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Subsistence, Economy, and Materialist Theories in Anthropology •Human diversity understood in terms of environment & technology •Emphasis on: –Constraints: land, technology, population –Systematic, integrative relationships –Evolution and adaptation Major Theories & Theorists •19th century social & cultural evolutionism & universal histories (L.H. Morgan, E. B. Tylor) •Multilinear evolution & cultural ecology (J. Steward, M. Sahlins) •Neo-evolutionism (L. White, M. Harris) •World systems theory (E. Wallerstein) Patterns of Subsistence •Food Getting – FORAGING –hunters & gatherers, gatherers & hunters, fishing •Food Production – CULTIVATION –The cultivation continuum •horticulture (ecological agriculture) •Agriculture •Pastoralism •Industrialism •Adaptive strategies & constraints –Environment, technology, population Subsistence •the market as economic organizing principle is very recent in terms of human history •economy oriented toward subsistence (food getting & production) the norm for most of human history •agriculture (cultivation) also recent (10,000 yrs ago) •for 100,000 years of human history - foraging (food getting) was the economy of human life Adaptation and the Anthropology of Subsistence •Long standing disciplinary concern •Basis for materialist theoretical orientations –Theories of social & cultural evolution Situating Anthropological Theories EARLY EVOLUTIONISM (late 19TH cent.) •the idea of linear progress, unilineal social and cultural evolution –Stages of development –Humans in nature – subject to laws of nature –diversity observed represented different stages of evolution •social Darwinism Progress Evolving Nature of humans – Enlightenment Visions •Rousseau (1712-1778) –noble savage; romantic primitivism –Fall of humans from state of natural grace –ruined by civilization & society –return to natural state •Hobbes (1588-1679) –humans are brutish & selfish –need strong repressive government •Locke (1632-1704) –humans are blank slates, empty closets –became what experience made them –Imp. Of education & society 19th Cent. EVOLUTIONISM major anthropologists & proponents •Lewis Henry Morgan •Edward B. Tylor •Sir James George Frazer •Others (non-anthropologists) –Karl Marx –Herbert Spencer stages of development/progress of 19th century theories of social and cultural evolution •savagery - barbarianism – civilization •simple societies not yet reached higher stages, resembled ancient societies •complex societies proved cultural evolution •survivals -> traces of earlier customs (making pottery, superstitions) Materialist Theories and Evolution •Universal/General Evolution –All societies common evolutionary trajectory •primitive/simple-complex/civilized-foraging to food production –technological determinism -- cultures advanced through refinements in toolmaking –tools & economic practices have social implications –major changes in technology soon followed by changes in society and culture universal evolution of the 19th cent. •From simple to complex (primitive to civilized) •why? usually technology & ability to adapt to environment –Materialist theoretical orientation •Europe always the zenith of civilization, complexity •History understood in terms of the “progress” of Europe •“primitive” tribes a timeless model of European past Social Darwinism & Social/Cultural Evolution •“the survival of the fittest” –from Darwin's concept of natural selection-used to justify status quo •Hobbes vision of human nature becomes definition of adaptation –Humans were brutish and selfish –Seeking to maximize in favor of their own self interests FUNCTIONALISM and Materialist Concerns (early 20th cent.) •B. Malinowski - all cultural traits serve the needs of individuals in a society; they have a function •basic needs - food, clothing, shelter give rise to secondary needs i.e. need for food leads to the need for cooperation in food collection or production •all linked together to form an integrated whole - everything functioning together NEO-EVOLUTIONISM (20th cent.) •Leslie White –culture as an energy capturing system –more advanced technology gives humans more control over energy –all societies move through same system - technology changes related to capturing energy influence social and cultural forms •From foragers to horticulturalists to intensive agriculturalists Cultural Ecology •Julian Steward - relationship between culture and the environment •cultural variation found in adaptation to environmental circumstances •Human ecology is the system & systematic relationships between humans, material life, & environment •environment not determinant -- societies react to their ecology •typology of cultures, patterns, sequences Specific or multi-linear evolution •specific evolution - adaptive processes in a particular society in a particular environment; changes in one society rather than human society in general •Multi-linear evolution - cultures have followed different lines of development (rather than general processes), particular to each environment •Strategies of adaptation - adjustments that individuals make to obtain & use resources and to solve immediate problems Steward’s culture core •constellation of features which are most closely related to subsistence activities & economic arrangements •social, political, religious patterns as are empirically determined to be closely connected with those arrangements CULTURAL MATERIALISM •Marvin Harris –Each society must cope with problems of production –Each society must behaviorally cope with the problem of reproduction (avoiding destructive increases/decreases in pop. size) –Each society must cope with the necessity of maintaining secure & orderly behavioral relationships