This study importantly changes the focus to what happens before a famine comes, and how the peasants prepare for it. Paradoxically, the author concludes that it is in the years of recovery that the seeds of famine are sown. The study revolves around a case study in the awraja (district) in the Ambassel Wollo province in northeastern Ethiopia. The author also critically examines other literature on famine response.
Contents: Section I: INTRODUCTION – 1. Objectives of the study – Organization of the study – Section II: Famine: behind the mountains – 3. Wollo and Ambassel: the setting – 4. The economy of Wollo – 5. The peasant mode of production – 6. Famine in Wollo -- Section III: SURVIVAL: COMMUNITY AND COOPERATION -- 7. The Community in Distress -- 8. Survival Strategies -- 9. Post Famine Recovery -- Section IV: BEYOND SURVIVAL -- 10. Neither Feast nor Famine