Agricultural History Research Articles

A British Military Engineer, the Ganga and the Spectre of Control in Colonial Northern India (1839–1854)

Much has been written about environmental and agrarian history in South Asia. These documented histories provide a fascinating overview of structural changes brought about through infrastructural development and modes of colonial governance. However, specific and advanced forms of intervention were introduced in the nineteenth century, which was defined by the accelerated scale of exploitation of the environment. This article offers an account of the Ganga Canal, constructed in mid-nineteenth century colonial India, under British engineer Proby Cautley, by drawing water from the river Ganga. The paper revisits his motivations and challenges and the scope of his plan to make two arguments. First, it argues that the engineering model of Cautley reflects his deeper entanglement with the ideals of colonial modernity, such as controlling the natural world. Second, the colossal scale of hydrological experimentation through the processes of canal construction, in turn, transformed the imagination of the river into an object.

An overview of ethnographic sources for the study of agriculture in medieval Novgorod

The subject of this article is a set of ethnographic sources related to agricultural activities. This complex includes items from the expositions of ethnographic museums, photographs from the collections of local historians and the Internet, as well as the autobiography of the peasant I.S. Karpov. The use of ethnographic sources for the study of agricultural activities in the Middle Ages is extremely important due to the fact that archaeological material does not always reach our days in complete preservation. For example, such complex devices as ploughing implements in archaeological collections only have iron tips of their working parts, therefore, it is necessary to refer to ethnographic materials to restore their appearance. The same can be said about the technology of cultivating the land. To select the necessary material for this study, the works of Russian ethnographers and archaeologists devoted to the history of agriculture and folklore were studied. A selection of photographic materials from the collections of local historians and publicly available photographs from the Internet was also carried out. The article presents an overview of various types of ethnographic materials and the experience of their application for the reconstruction of agricultural activities of the inhabitants of medieval Novgorod according to archaeological data. The main contribution of the author to the research of the topic is the expansion of the range of ethnographic sources, which are most often involved in this kind of research. In this work, the experience of using not only physical material and photographs from the collections of ethnographic museums, but also folklore, was demonstrated for the reconstruction of agricultural processes that cannot be interpreted according to archaeological data. Traditional economic activities such as farming, hunting or various crafts are rooted in the deep past and retain their characteristics for a long time. This feature allows researchers to fully reconstruct certain processes about which only archaeological evidence has been preserved, which do not always reach our days in full.

Fields of contestation and contamination: Maize seeds, agroecology and the (de)coloniality of agriculture in Malawi and South Africa

Farmer-managed seed systems and the conservation of agrobiodiversity are increasingly recognized as important components of food and seed sovereignty. In contrast, hybrid, genetically modified (GM), and, increasingly, gene-edited crops continue to be promoted by Green Revolution proponents as a “climate smart” package that includes fertilizers, pesticides, purchased seeds, and links to global markets. Influencing seed laws and policies to support the uptake of modern crop varieties has been a key entry point in many countries, facilitated by networks of foreign donors, philanthropists, governments, and multinational companies. Using the case of South Africa, where GM crops have been grown for several decades, we provide insights on implications for Malawi, which passed a Seed Act in 2022, implicitly supporting GM crops. Both countries have histories of colonial agriculture with strong policy support for modern, hybrid varieties of maize, and the replacement (and displacement) of local, open-pollinated maize varieties. In South Africa, several studies have revealed the contamination of smallholder fields and seed systems. Through a political ecology lens, we explore how maize and its cotechnologies were commodified in South Africa and Malawi, and what South African experiences of GM crop adoption in smallholder farming systems can tell us about the challenges to be faced by smallholder Malawian farmers. We reveal how colonial histories and ongoing colonialities of power, knowledge, being, and nature continue to shape the character and form of agriculture in both countries, running counter to the needs of agroecological smallholder farmers and their ways of knowing and being. We conclude by envisioning what reimagined, transformed and decolonial approaches for food and agriculture might look like on the African continent, and how they might contribute toward the attainment of food and seed sovereignty and an agroecological future.