WORLD SYSTEMS (Wallerstein) •Global economic relations between subsistence strategies, regions, nations •Capitalism and common political, social, economic, structure –Core, peripheries, & semi-peripheries •Relationships of dependency •World economy — development and predominance of market trade = capitalism POLITICAL ECOLOGY •Putting cultural ecology in historical motion •Still strongly about human/environment relations •inter-relationships between groups within a world system of political, economic relations •Attention to an international division of labor •Temporal framework is history rather than evolution Levels of Socio-Cultural Integration & Subsistence •band, tribe, chiefdom, state –Typology of ideal types •Foragers and cultivators •Agriculturalists – intensive cultivation FORAGING •hunters & gatherers, gatherers & hunters, fishing •food getting is dependent on naturally occurring resources, plants & animals –Naturally occurring? •Little or no human modification modern day foragers •few forgers remaining •San (!Kung) - Africa; Kalahari desert •Mbuti - equatorial forests of west & central Africa •Madagascar and SE Asia •Aborigines of Australia •Inuit - hunters (now using snow mobiles & rifles) Features of Foraging •small communities in sparsely populated areas –few hundred people related by kinship & marriage •mobile lifestyle - no permanent settlements –no individual land rights •size of community may vary from season to season, culture to culture •Band form of social organization Foraging and Social Stratification •Egalitarian societies – little social stratification •social stratification by age & gender (no classes) •division of labor - age & gender Foraging and Gender gender - great deal of diversity •tendency is for men to hunt & women to gather •gathering contributes more to daily diet than hunting •women & men share equal status - more or less, egalitarian society •Where hunting & fishing dominate - the status of women is lower Eleanor Leacock on Foragers and Social Stratification •egalitarian societies do exist where men and women can do different jobs and remain separate but equal •Control over exchange of scarce resources is related to social stratification in foraging groups The Problem of Man the Hunter •man the hunter model ignored evidence for modern foragers: women do some of the hunting •female gathered goods account for more than half & at times nearly all of what is eaten •Problem of the archaeological record woman the gatherer •Re-focused model of human evolution •key importance of female gathering •"lost" female tools in arch. record - fiber carrying nets & baskets •food sharing rather than hunting key to human evolution –Food sharing & the need for social relations Conceptualizing Foragers •The gender problem •The “analogy” problem –“living fossils of early humans,” in 19th century unilineal evolutionism •Rousseau and Hobbes –Noble savages or maximizing brutish life •The “affluent society” (Sahlins) Generalized Forager Model Cultural Ecology •Egalitarianism (lack of private property; no accumulation; constraint of mobility) •Low population density •Lack of territoriality •Minimum of food storage •Flux in band composition Forager Mode of Production •Collective ownership of means of production (land and its resources) •Right to reciprocal access •Little emphasis on accumulation (ethos opposing hoarding) •Total sharing throughout camp •Equal access to tools necessary to acquire food •Individual ownership of tools Professional Primitives •H-G do not exist apart from more complex societies •ecological “symbiosis” •rural proletariat of the political economic (world system) model •“freedom fighters” of indigenous perspectives The Cultivation Continuum •Horticulture or ecological agriculture •Agriculture •Pastoralism Horticulture or Ecological Agriculture •Some human modification of environment –gardens & fields & technology •cultivation method that works in a variety of environments - most common in temperate and tropical forests & savannas •Cultivation that works with, and to varying extents, mimics the natural ecology Horticulture/Ecological Agriculture •growing crops of all kinds with relatively simple tools and methods, in the absence of permanently cultivated fields •break up soil only using hand tools, hoes, spades, sharpened sticks •clear land for planting with simple tools, knives, axes, and fire is used to remove trees and grasses •Little if any use of fertilizers •Little if any effort towards increase supply of water to the fields Horticulture or Ecological Agriculture •cultivation method that works in a variety of environments - most common in temperate and tropical forests & savannas Horticultural Methods •Slash & burn –Associated with poor tropical soils –Initially big trees are cleared –Brush is cut and left to dry –Burned before arrival of rains providing a little fertilisation and clears the plot of weeds –After several years of use must lie fallow •Swidden- a garden cultivated by the slash and burn technique. Kinds of Horticulture or Ecological Agriculture •Slash & burn or –shifting cultivation –Swidden –extensive agriculture •dependence on tree crops –Long term use Slash and Burn Perceptions of Horticulturalists •they’re inefficient, wasteful, ignorant •Destroyers of the rain forest •they don’t cut virgin forests •or •they rotate crops •they’re efficient and sustainable •they have great knowledge of forest resources and desire to maintain the forest •their livelihoods are threatened by state and international political and economic processes characteristic features - horticulture •size of settlements are larger than foragers –more stable sources of food available •tend to aggregate into villages - settlements