer BMIs were consistently greater than those of non-farmers, and farm labourer BMIs were greater than those of common labourers. The BMIs of individuals born in Plains states were greater than for other nativities, indicating that rural lifestyles were associated with better net current biological living conditions.

A sociologia do Brasil urbano / The sociology of urban Brazil

Em meio às comemorações pelos 450 anos de fundação da cidade do Rio de Janeiro, a Editora Fiocruz traz ao público a segunda edição de um livro que é referência no estudo de habitações populares e favelas no Brasil e na América Latina. A Sociologia do Brasil Urbano, do antropólogo Anthony Leeds e da cientista política Elizabeth Leeds. O original, fruto de uma década de pesquisas, havia sido originalmente publicado em 1978 por iniciativa do antropólogo Gilberto Velho. A nova edição, organizada por Elizabeth Leeds e pela socióloga Nísia Trindade Lima, vem reparar uma ausência: a obra encontrava-se esgotada e, portanto, inacessível às novas gerações de pesquisadores. A Sociologia do Brasil Urbano apresenta análises sobre a estrutura de poder e de classes à luz da história das favelas e dos assentamentos não controlados na América Latina. As favelas do Rio de Janeiro, objeto privilegiado pelo estudo, foram analisadas pelo modo como foram tratadas pelo Estado e como eram desenvolvidas as políticas de habitação...

Living arrangements and the elderly: an analysis of old-age mortality by household structure in Casalguidi, 1819-1859.

The elevated levels of protection, assistance, and care enjoyed by the elderly living in complex households has long been a key assumption of many family system theories. However, although this hypothesis has been demonstrated for contemporary contexts, quantitative evidence for past populations is particularly scarce, if not nonexistent. This article investigates the relationship between old-age mortality and living arrangements in a mid-nineteenth century Tuscan population, where the joint family system of sharecroppers coexisted alongside the nuclear system of day laborers. Our findings demonstrate that within complex households, the complexity of relationships, gender inequalities, and possible competition for care and resources among the most vulnerable household members-namely, the elderly and the young-weakens the assumption that the elderly benefitted from lower rates of old-age mortality.

The biological standard of living and mortality in Central Italy at the beginning of the 19th century.

The biological standard of living in Central Italy at the beginning of the 19th century is analyzed using newly collected data on the height of recruits in the army of the Papal States. The results reveal a decline in height for the cohorts born under French rule (1796-1815). Although this trend was common to many parts of Europe, the estimated magnitude of the decline suggests a worsening of the biological standard of living of the working classes in the Papal States even relative to that of other countries. Despite the differences in the economic systems within the Papal States, no significant geographical variation in height has been found: even the most dynamic and advanced regions experienced a dramatic height decline. Mortality also increased during the period under consideration.

Early life socioeconomic conditions in rural areas and old-age mortality in twentieth-century Quebec.

This study examines the effects of early life socioeconomic and residential conditions on adult mortality. The family and residential details of children living in rural areas of Quebec, Canada, in 1901 were linked to their subsequent ages at death using a database compiling information from the 1901 Canadian Census and Quebec vital statistics registers. Survival analysis results suggest that males raised on a farm and in a household owned by their father had lower mortality after the age of fifty than other males from rural areas. Chances for survival at older ages were not equal, however, among males whose father was a farmer. Most notably, males raised on a larger farmstead, an indicator of a higher socioeconomic status, experienced lower risk of mortality than those raised by farmers owning fewer acres. Results were widely different for females, who did not gain an advantage from being raised on a farm, wealthy or not, regardless of homeownership, but instead from having a literate father. Accounting for selection bias and shared frailty among brothers served to enhance the significance and effect size of acreage wealth and of other early life factors in the prediction of male adult mortality risk. This study provides evidence that early life effects on later life health and mortality could often be underestimated, due to a failure to account for selection and unobserved heterogeneity.

Reproductive behavior during the pre-transitional period: evidence from rural Bologna.

