Persistence of Logboats in Latin America: a framework to assess prospects of survival
(This essay is slightly modified from one written for a course in the maritime aspects of culture at University of Southampton.)
Introduction
Vernacular watercraft are disappearing from many
parts of the world (McGrail, 2001:201, 211;
Blue, 2003:334; Pham et al., 2010:274), under pressure from a variety of forces often
related to modernization. As vernacular boats represent living parts of the
world’s maritime heritage and may, through the practice of ethnoarchaeology,
offer insights into maritime archaeology per
se, it is important to document as many of them and their uses as possible
while they remain (Figure 1). With an unknown but large number of boat
types at risk, a method by which to assess the level of threat in each instance
would be useful, so that documentation efforts might be prioritized.
 |
| Figure 1: Documenting a boat type threatened with extinction. (McGrail, 2001:209) |
This essay proposes a simple framework of supply-and-demand-based
factors to assess the survival prospects of traditional boat types. The essay examines
examples of logboat use in Latin America found in recent literature to test the
method’s utility, but the framework will accommodate all vernacular boat types
and locales.
Craft traditions
A boatbuilding craft
tradition embodies “a system of ideas about what boats and ships are and
how they should be designed and constructed. This will impose constraints in
terms of design parameters on the practice of construction” (Adams, 2010:301, 2013:24). But, Adams notes, while traditions
exist to protect “best practice,” they are also capable of adapting in response
to outside influences.
As will be shown below, the construction of
logboats in Latin America occurs within craft traditions. Although these
traditions vary from one society to the next, common among them is the
conception of the boat as a tree that is felled and hollowed by one’s own labour
or with the assistance of others in the community, using hand tools. Changes
might occur in building methods over time (for example, the adoption of power
tools) without fundamentally impairing the tradition of producing boats of a
generally similar type by generally similar means. But at some level of change,
a tradition becomes defunct. For example, a boatbuilder who shifts from the one-off
production of logboats to the mass production of fiberglass hulls could not
maintain the same conception about how boats are designed and built.
Understanding how a logboat building tradition
responds to change is therefore central to assessing its prospects for
survival.
Supply and demand
For a technology to persist in any society,
there must be a sufficient number of people who want or need it, and a
sufficient number of people willing and able to provide it. In other words,
supply and demand must both remain positive. In most cases, this involves monetary
payment or barter for goods or services of comparable value, although there are
instances in which logboats are exchanged on other terms – for example, through
a generalized practice of reciprocity (described below).
As noted by Lemmonier, “the rejection or
adoption of technological features” (1993:18) – in other words, demand for
technology in a given form – is not solely a matter of practical utility and
economics, but also involves issues of status, group identity, social
relations, and symbolism. Considering logboats, then, as a specific form of the
general technology of “small boats,” an analysis of demand, and of the forces
of supply that respond to it, requires that we look at a variety of factors,
some straightforwardly utilitarian or economic in nature, and others ideological.
Demand factors
Although supply and demand are inextricably
intertwined, it is convenient to address them separately. This section explores
the positive and negative effects of various social and economic phenomena on
logboat demand.
Usage
In several locations where logboats traditionally
have been used as fishing craft, fewer individuals now fish for subsistence and
more fish commercially, using larger boats and boats that are otherwise better
suited to fishing with modern equipment (McSweeney, 2004:642;
Heyman and Granados-Dieseldorff, 2012:139; Fuquen Gomez, 2014:192; Orofino et al., 2017:2783-2786), reducing demand for logboats. Decline in
demand has also been attributed to an overall drop in fishing effort (Orofino et al., 2017:2785).
On the other hand, new niches occasionally arise
which can be exploited effectively with logboats. This was the case in Santa
Catarina, Brazil (Orofino et al., 2017:2789), and in Central America’s Mosquitia region (McSweeney, 2004:642), where logboats came into use as platforms
from which to dive for lobsters for an emergent export market.
Construction and materials
Users may shift from logboats to other boat
types because they perceive advantages in other boatbuilding methods and materials,
notably plank-on-frame, glass-reinforced plastic (i.e., fiberglass), and metal (McSweeney, 2004:642;
Orofino et al., 2017:2783, 2784-2786). Although a full discussion of the performance
advantages and disadvantages of these methods/materials relative to logboats is
outside the scope of this essay, it is relevant that all three can be used to
build larger craft than is possible with logboats, and the latter two offer
superior durability.