are more permanent, investments of labor into fields, encourages sedentism •compared to foragers horticulturalists their family and kin invest labor in improving a specific and relatively well defined territory –property rights = access to resources –each group laying claim to a specific area for clearing, plantings, residence by applying their labor to it Social Stratification •more densely populated areas, sedentary lives •divisions of labor - age & gender •land & inheritance - family claims to land; heads of families, resources, claims, political & judicial orgs •increased specialization - food producers vs. non food producers Agriculture - intensive cultivation •a variety of techniques employed that enable the cultivation of permanent fields •Large-scale human modification of land, plants, animals Agricultural Techniques •nutrients back into the fields, use of fertilization and multi cropping •Plant species are manipulated & fully domesticated •domesticated animals and fertilization, turned loose into fields after harvest, manure, nutrients back into soil •more intensive weeding •Irrigation, dams and runoff, stored water & reservoirs, streams rechanneled, terracing controls water on hillside & mountains Investments •greater control over land ->increased outputs/yields •Increased inputs – Leslie White •long term production, dependable output characteristic features •sedentism, large permanent communities - villages, towns, cities •growth in population size & density •surpluses - a cultivator can feed many more people than just him or her self and family •more need to coordinate land, labor, resources •more need to regulate relations through governing bodies •tributes, taxes, rents, private property Social Stratification •Surpluses and people –more people who don't produce food –high degree of craft specialization –more complex political organization –larger differences in wealth and power Leslie White •degree of cultural development varies directly as the amount of energy per capita per year harnessed and put to work •amount of energy per capita harnessed & put to work within the culture •technological means with which this energy is expended •human need-serving product that accrues from the expenditure of energy •E (energy) food growers & non-food growers •rural peoples who are integrated into a larger society politically (imposed laws, taxes, rents, etc. from outside their community) & economically (exchange products of their labor for products produced elsewhere) Increased Coordination – land, labor, resources •increased need to regulate social relations -- governing bodies arise 4 major civilizations of the old world: association of intensive agriculture with large scale political organization: the state •Tigris & Euphrates rive valleys of Mesopotamia •Indus river valley Pakistan •Shan cities of China •Nile river New World Agriculture •Mayans of the Yucatan •Toltecs & Aztecs of Mexico •Incas of Peru Wet Rice Agriculture: A Case Study •Sawah – wet rice •Padi – rice field Agriculture as Maladaptation (J. Diamond) •Homo sapiens from genetic standpoint –humans are still late paleolithic preagricultural hunters and gatherers (35,000yrs ago) •Rise of new disease profile •Decline in environmental/ecological diversity •Decline in food diversity Pastoralism •Pastoral societies are those in which a sizeable proportion of their subsistence is based on the herding of animals within a set of spatially dispersed natural resources (vegetation, water, etc.). Pastoralism •herders acquire much of their food by raising, caring for, and subsisting on the products of domesticated animals •many pastoralist/herders cultivate •many acquire bulk of their calories from their crops rather than their animals or through trade •herds subsist on natural forage and must be moved to where the forage naturally occurs •Some move all the time, others move seasonally characteristic features •nomadism - entire group moves or transhumance - only part of the group moves; some groups sedentary •interdependence between pastoral and agricultural groups –trade animal products for agri. products from cultivators –sell livestock, hides, meat, wool, milk, cheese, or other products for money –use livestock as beasts of burden advantages of herding as adaptation •vegetation of grasslands & arid savannas & of tundra is indigestible by humans •livestock turn it into milk, blood, fat, meat all of which can be eaten or drunk by herders •livestock provide insurance against unpredictable environments of drought & low yields •mobility - herds can be moved to fresh grass and water, avoid the tax man The Bakhtiari of Iran (Persia) •largest and most purely Iranian of all the Persian tribes •annual Bakhtiari migration in April from their Garmsir, or winter quarters in Khuszistan, to their Sardsir, or summer pastures in the Chahar Mahal region of the plateau south/west of Esfehan –takes from four to six weeks The Bakhtiari Migration -- transhumance •an epic of human courage and endurance in which men, women and children of all ages, with their animals and household goods, travel by five different migrations routes across some of the wildest and most difficult mountain country in Persia in their search for grass The Bakhtiari People •The Bakhtairis are divided into two major groups –the Haft Lang and the Chahar Lang - which in turn are divided into tribes, sub/tribes and clans •Pastoralists tend to organize into unilineal clan org. –Allows for splitting off & joining at different times of the year •Flexible access to resources Pastoralists and the State •Problems nomads pose for territorial states Bakhtiari Pastoralists Alberta Pastoralisms or Industrial Beef Production? First Nations Pastoralisms or Foraging?
