James L. Newman

Vines, Wines, and Regional Identity in the Finger Lakes Region

Although the regional climate is unfavorable, microclimatic effects of the lakes and their valleys make viticulture possible. Production based on native American grape varieties that yield sweet wines is declining. Introduction of vines to produce dry wines has led to changes in operations and vineyard location that may create a new, positive image for the regional wines. W INE making has been described as the most geographically expressive of agricultural activities.1 This characterization highlights the ensemble of environmental and human factors that produces distinctive landscapes with viticultural activities. Part of the distinctiveness is similarity. Vineyards are highly visible wherever they are, and a trained eye can easily identify the associated structures and technological paraphernalia. Considerable regional diversity combines with similarity. The stately chateaux and small vineyards in the Loire valley look nothing like the new functionally designed buildings, set amid acre after acre of irrigated vines in the Hunter valley of Australia; nor would the German Rheingau be mistaken for Sonoma, California. The geography of wine does not end with a landscape. Color, smell, and taste of wine, including judgments about quality, most often stamp a region with its identity. The expressiveness of wine thus goes beyond what is usually observed and measured in geography. During the course of time, some regions have achieved such worldwide repute that a wine is virtually synonymous with them. For example, the Medoc portion of the Bordeaux region epitomizes how wine style and esteem can identify a place. Other examples where a wine and an area form an inseparable regional image are Champagne, Jerez, and the Moselle. At the other end of the scale are areas with limited identity, an example of which is the Finger Lakes region of New York State. Wine has been produced there for more than a century, and it has been designated an approved U.S. viticultural area (Fig. 1). However, the region does not have a strong reputation as a wine-producing area. If the Finger Lakes region conjures an image, it tends to be of the past glaciers and the distinctive lakes that they left behind. Nonetheless, wine production is important in the region, and recent changes require a reassessment of old perceptions. The shifts have a potential for both expanding and enhancing the identity of the region as a wine-producing area. H. J. De Blij, Wine: A Geographic Appreciation (Totowa. N.J.: Rowman and Allanheld, 1983), xii. * DR. NEWMAN is a professor of geography at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244. This content downloaded from 207.46.13.51 on Sun, 19 Jun 2016 05:56:06 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW FIG. 1-The Finger Lakes viticultural area.

Decline and development in the finger lakes wine region of New York state

Abstract Changing wine preferences by American consumers are producing significant changes in the Finger Lakes viticultural area of New York State. Decline, as measured by grape acreage and number of growers, has been widespread since the mid‐1970s, especially within the traditional core area around Keuka and Canandaigua Lakes, where sweet and fortified wines made from native American grapes have been the long time staples of large corporate producers. At the same time, many new small wineries specialising in the production of drier‐style table wines made from vinifera and French‐American hybrid vines have come into existence around Seneca and Cayuga Lakes. Image problems, coupled with small volume output and limited financial resources, however, make their futures uncertain.

Impaired Fertility in Tropical Africa

Birthrates in tropical Africa are among the highest in the world, but many zones in the region have below-norm fertility. Proximate determinants are the framework used to explain the occurrence of these zones. Of greatest significance are factors that affect duration of postpartum amenorrhea, incidences of sterility and spontaneous intrauterine abortions, and frequency of intercourse. POPULATION is growing more rapidly in tropical Africa than in any other principal world region. The average rate of natural increase there is 2.9 percent, contrasted with 2.7 percent in the Middle East and 2.6 percent in Central America, the regions with the next-highest rates. Although recent events such as famines, the AIDS epidemic, and the recrudescence of malaria have underscored the hazards to human survival in tropical Africa, mortality has fallen significantly since 1950. At the same time, fertility remains high and is increasing in some places. Total fertility rates range from 6.0 to 8.0 for tropical African countries and rise above 9.0 in portions of western Kenya. Few large populations have equaled these figures for appreciable lengths of time. Within this general pattern of high fertility are areas characterized by markedly lower total fertility rates, from 2.0 to 5.0 (Fig. 1). The most prominent of these areas lies near the equator and runs without interruption from southwestern Sudan through the Central African Republic and deep into adjacent Zaire; a second important zone covers most of Cameroon and Gabon. Other noteworthy occurrences of low fertility have been recorded in the Lake Victoria region and are scattered across the savanna-sahel belt of western Africa, as well as among the San peoples of Botswana and Namibia, for various nomadic pastoral groups, in parts of highland Ethiopia, and along the eastern coast from southern Kenya to central Tanzania. This pattern of low fertility is based on evidence obtained from several sources, including census-derived estimates on total fertility rates and childlessness levels for all of Africa south of the Sahara and surveys and estimates of total fertility rates for the equatorial zone only.1 The available evidence, however, points to a strong ethnic component in the distribution; quite often, lowand high-fertility populations are found living side by side.2 We thus 1 0. Adegbola, New Estimates of Fertility and Child Mortality in Africa, Population Studies 31 (1977): 467-486; 0. Frank, Infertility in Sub-Saharan Africa: Estimates and Implications, Population and Development Review 9 (1983): 137-144; J. C. Caldwell and P. Caldwell, The Demographic Evidence for the Incidence of Low Fertility in Tropical Africa, World Health Statistics Quarterly 36 (1983): 2-34. 2 Subfertility and Infertility in Africa (edited by B. K. Adadevoh; Ibadan: Caxton Press, 1974). * Ms. DOENGES is a graduate student in geography at Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York 13244, where DR. NEWMAN is a professor of geography. This content downloaded from 157.55.39.138 on Mon, 27 Jun 2016 06:13:29 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms THE GEOGRAPHICAL REVIEW