Some users, however, valorize logboats over
other materials because they are perceived as being safer, due to their
inherent buoyancy, and quieter when moving through the water, and so less
likely to scare away fish (Orofino et al., 2017:2784). The higher purchase price of other types of
boats, and the very fact that logboats are not durable in the tropics and so
require frequent replacement, also tend to support a steady market for logboats
in some areas (McSweeney, 2004:641).
Economics
Logboats can thrive where goods and services
are exchanged through nonfinancial transactions (Gilmore et al., 2002:12; Fuquen Gomez, 2014:176-181). As boat users become more highly integrated
into a modern cash economy, however, they become more likely to purchase
ready-built boats of other materials (Heyman and
Granados-Dieseldorff, 2012:139; Fuquen Gomez, 2014:220). The reason for this preference is unclear
in some cases, as many logboat builders operate in a cash economy, and even
those who practice barter may also accept payment in cash (Fuquen Gomez,
2014:173-174). In fact, market economics are central to
the practice of some logboat builders (McSweeney, 2004; Fuquen
Gomez, 2014:176-177; Orofino et al.,
2017:2789). It seems probable that fishers who are not
closely integrated in cash economies are more likely to fish for subsistence,
and logboats continue to suffice for their relatively small-scale needs. In
contrast, fishers who are more involved in modern cash economies may require
larger boats to compete effectively.
As lesser-developed societies become more
closely integrated within modern market economies, commercial credit becomes
available to some individuals, making possible the acquisition of larger boats
and thus depressing demand for logboats. However, owners of larger boats often find
their costs of operation unsupportable. In response, many downsize to logboats (Emdad Haque et al., 2015:405). Meanwhile, individuals who do not have
access to commercial credit may rely upon informal credit arrangements with
family and friends. Such loans are typically for smaller amounts and tend to be
used to purchase logboats (Emdad Haque et al., 2015:405). Being less costly than other boat types, logboats
thus continue to provide utility by which poorer individuals can live by
fishing.
Government policy
Government regulations may influence demand
for logboats. In Santa Catarina, fishers previously stored their logboats in
boat houses to protect them from the sun. When new rules banned boat houses
from beaches, logboats became less practical and demand dropped off (Orofino et al., 2017:2784-2786, table 2), because the lack of sun protection
significantly shortened the boats’ lifespan.
Although I have found no other published
examples from Latin America, one could posit other common forms of government
policies that could (and likely do) influence logboat demand. For example, policies
that promote commercial fishing might result in reducing the fish stocks upon
which artisanal fishers depend, while policies that promote tourism might have
the effect of displacing them from the beaches where they operate.
On the other hand, policies that protect artisanal
fishing or fish stocks or restrict coastal development could have the effect of
supporting demand for logboats.
Transportation infrastructure
Demand for logboats remains strong in many areas
that lack terrestrial transportation infrastructure (Gilmore et al., 2002; McSweeney, 2004:641;
Fuquen Gomez, 2014:10). The construction of new roads and bridges
tends to depress demand (pers. obs.).
Social stability
Where traditional lifeways prevail, logboats
play a central role in people’s economic and social lives, and demand for them remains
strong. For example, within a remote community of Maijuna people in the
Peruvian Amazon, logboats serve multiple
purposes, including hunting, fishing, traveling, communication, and carrying agricultural
and forest produce. One informant observed:
“(I)t is very necessary to have a canoe
[i.e., logboat]. I cannot live without a canoe because you cannot go anywhere
(without one) . . . Sure you can go and fish for a little while with a friend’s
canoe but you cannot take it for a long time. If you have a family you need to
own a canoe” (Gilmore et al., 2002:12).
A similar situation obtains in the community
of Coquí, in the Chocó region of Columbia (Figure 2). Although more
closely integrated within larger economic systems than the Maijuna community mentioned
above, Coquí remains somewhat isolated from the “outside world” by a complete
lack of road connections (Fuquen Gomez,
2014:10). Fuquen Gomez observed:
“Boats are fundamental for the people of the
Chocó littoral. They are seen across
the landscape, being used and mentioned daily in a remarkable variety of
contexts.