A longitudinal, micro-level study of the effect of socioeconomic transformations on fertility mechanisms in the rural hinterland of Bologna between 1818 and 1900 (the beginning of the demographic transition) demonstrates that the premature death of a last-born child reduces the interval between two consecutive childbirths. Thus does it confirm the importance of breast-feeding in determining birth spacing. Women living in complex sharecropping households experienced a significantly higher risk of childbirth than did women in families headed by daily wage earners. In addition, the reproductive behavior of sharecroppers seemed to be substantially invariant to short-term ºuctuations in prices, whereas the laborers' group experienced a negative price effect. Both descriptive and multivariate analyses indicate a slight and gradual decrease in fertility levels during the period in question.

Spatial variations in US poverty: beyond metropolitan and non-metropolitan.

Because poverty in rural and urban areas of the US often has different causes, correlates and solutions, effective anti-poverty policies depend on a thorough understanding of the ruralness or urbanness of specific places. This paper compares several widely used classification schemes and the varying magnitudes of poverty that they reveal in the US. The commonly used 'metropolitan/non-metropolitan' distinction obscures important socioeconomic differences among metropolitan areas, making our understanding of the geography of poverty imprecise. Given the number and concentration of poor people living in mixed-rural and rural counties in metropolitan regions, researchers and policy-makers need to pay more nuanced attention to the opportunities and constraints such individuals face. A cross-classification of the Office of Management and Budget's metro system with a nuanced RUDC scheme is the most effective for revealing the geographical complexities of poverty within metropolitan areas.

Balancing urban and peri-urban exchange: water geography of rural livelihoods in Mexico.

The peri-urban area is the region where there is a more dynamic interaction between the urban and rural. The peri-urban area supplies natural resources, such as land for urban expansion and agricultural products to feed the urban population. In arid and semi-arid lands, such as northern Mexico, these areas may also be the source of water for the city's domestic demand. In addition, scholars argue that peri-urban residents may have a more advantageous geographical position for selling their labour and agricultural products in cities and, by doing so, sustaining their livelihoods. A considerable number of studies have examined the peri-urban to urban natural resources transfer in terms of land annexation, housing construction, and infrastructure issues; however, the study of the effects of the reallocation of peri-urban water resources to serve urban needs is critical as well because the livelihoods of peri-urban residents, such as those based on agriculture and livestock, depend on water availability. In the case of Hermosillo there is a tremendous pressure on the water resources of peri-urban small farm communities or ejidos because of urban demand. Based on interviews and structured surveys with producers and water managers, this paper examines how peri-urban livelihoods have been reshaped by the reallocation of the city's natural resources in many cases caused some ejido members or ejidatarios to lose livelihoods.

Popular culture and sporting life in the rural margins of late eighteenth-century England: the world of Robert Anderson, "The Cumberland Bard".

This study sets out to extend and challenge existing historiography on late eighteenth century British popular culture, customary sports, class and cultural identity, focusing upon the rural geo-political borderland of England. It suggests that prevailing class-based and more London-biased studies need to be balanced with more regionalist-based work, and shows the importance of northern regional leisure variants. The textual and historical analysis draws largely on the published works of a neglected working-class dialect poet, Robert Anderson, living and working in Cumberland, arguing that he represented a strain of ''bardic regionalism,'' a variant of Katie Trumpener's ''bardic nationalism.''

Rural income transfer programs and rural household food security in Ethiopia.

Based on household food security surveys conducted in Ethiopia, this study seeks to understand the roles and limitations of income transfer projects as determinants of households' food security. By covering the Food-For-Work Programs (FFWPs) and the Productive Safety Net Programs (PSNPs), the study shows that these programs served as temporary safety nets for food availability, but they were limited in boosting the dietary diversity of households and their coping strategies. Households which participated in the programs increased their supply of food as a temporary buffer to seasonal asset depletion. However, participation in the programs was marred by inclusion error (food-secure households were included) and exclusion error (food-insecure households were excluded). Income transfer projects alone were not robust determinants of household food security. Rather, socio-demographic variables of education and family size as well as agricultural input of land size were found to be significant in accounting for changes in households' food security. The programs in the research sites were funded through foreign aid, and the findings of the study imply the need to reexamine the approaches adopted by bilateral donors in allocating aid to Ethiopia. At the same time the study underscores the need to improve domestic policy framework in terms of engendering rural local institutional participation in project management.