Subsistence and Exchange Five Main Subsistence Patterns and their features & characteristics - Foraging (Hunter-Gatherers)
- Pastoralism (Raising Domesticated Animals)
- Horticulture (Cultivation of crops carried out with simple hand tools such as digging sticks or hoes)
- Agriculture (More Intensive than Horticulture, One person feeds 100)
- Industrialism (Use of fossil fuels and other resources)
Characteristics of Foragers (Hunters- Gatherers) - Until 10,000 years ago, all humans were foragers (Cavemen mythology: usually portrayed as brute men, stupid, strong, etc. to show inverted traits of us) (cavemen--modern men--aliens)
- 90% of all people who ever lived were foragers.
- 99% of all human history we have been foragers.
- They tend to live in small bands (less than 100 people). Kung Bushman Video; to get water they collect dew drops from leaves or grass. Inuit Eskimo of Baffin Island
- Shows how people who live in a very scarce environment can live as foragers
- They are mostly egalitarian (equal)--keep each other humble--cow/feast story
- They often live long, healthy lives
- Marshall Sahlins calls them "The Original Affluent Society" (Story of Harvard Graduate and Mexican man) meaning only working 20 hrs/week - usually hunting
- Example: Class video clips - Bushmen who live in the desert and survive in small groups as foragers or Eskimos who stuck a stick through a sheet of ice. If it moves that means that something swam by and so they will try and kill the animal for food.
- Both clips show people thanking nature for food.
Guns, Germs, and Steel: The Fates of Human Societies by Jared Diamond
- Theory of Inequality
- 1450--when everything changed--Why? his model describes this
- National Geographic did a special over this book on TV
- describes the Neolithic Revolution
Agriculture and the Neolithic RevolutionThe Neolithic Revolution:
There were profound cultural changes that came with domestication of plants and animals 10,000 years ago in the Middle East, New Guinea, China, Andes Mountains, and Mexico. It happened because at some point during the drought caused by the 2nd Ice Age, people started planting to bring food to them.
Agriculture:
- Begins 8,000 years ago in China and Middle East
- In the Fertile Cresent, crops and 13 animals domesticated
- Shift to widescale farming increased population
- Did not stray far from their gardens or farmlands
| Horticulture | Agriculture |
| Low Labor | Intensive Labor |
| Shifting Plot | Permanent Plot |
| Hand Tools/ Irrigation | Irrigation, Animal Power |
Neolithic Revolution
Increased population -> more permanent and larger settlements -> division of labor -> more elaborate governments (chiefdoms, states).
Spread (of culture, farming, and domesticating limited by the environment)
- Most agriculture developed along the Tropic of Cancer
- Draft animals and other technologies spread east - west through wide continent
- Horticulture thrives in fertile tropical areas
- Pastoralism develops on the edge of food cultivation areas...or where food cultivation thrived but now fails
- Foraging has been pushed to sparse environment.
Trends from foraging to Industrialism
- Increasing population
- Greater production, surplus, and wealth
- Greater diversity of products
- Greater diversity of jobs
but...
- Less efficiency
- Increased social inequality
- Increased economic inequality
- Increased social conflict
- Increased labor demand
Cultivation continuum A continuum based on the comparative study of nonindustrial cultivating societies in which labor intensity increases and fallowing decreases.
The Nacerima Myth of Homo Economics All humans are selfish and seek to maximize their own material gain.
Modes of Distribution and Exchange - Reciprocity - trade without money (Foraging/Horticulture)
- Redistribution - everything is in one spot
- Market Exchange
Reciprocity (3 types) - Generalized (inner circle)- not expecting anything back
- Balanced (allies)- keep track and expect a pay back
- Negative (outsiders)- may try to take advantage of
In cultures that do not have
reciprocity the focus in not on material things but on the relationship and on forming relationships.
Redistribution - A form of exchange in which goods flow into a central place where they are sorted, counted, and reallocated
- Example of Redistribution: Kaiyep Kulip
- Kaiyep Kulip is a feast that my friends in Papua New Guinea do whenever there is too much kaiyep (pandanus fruit) around. One village area challenges another village area to try to eat all the food they eat. This is a form of redistribution because large amounts of resources are pooled into one and then redistributed to others.
- Kaiyep Kulip think "Look how much we can give you!" NOT "look how much we have"
Market ExchangeThe buying and selling of goods and services, with prices set by rules of supply and demand.
Agriculture/ Industrialism
Why Market Exchange?agriculture -->increased population --> specialization/division of labor -->need frequent and formalized exchanges --> market exchange
Gifts (Reciprocity)//Commodities (Market Exchange)
"people" value//economic value
interdependence//independence
"dividualsim"//individualism
relational identity//portable identity
"minimalism"(feel ashamed)//"consumerism" (showing
when have a lot) what we have by what we buy)
Coca-Colonization
"the world buys happiness in a bottle."