Changes in Family and Household Organization in an Overseas Japanese Pioneer Community

Abstract

This paper examines family and household structure in a Japanese pioneer community in eastern Bolivia. The emphasis is upon the effects of the ecological shift from intensive irrigation agriculture and the nucleated rural settlement pattern of the homeland to extensive shifting agriculture and a dispersed settlement pattern in Bolivia on family and household organization The “traditional” Japanese family system, which is apparently rapidly breaking down in Japan itself as a result of urbanization and industrialization, is briefly described, and data are presented on the structure of household units in the pioneer community. These data indicate a rather surprising persistence of the traditional system, and it is conluded that this system is proving remarkably adaptive to the exigencies of the frontier situation.