They are central to people and their activities. Many such activities cannot
be
conceived in the absence of logboats and therefore, the role they play in their
daily
life is essential. Boats allow people to travel to their farms, and to
transport back the production of their main
agricultural crops for their own consumption or to
be traded. They represent a source of income to the boatbuilders and their
families,
by being themselves a product with a commercial value that is greatly
appreciated
and widely used. Moreover, the place boats take in the lives of the
peoples
(sic) is easily perceived, as they are not only physically present but also
continuously
mentioned in riddles and games, in legends, and stories. Boats permeate
all sorts of social spheres both physically and symbolically . . . ” (2014:173).
 |
| Figure 2. Logboats play a central role in the lives of the people of Coquí. (Fuquen Gomez, 2014:120) |
Conversely, where traditional ways lose
adherence, so does the valorization of traditional means of transportation
supplied through traditional methods of exchange and produced by traditional craft
methods. As a Santa Catarina logboat builder stated, ‘‘The culture has no
value, it is dead, it ended, the carpenter is not valued, paid well or hired
anymore’’(Orofino et al., 2017:2786). Although referring specifically to the
difficulty of recruiting new workers to build logboats (i.e., the supply side
of the transaction), the informant is effectively identifying a demand-side problem
in his society: boatbuilding pays poorly because users do not value logboats highly.
Supply Factors
As with demand, a single phenomenon can have
both positive and negative effects on logboat supply, depending upon the particulars
of the craft tradition.
Access to trees
Access to suitable trees is obviously
essential for the construction of logboats. In several locales, access is
restricted relative to previous times, impairing boatbuilders’ ability to
pursue the craft (McSweeney, 2004:650-652;
Heyman and Granados-Dieseldorff, 2012:139; Orofino et al., 2017:2783-2786).
Restrictions on access to logs stem from:
environmental regulations limiting the cutting of trees (Orofino et al., 2017:2784-2786); over-logging (McSweeney, 2004:646); transfer of ownership of the forest
“commons” to commercial forestry companies
(McSweeney, 2004:650-652); the “colonization” of previously common
areas by new settlers (McSweeney, 2004:650); and excessive fees charged for timber cutting
rights (McSweeney, 2004:650-652).
These restrictions can increase the time builders
must spend searching for trees and the distance logs must be transported,
thereby increasing their costs (Orofino et al., 2017:2784-2786). On the other hand, improvements in roads
and trucking services can make long-distance transport of logs easier (Orofino et al., 2017:2787-2788), ameliorating these problems in some areas.
Where access to trees of the preferred
species is restricted, builders may substitute less-favoured species (Gilmore et al., 2002; Fuquen Gomez, 2014:131). Species substitution may force related
changes in logboat design and building techniques (Gilmore et al., 2002) (Figure 3). Both of these phenomena
illustrate adaptability within the craft tradition, the implications of which
are discussed below.
 |
| Figure 3. Maijuna boatbuilders began expanding logboats only after their preferred tree species became unavailable, forcing them to use narrower logs. (Gilmore et al., 2002:24) |
Labour
Logboat builders report difficulties
attracting labour in general and skilled workers and apprentices in particular,
these problems being related to low rates of pay and the existence of
alternative employment opportunities (McSweeney, 2004:650-652;
Orofino et al., 2017:2784-2786), including other forms of boatbuilding (Walter et al., 2017:574-575). As a result, the majority of logboat
builders in some communities are elderly (Orofino et al., 2017:2784-2786; Walter et al., 2017:574-575), and age-related health problems and the
generally arduous nature of the work causes some builders to drop out of the
market (Orofino et al., 2017:2785-2786). In coastal Brazil, the attractiveness and
availability of alternative employment opportunities for younger workers is
related to their generally higher levels of education, which is a result of
government education policies (Walter et al., 2017:574-575).
Age is not invariably an impediment, however.
Among the Tawahka Sumu people in Mosquitia, older men possess many advantages
over younger ones, including stronger kin
relationships (a source of unpaid labour), established business relationships
(which gives them better access to suitable trees at good prices), and better
access to credit and to information about market conditions in downstream
market towns (McSweeney, 2004: 650-652).