중국 동북지역 한인 入籍(國籍) 문제의 通時的 고찰

2022 marks the 70th anniversary of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Region. This means that the history of Korean-Chinese who settled in the country without returning to their homeland after the defeat of Japanese imperialism has been more than half a century. It also means that historical research on Korean-Chinese history has also gone through a long period of time.
 Research on Korean-Chinese history began in the 1950s and 1960s after the founding of the People's Republic of China and has been actively developed since the 1980s. In particular, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the first generation of Korean-Chinese history researchers who were trained through a systematic degree curriculum produced the results of the study continuously. These studies range from each country's policy history toward the Korean- Chinese to economic history, including the formation of Korean-Chinese society, rice farming, land systems, and Japanese invasion history.
 Based on these research results, this paper attempted to grasp the intrinsic implications contained in it by presenting data that give a glimpse of China's perception of the Manchurian region, and also looked at the implications of the concept of 'dual nationality', which is used in different meanings in various cases, for each period. The tentative opinion thrown in this paper should be further specified through my research work in the future.

중국 동북지역 한인 入籍(國籍) 문제의 通時的 고찰

2022 marks the 70th anniversary of Yanbian Korean Autonomous Region. This means that the history of Korean-Chinese who settled in the country without returning to their homeland after the defeat of Japanese imperialism has been more than half a century. It also means that historical research on Korean-Chinese history has also gone through a long period of time.
 Research on Korean-Chinese history began in the 1950s and 1960s after the founding of the People's Republic of China and has been actively developed since the 1980s. In particular, in the late 1990s and early 2000s, the first generation of Korean-Chinese history researchers who were trained through a systematic degree curriculum produced the results of the study continuously. These studies range from each country's policy history toward the Korean- Chinese to economic history, including the formation of Korean-Chinese society, rice farming, land systems, and Japanese invasion history.
 Based on these research results, this paper attempted to grasp the intrinsic implications contained in it by presenting data that give a glimpse of China's perception of the Manchurian region, and also looked at the implications of the concept of 'dual nationality', which is used in different meanings in various cases, for each period. The tentative opinion thrown in this paper should be further specified through my research work in the future.

Comparative analysis of local pig breeds in China and Russia

Pork is a favorite type of meat with a large share in the structure of consumption worlwide, including China and Russia. Pork production in China and Russia has been constantly growing over the last years. This type of meat remains to be in high demand due to its sensory properties despite consumer attitude to pork fat content. This review presents the short history of pig farming in China and Russia, as well as the modern trends in the development of this industry. The data on the pork production and consumption in two countries over the last years are compared. Characteristics that consumers consider important when buying pork and negative factors influencing consumer choice are described. Consumer properties of meat products from pork depend on keeping conditions and feeding of animals. Meat composition and functional properties depend greatly on pig breed. Information about pig breeds that are raised in China (depending on a region) and Russia, as well as indicators of productivity of pigs of certain breeds, are presented.

Peasant Productivity and Welfare in The Middle Ages and Beyond

Abstract Driven by the quality of sources rather than their representativeness, the history of English agriculture has been written primarily from the perspective of well-documented large farms to the neglect of smallholders and cottagers who for centuries cultivated the greater part of the nation’s farmland but left scant records. The superb series recording the mediocre and low crop yields of the expansive demesnes of great lords has long been adopted for the productivity of all medieval England’s arable and is deeply embedded in economic and social histories and calculations of economic growth and the welfare of the population. Yet no convincing justification for this supposition has ever been made, and an increasing flow of research and analysis indicates that the productivity of land varied markedly in accordance with the size and function of farms, with the output per acre of large farms constrained by the need to control costs in order to sell surpluses at a profit, while smallholders, at the cost of low and frequently abysmal labour productivity, produced higher yields by striving to maximize output using abundant family labour to secure subsistence from meagre acreages. An appraisal of farming across the centuries and the continents from the Middle Ages to modern times clearly shows that an inverse relationship generally prevailed between farm size and land productivity.

Корчма, кабак, кружечный двор как прародители ресторана: историографический обзор материалов Уфимского уезда XVII в.

