Subsistence Strategies

Cultural Ecology: Adaptation & the Environment

· Resources that people can use to meet their needs

· Problems people must overcome

Making A Living

• Foraging

• Pastoralism

• Horticulture

• Agriculture

• Industrialism

Components

· Time & energy to do the work (labor)

· Available tools & knowledge (technology)

· Natural resources in the environment  

Organization

· Allocating productive work to different kinds of people

· Cooperation

· Conflicts over access to natural resources

Subsistence Strategies;

Ways in which societies transform the material resources of the environment into food, clothing, and shelter.

Foraging

• Gathering, Hunting, Fishing

• Exploit wild plants and animals

• Collecting wild plants: nuts, berries, fruits, greens, roots

• Knowledge of natural environment (i.e. water sources)

• Polar Regions

Inuit

• Deserts

Australian Aborigines

Kalahari Bushmen

Bushmen

• !Kung

• San

• Ju/’Hoansi

Division of Labor

• AGE

• SEX

Sexual Division of Labor (women)

• Gather plant foods (78% of calories)

• Simple tools

• Travel (knowledge of territory)

• Child-rearing

Sexual Division of Labor (men)

• Hunting

• 1st Kill Celebrated

• Individual or Groups

Band Organization

• Small groups

• Egalitarian

• Experts

• No formal leaders

• Shaman

Nomadic Lifestyle

• Challenges of Environment

• Rate of Productivity

• Wet/Dry Seasons

People in Crisis

• Food Rations

• Sedentary lifestyles

• Forced removal from land

• Refugee settlements

• Threat of AIDS

• Diffusion: from foraging to pastoralism

• Recruited for Army

Tourism

• Traditional Crafts

• Healing Dances

• Tours & Travel

• Traditional Music: World Music

• Art: Reflecting traditional lifestyle & current themes

Neolithic Revolution

· Introduction of farming

· Sedentary lifestyle

Horticulture & Pastoralism

Pastoralism

• Caring for domesticated animals
• Herd cattle, goats, sheep, donkeys, reindeer, llamas
• Marginal Lands: Not rich to support crops
• Complex interaction among animals, land, and people

The Maasai of East Africa

People of Cattle

(Article in Angeloni!)

Importance of Cattle

• meat
• milk
• skins

Importance of Cattle

Initiation Rituals

Marriage Rituals

Economic Exchanges

Social & Political Organization

• Semi-nomadic
• Tribal organization

Horticulture

• Plant and harvest with: non-mechanized technology (simple tools)
• Rich environments
• Small scale domestication
• Plants and Animals

Cultural Examples of Horticulturalists

• The Kawelka

Papua New Guinea: Melanesian Pacific Island

The Kawelka: Ongka’s Big Moka

Permanent Settlements

Farming: Slash & Burn (Swidden)

n Crop Rotation

n Permanent Settlements

Cultivation of:

ntaro

nyams

nbananas

nsweet potatoes

Importance of Pigs

• Division of Labor
• Economic Exchanges
• Ceremonies
• Pigs in every ceremony & every household

Social & Political Organization

n Sedentary

n Tribal Organization

n Bigmanship:

ritual

warfare

trade

Agriculture

n Permanent plots

n Irrigation: control of water

nAnimal power

nPlow

Associated with:

nSedentary villages

nRise of cities

nOccupational diversity

nSocial stratification

Economic Systems

Structuralism

· Structure of societies

· Things that happen that bring people together

Marcel Mauss: “The Gift”

· Analysis of Gift Exchanges

Economics: The study of how the choices people make determine:

· how society uses its resources

· production

· distribution of goods & services

Ways a society allows:

· resources

· goods

· services

to flow between individuals

Productive Resources

· Foragers - weapons to hunt animals

· Pastoralists – livestock & land

· Horticulturalists - land, tools, & storage facilities

Three Basic Types of Economic Systems

Reciprocity

Redistribution

Market Exchange

Reciprocity

• Mutual
• give-and-take among people of equal status
• Basic economic system(3 types)

Generalized Reciprocity

nA distribution of goods with no immediate or specific return expected.

n No concrete expectation

nGreatest Emotional Bonds: family & friends

Gifts

nTime

n Emotional Support

Balanced Reciprocity

· Exchange of goods of nearly equal value

· Clear obligation to return them within a specified time limit

· Moderate Emotional Bonds

Example of Balanced Reciprocity:

The Kula Ring

• Commodities:
• yams, taro, pottery, shell ornaments, obsidian, pigs, dogs
• Prestige Items
• Symbols of Relationships

Negative Reciprocity

• Exchange conducted for the purpose of material advantage
• Get something for nothing
• One side will receive more than other
• No Emotional Bonds

Redistribution

• Exchange in which goods are collected from members of the group & then redistributed to the group.
• Multiple partners embedded in series of reciprocal exchange

ONGKA’S BIG MOKA

• Moka: gifts
• Gifts: pigs
• Pigs: prestige

Prestige

• Social honor
• Respect
• Linked with increased: consumption & generosity

Big Man

nVERY Influential

nVoluntary Position

nNo political power

Potlatch: Remember the Kwakiutl?

· Hosts and guests

· Competitive giveaway

· Gifts: prestige, wealth, rank

· Commodities: food, blankets, fish oil, copper

· Lasts several days

· Gifts, Feasts, Speeches, Dances

· Follows etiquette & behavior

Leveling Mechanism

nPractice, value, or form of social organization

nEvens out wealth within a society

Redistribution in our society:

nTaxes

nCharity

Sexual Division of Labor: Universal characteristic of society.

Market Exchange

• Goods and services are bought & sold
• Price determined by supply & demand
• Principle distribution mechanism in most societies
• Not always money