Builders in some societies have access to
unpaid labour through kin obligations (McSweeney, 2004:650), mingas
(Gilmore et al., 2002:20; McSweeney, 2004:650;
Fuquen Gomez, 2014:217-220; pers. obs.), or less formalized modes of cooperation.
The minga is a common phenomenon in
rural Latin America, in which members of a community are enlisted by an
individual to assist with a specific large-scale task (such as hauling a log
from the forest or carving it), with an implicit promise that the favour will
be returned at an unspecified time in a manner also unspecified. Unpaid labour
obviously enhances builders’ ability to supply logboats.
Materials and methods
The presence of alternative boatbuilding
materials and methods (i.e., plank-on-frame, fiberglass, metal) does not
directly impair a builder’s ability to produce logboats, but it has negative
supply-side effects nonetheless. Many builders now choose to work exclusively
with the newer methods (Walter et al., 2017:574-575), evidently because there is stronger demand
for them in their local markets.
Economics
Logboat building remains remunerative for
some builders (Fuquen Gomez, 2014:177). It can provide a better income than
small-scale agriculture and, if pursued only part-time, can provide important
incremental income and income during periods of agricultural “down time” (McSweeney, 2004:652-653;
Orofino et al., 2017:2789).
To the extent that builders are willing to
barter for goods or services (Fuquen Gomez,
2014:176-181), they make logboats easier for users to
obtain and thereby strengthen demand. The casual nature of the business thus
works in some ways to preserve the craft. But because logboat building tends to
be practiced on a small scale, its practitioners have limited access to
commercial credit with which to obtain logs and equipment (McSweeney, 2004:650-652), and this, of course, works against its
persistence.
Social structures
Among the more powerful forces for the logboat’s
persistence is the fact that its construction occurs within a craft tradition,
and traditions are by definition conservative. For example, the Tawahka Sumu’s
very identity is “tied to the production and
export of canoes. Their regional reputation in this regard dates from at least
the 1820s, continues to the present, and remains a source of some cultural
pride” (McSweeney, 2004:648, internal references omitted).
Logboat builders have strong connections with
their communities. They may be themselves fishers or otherwise use the boats in
the same ways as their “customers” (Gilmore et al., 2002; Fuquen Gomez, 2014:147-153;
Orofino et al., 2017:2775), and so feel emotionally bound to provide
the service of logboat building to their communities (Orofino et al., 2017:2782).
Adaptability
Another characteristic of craft traditions
that works toward the persistence of logboats is adaptability or flexibility. Among
examples noted above, flexibility in selection of tree species and adaptability
in production methods to accommodate them, as well as flexibility in terms of
exchange, represent positive factors for supply.
On the other hand, builders’ adaptability can
also function against the logboat’s survival. Where demand shifts toward other
kinds of boats, some builders shift production accordingly. For suppliers, this
may not represent the abandonment of tradition: it may be a logical adaptation
within their tradition as boat
builders, as opposed to logboat
builders. Along the Rio Napo in Ecuador, end-users make little distinction
between logboats and plank canoes of similar form (pers. obs.), and builders may have a similar
perspective. A builder who has adopted a chainsaw for felling trees may see it
as a natural transition to use the chainsaw to mill planks, and thereby produce
more boats and greater profit from a given tree.
Conclusion
This paper proposes supply-and-demand as a framework
within which to assess a vernacular boat type’s prospects for survival in a
given society. It has focused on logboat production in Latin America because an
appropriate number of examples was found in recent literature for convenient
analysis, not because they represent a single, coherent tradition. (They do
not.) For the framework to be practically applied, a detailed ethnographic
description of a boat type’s role in a single society is necessary. Such a
description exists in Fuquen Gomez’s thesis (2014). This paper uses examples from several societies
as a heuristic, to consider a wider variety of supply and demand factors and
cultural responses to them, and thus further explore the framework’s utility.
As Adams (2010:301, 2013:24) makes clear, ideology and tradition
play key roles in craft traditions. As long as these factors are considered
along with more obvious utilitarian and economic issues, the supply/demand framework
provides a useful tool with which to assess the survival prospects of vernacular watercraft.
# # #
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