This article is devoted to the problem of the development of leisure establishments in Ufa district during the first century after voluntary entry of Bashkiria into Russia. The purpose of this article is to determine what is known in modern historical science about the spread and peculiarities of drinking industry penetration into Ufa district. At the beginning of the article there is a historiographic review of materials on the formation and development of the accommodation and catering services in Russia since ancient times. Special attention is paid to the works of historians Ivan Pryzhov and William Pokhlebkin, ethnographer Alexander Tereshchenko, lawyer and public figure Dmitriy Borodin, politician Afanasy Petrishchev, etc. Based on these studies, the author concludes that the issues related to the development of catering and drinking industry since ancient times in Russia, as well as with the development of technologies for the production of strong alcohol, the impact of drinking on the state budget and alcoholization of the population have been studied quite well. Thus, the author found that for a long time, until the end of the XVII century, the only type of public leisure facilities was an alehouse, which was later renamed into a pub. At the end of the 17th century, a wine-cellar appeared in Moscow like a new kind of place, where one could buy or consume foreign grape wines together with snacks. But such an innovation did not reach the province. In the second part of the article, the author analyzes the materials related to the problem of integrating the annexed territories of Bashkortostan into the legal and administrative system of Russia. Of particular interest to the author were Bulat Aznabaev’s, Rose Bukanova’s, Natalia Demidova’s materials about the history of Bashkortostan, on the basis of which conclusions were drawn about the peculiarities of Moscow's interaction with the indigenous population of Bashkortostan, on the spread of agriculture and distillery in Bashkir lands. Next, the author made an attempt to search for historical research on the development of public leisure facilities in Bashkiria in the 17th century. At this stage, only one research made by Bulat Aznabaev was discovered. Therefore, the author concludes that so far little attention is paid to this issue in the scientific community. As a result of the review of research on the subject matter of the article related to Ufa distric of the 17th century, the author formulated two conclusions: 1. Bashkirs, who were nomadic and practiced Islam, were opponents of strong alcohol. 2. The indigenous population had enjoyed the patrimonial right to land, had not engaged in land and had not transfered patrimonial lands to the new settlers for long time after joining the Russian state. A small number of Russian settlements with limited land resources were formed in the region. The raw materials required for the production of bread wine in the county were scarce. Single pubs / alehouses have appeared, but only in places where immigrants from other regions of the Russian state lived.

Desenvolvimento histórico da cadeia produtiva de feijão-comum: questões institucionais

This research examines the historical process of forming the common bean production chain in Brazil, discussing deregulation and restructuring processes. During much of Brazil's agricultural history, common beans evolved as an intercropping crop, planted with corn or cassava. The rural exodus process (with two movements, in 1960 and 1980) caused the demand for beans within the country, resulting in higher yields for farmers, which generated the evolution and development of specific technologies for the crop. What is observed is that the chain coordination process was hampered by tax laws, which removed middlemen from the negotiations, and was also hampered by the competition of beans with more competitive products on the international stage.

Role and impact of contract farming under various pricing standards: A case of Guyana's rice sector

<abstract> <p>Rice cultivation has played a pivotal role in Guyana's agricultural history, contributing significantly to both sustenance and economic prosperity for over two centuries. Accounting for 3.3% of the country's gross domestic product (GDP) and a substantial 20.5% of the agricultural GDP, the rice industry has faced challenges influenced by various global and domestic factors, impacting the productivity and profitability of rice farmers. One key influencing factor is contract farming, involving agreements between farmers and firms that outline production and marketing conditions for agricultural products. In Guyana's rice industry, contract farming is prevalent, but challenges such as unequal bargaining power and discrepancies in weights and prices persist. Notably, using two pricing standards, high-price and low-price, further complicates the understanding of contract farming's impact on rice cultivation. We delved into the role and impact of contract farming on rice cultivation in Guyana, with a specific focus on the Mahaica-Berbice and Essequibo Islands-West Demerara regions. In this study, conducted with 121 farmers using systematic sampling, we used profitability assessment, frequency distribution, and binary logistic regression analyses. The findings revealed that high-price contracts contributed to greater farmer profitability compared to low-price contracts. Despite this, low-price contracts persisted due to factors such as risk-sharing, access to credit, and fertilizers. Moreover, pricing standards influenced farmer behavior, with low-price contracts prompting crop diversification to supplement income. These insights underscored the significance of pricing standards in determining the effectiveness of contract farming and its impact on farmers' livelihoods. Policymakers and stakeholders can leverage these findings to design more effective contract farming models, enhancing farmers' profitability and contributing to sustainable agricultural development. Furthermore, future research may explore the impact of farmers' organization membership on contract farming productivity, providing additional depth to our understanding of this crucial agricultural practice.</p> </abstract>

