Content area
Abstract
This comparative study of fertility decline in Sers and Sbiba, in the Northwest and Centerwest regions of Tunisia, considers their differential childbearing patterns in relation to economic development, agricultural policy, and the household economy. In studying why fertility decline has been much stronger in Sers than Sbiba, two otherwise similar agricultural regions, the dissertation presents important critiques of political economy approaches which focus on across-class distinctions in childbearing behavior. This within-class comparison challenges general theory on fertility decline as well, particularly in terms of the need to develop links between the macro-level context, and micro-level content, of fertility behavior.
Micro-level critiques unravel the notion of children's "net" value through a discussion of gender, class, households, sexuality and contraception, which suggests that children mean different things to different people at different times and in different contexts. Macro-level critiques argue for the integration of an analysis of state development into current frameworks which focus on economic transformation, as these two processes are fundamentally interrelated. The dissertation approaches these macro/micro questions with methodologies assuming combined rather than separate effects of explanatory factors, and through shifting levels of analysis between households, regions, and the context in which they exist.
The comparative historical analysis shows that fertility decline in Sers has occurred in the context of a stagnation in agricultural production. In Sbiba, fertility has remained high with an expansion in irrigated agriculture. The analysis considers four interconnected resources: land, water, labor and crops, and how patterns of access to them fit into historical and national contexts. The qualitative comparative analysis treats these four elements and the two primary distinctions between these regions: women's participation in agriculture, and irrigation. It suggests that strategies of land and labor allocation are more important than objective measures of available resources. Strategies reflecting the stagnation of agriculture are associated with low fertility, while those resisting such stagnation and/or reflecting an expansion are consistent with high fertility.