Fertility Control in Africa

Fertility control is examined in 2 pastoral societies in Africa: the Kipsigis and the Fulani. The Kipsigis have experienced considerable fertility change during the 20th century. Patterns have been less altered among the Fulani but recent drought and resettlement may have initiated changes that are not yet documented. The model of fertility regulation that can be constructed for most of tropical Africa contains elements of the broad cultural patterns that exist throughout the reion but these broad patterns contain significant local variations as demonstrated by examination of the Kipsigis and the Fulani. The Kipsigis live mainly in Kericho district Kenya. Together with the Nandi their present northern neighbors the Kipsigis probably migrated southward during times of drought and famine. Fertility among the traditional pastoral Kipsigis appears to have been well below its potential possibly averaging fewer than 5 children per woman. The most significant regulation mechanism was a late marriage age that was associated with the pastoral economy controlled by elderly men. Within marriage fertility levels were regulated by child spacing similar to that in West and Central Africa. In both instances fertility was designed to maintain a system of social and economic authority rather than to control population growth. The Fulani one of the most distinctive peoples of tropical Africa are basically cattle pastoralists and are scattered across the vast Sahel/savanna zone of West Africa. The Fulani share the African tradition of cultural preference for large families. Much of Fulani culture at 1 level of analysis seems to be oriented toward maximizing the desire for children. Almost all Fulani women marry. Marriage occurs at an early age between 15-16 years for women and between 20-25 years for men. Because women continue to attempt to bear children until menopause rather than cease upon becoming grandmothers Fulani women are in a potentially reproductive status for 25-30 years. The period of breastfeeding is long but there is no postpartum taboo beyond the 40 days specified in the Koran. Theoretically rates for the Fulani should be higher than those of other West African groups but that is not the case. A recent survey gave the average complete size of a Fulani family at 4.9 persons the lowest figure for any group in the country. A pastoral way of life forces spatial separation of spouses while the precarious and fragile physical environment of the Sahel and its effects on livestock produce stress that often leads to marital disruption and divorce. In addition sexually transmitted diseases cause sterility. These factors impede the realization of fertility aspirations. If the break from dependence on pastoralism signals a shift to a sedentary lifestyle fertility among the Fulani will probably increase. The Fulani have not been as affected by Westernization as have the Kipsigis. The Sahelian drought of 1968-74 set forces in motion in motion that may have longterm effects on Fulani demographic patterns.

The Culture Area Concept in Anthropology

Abstract Anthropology has long had an interest in spatial expressions of culture, one of which is the culture area concept. Stemming initially from a need to arrange materials in ethnographic museums, it eventually evolved into a major research theme. The first to develop a specific analytic technique was Clark Wissler, who regionalized American Indian cultures on the basis of aggregating traits and complexes. Similar studies on non-western parts of the world soon followed, including refinements in statistical accuracy. Alternatives to the trait-complex method were developed, the most notable being attempts to get more directly at the functions of culture and to introduce a time dimension. Lately, concern by anthropologists with culture areas has declined. This seems related not only to a shift in research interests, but also to a disillusionment over the failure to develop more satisfactory areal measures. A closer working relationship with geographers would undoubtedly help remedy this latter situation.