Analysis of Value Chain of Cow Milk: The Case of Itang Special Woreda, Gambella, Ethiopia

Ethiopia has a long and rich history of dairy farming, which was mostly carried out by small and marginal farmers who raised cattle, camels, goats, and sheep, among other species, for milk. Finding the Itang Special Woreda cow milk value chain is the study's main goal. In order to gather primary data, 204 smallholder dairy farmer households were randomly selected, and the market concentration ratio was calculated using 20 traders. Descriptive statistics, econometric models, and rank analysis were used to achieve the above specified goals. Out of all the participants in the milk value chain, producers, cafés, hotels, and dairy cooperatives had the largest gross marketing margins, accounting for 100% of the consumer price in channels I and II, 55% in channels III and V, and 25.5% in channels V. The number of children under five, the number of milking cows owned, the amount of money from non-dairy sources, the frequency of extension service contacts, the amount of milk produced each day, and the availability of market information were found to have an impact on smallholders' involvement in the milk market. Numerous obstacles also limited the amount of milk produced and marketed. The poll claims that general health issues, sickness, predators, and a lack of veterinary care are plaguing farmers. In order to address the issue of milk perishability, the researchers recommended the host community and organization to construct an agro milk processor, renovate the dairy cooperative in the study region, and restructure the current conventional marketing to lower the transaction and cost of milk marketing.

Forest Birds on Pasture: Meddling Marketing and Conflicting Cultures

Chickens are problematically embedded in the West and Global North as farm animals. Structures built for containing chickens including henhouses, industrial poultry sheds, shading devices and mobile poultry sheds, place chickens – naturally forest birds – into pastoral farming settings that are at odds with natural chicken familial structures and behaviours. I assert that structures built for containing chickens influence human–chicken labour. I support this claim through an investigation of chicken labour at poultry farms. I advance the concept of labour in human–animal studies by looking at labour culture from sociology and labour history scholarship centred around humans. How humans labour with animals contributes to the continuation of animal farming. The long history of chicken farming impacts cultural ideas about small-scale chicken keeping which have led to large-scale agribusinesses using marketing and promotional material in a way that masks more prevalent industrial practices. The structures built for the poultry industry are designed to further the status quo of industry even when working to reimagine that same industry. A critical analysis of how poultry husbandry structures are used in marketing reveals how human labour culture ultimately forces forest dwelling chickens into pastoral farming.

PREPARATION OF PLEUROTUS SPAWN ON DIFFERENT GRAIN SUBSTRATES

The cultivation of Pleurotus is gaining momentum due to its nutritional value and economic potential. The preparation of mushroom spawn on grain media involves inoculating them with pure cultures of certain mushroom species under sterile conditions, yet contamination of the spawn is a significant barrier to the growth and spread of mushroom farming in underdeveloped nations. In this study, the spawn growth of Pleurotus species on various grain substrates including maize, wheat, sorghum and bajra was explored. The results revealed significant differences in spawn growth duration among the substrates. Maize substrate exhibited the longest duration for spawn growth, requiring 19 days, while wheat, sorghum and bajra substrates displayed shorter duration of 15, 10 and 11 days respectively. Furthermore, each substrate demonstrated distinct characteristics influencing spawn growth, highlighting the importance of substrate selection in Pleurotus species cultivation. These finding provide valuable insights for optimizing spawn production process and enhancing the efficiency of Pleurotus species cultivation practices.

ЭНЕРГОСБЕРЕЖЕНИЕ В СИСТЕМАХ ЗАЩИТЫ ОБЪЕКТОВ АПК ОТ ВРЕДИТЕЛЕЙ КАК СРЕДСТВО ДОСТИЖЕНИЯ ПРОДОВОЛЬСТВЕННОЙ БЕЗОПАСНОСТИ

The relevance of the research area in the field of food security is indicated. The analysis of the current state of the issue of crop protection from pests is carried out. The advantages of the electrophysical pest control method as the basis of an integrated crop protection system based on an information and software package for monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of plant protection against pests are substantiated. The method of reducing the energy intensity of products is considered. An attempt has been made to apply a method for monitoring and managing energy consumption in systems for protecting agricultural facilities from pests. At all times, the problem of achieving and maintaining food security has been a task, if not the first, then one of the main ones for our society. The effectiveness of any of these methods depends on a number of different factors, and first of all, on the factor of timely protective measures. Thus, it becomes necessary to have information about the dynamics of the development of pests of a particular species. Agriculture itself is an energy conversion process, namely the conversion of solar energy through photosynthesis into food energy for humans and animal feed. Primitive agriculture involved nothing more than spreading seeds on the ground and producing meager harvests as a result. Modern agriculture requires energy consumption at all stages of agricultural production, such as direct use of energy in agricultural machinery, water management, irrigation, cultivation and harvesting. Post-harvest energy use includes the processing, storage and transportation of food to markets. In addition, agriculture uses a variety of indirect or isolated energy sources in the form of mineral fertilizers and chemical pesticides, insecticides and herbicides. While industrialized countries have benefited from these advances in agricultural energy provision, developing countries have been less fortunate. The "activation" of the food production chain has been an integral feature of the development of agriculture throughout recent history and is the main factor contributing to the achievement of food security.

THE MAIN CAUSES OF FALLOW LAND ON AGRICULTURAL LAND AND SUGGESTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR THEIR PREVENTION

Uzbekistan, which has a rich agricultural history, faces the problem of abandoned arable land -a valuable resource awaiting restoration. This article examines the specific causes of loss of arable land in Uzbekistan and offers individual strategies and recommendations for returning these lands to productive use.

Utilizing Modern Technology and Sustainable Methods for Storing Rice

Since the dawn of civilization, grain storage has been necessary to ensure food security. Grain storage has a more extended history than one might think and is connected to farming history. India is the next-largest producer of wheat, followed by China. In terms of food security, storage is primarily intended to keep grains for a longer time. It guards against degradation, exposure to the outside environment, and potential microbe and insect attacks. Silo, CAP storage, and Godown storage were used to test the wheat’s temperature and moisture content. To obtain the reading, a temperature sensor and a RH sensor were installed within the silo. Grain storage in underground pits was employed in the past and is still used in some regions today. The holes were excavated and measured at 1 m in diameter and 1 m in depth, with a mixture of 3:3:1 cow dung, straw, and sorghum, amounting to around two quintals each. A total of 10–20 wheat samples kept in the silo were examined for fungus and fungal development. The samples were placed inside a glass bottle filled with sterile water and closely watched to ensure that no fungal source entered the container used for collection. Each colony was isolated and purified separately once it emerged to obtain an isolated single fungus. The pure fungus was positioned and examined using imaging and organized on figurative plates under a microscope. The germination percentage in various storage arrangements was tested for seed viability using wet paper towels. For the following three months of storage, the temperature within the silo increased rapidly from 28°C to 35°C. The grain retained its quality during the first three months, and there was little to no infestation. The lower ambient temperature and measured relative humidity of 95–97% are to blame for this. Before drying, the moisture content in the silo increased from 11 to 17%. During the storage period from April 2006 to November 2006, the moisture content in Godown bag storage increased at the same pace as in the silo. Wheat moisture content rises in direct proportion to its storage time. This is thought to be the result of an increase in insect population brought on by the respiration of insects and wheat, which helped raise moisture content. All of the isolated fungi in the silo were discovered to produce a significant number of spores and conidia on their surfaces. Aspergillus is a harmful toxin-producing fungus well-known for damaging various seeds, grains, and nuts. It is also famous for its destructive properties.

Prehistoric farming in the south-eastern Baltic (Kaliningrad Region, Russia)

The article presents an overview of the currently available palaeoecological data on the prehistoric anthropogenic impact on the environment and emergence of farming in the south-eastern Baltic, an area poorly studied in palaeoenvironmental and archaeological terms. The recently obtained palynological data from the lake and bog sediments along with the existing archaeological finds allow us to consider several stages of prehistoric farming in the south-eastern Baltic. The first indications of forest management – the creation of open deforested areas, wood burning and probably cultivation (propagation) of hazel appear during the Mesolithic, 10 300–6500 cal BP. At about 6500–5200 cal BP, evidence of the first agricultural activity and local animal husbandry emerges. From 5200 cal BP onwards, farming probably occupies a permanent place in the subsistence strategy of the ancient population of the south-eastern Baltic.

Antibiotic quality and use practices amongst dairy farmers and drug retailers in central Kenyan highlands

Understanding antibiotic use in dairy systems is critical to guide antimicrobial stewardship programs. We investigated antibiotic use practices in small-holder dairy farms, antibiotic quality, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) awareness among veterinary drug retailers in a mixed farming community in the central Kenyan highlands. Data were collected from 248 dairy farms and 72 veterinary drug stores between February 2020 and October 2021. A scale was developed to measure knowledge about AMR and antibiotic use using item response theory, and regression models were used to evaluate factors associated with antibiotic use and AMR knowledge. The active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) content of 27 antibiotic samples was determined using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The presence and levels of 11 antibiotic residues in 108 milk samples collected from the study farms were also investigated using liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC–MS/MS). Almost all farms (98.8%, n = 244) reported using antibiotics at least once in the last year, mostly for therapeutic reasons (35.5%). The most used antibiotics were tetracycline (30.6%), penicillin (16.7%), and sulfonamide (9.4%), either individually or in combination, and predominantly in the injectable form. Larger farm size (OR = 1.02, p < 0.001) and history of vaccination use (OR = 1.17, p < 0.001) were significantly associated with a higher frequency of antibiotic use. Drug retailers who advised on animal treatments had a significantly higher mean knowledge scores than those who only sold drugs. We found that 44.4% (12/27) of the tested antibiotics did not meet the United States Pharmacopeial test specifications (percentage of label claim). We detected nine antibiotics in milk, including oxytetracycline, sulfamethoxazole, and trimethoprim. However, only three samples exceeded the maximum residue limits set by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Our findings indicate that antibiotics of poor quality are accessible and used in small-holder dairy systems, which can be found in milk. These results will aid future investigations on how to promote sustainable antibiotic use practices in dairy systems.

FTIR spectra from grass pollen: A quest for species-level resolution of Poaceae and Cerealia-type pollen grains

Palynological analysis based on spore and pollen morphology is well established in the field of palaeo-environmental reconstruction but is currently not fully exploited for understanding the history and development of cereal cultivation due to difficulties in visually differentiating between grass species (Poaceae). Here we employ a chemotaxonomic approach, by examining the chemical differences among Poaceae taxa, based on Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) microspectroscopy data to overcome problems associated with morphological similarities across the Poaceae family. FTIR spectra of untreated and acetolysed pollen from 19 Poaceae taxa were used in our study. We used both populations and individual pollen grains to explore how we can minimise the effect of Mie scattering (spectral distortions caused by scattering of the incident IR beam) on spectra from individuals. Random forest classification algorithms were applied to explore our ability to differentiate taxa at the species level. We found that pollen grains treated with acetolysis yield better classification results (86% for individuals and 97% for populations) compared to untreated samples (65.7% for individuals and 83% for populations), since they are less affected by Mie scattering. The high classification success at species level on acetolysed individual pollen grains suggests that our chemotaxonomic method holds substantial promise in numerous areas of grass and in particular cereal pollen research, including elucidating the history of agriculture.

Lessons of Sustainability: The Folk Reading of a Ritualistic Landscape

This paper entails an investigation of the reciprocal relationship between the agrarian landscape and the cultic practice of teyyam prevailing in the cultural region of Kolattunāṭu. Focusing on the agrarian history, production pattern and the resultant social formations, it attempts an analytical reading of the socio-historical realities of teyyam in Kolattunāṭu. The characteristic features of teyyam performance and its consistent co-existence with the associated landscape have resulted in distinctive cultural and social formations in the region. The current research argues on the interdependencies of teyyam and its agrarian landscape and analyzes the multitude of ways in which liturgies of teyyam communicate exemplars of ecological and social sustainability. The aspects of sustainability intrinsic to the folk ritual are explored through three facets discussed in the paper. At the onset, the role of teyyam in shaping its sacred realm thereby simultaneously getting shaped by the singularities of geography is discussed. Second is an inquiry into the temporal and spatial dimensions of teyyam performance to establish the reciprocal relationship between teyyam and its ritualistic landscape. The third facet of the inquiry analyses the case of a folk performance through the spatial lens to decipher the layers of interdependencies within its sacred realm.