Music time:
from a Malaysian Hokkienese-
speaking Chinese
What cultural elements do you find in
this Karaoke clip?
Indian and Malay words in this
song
• Tangegi: sister
• Engebolie Where are you going?
• Butali: brother
• Suka: admire, love
• Majam majam: seeing several lovers
What did you find?
• Clothes: Indian and Western styles
• Languages: mainly Hokkienese, with
several Indian and Malay words.
• Buildings: Southeast Asian style shop
houses
• Multicultural society/ Plural society
• Music TV reveals the cultural contexts of
specific societies. What can you find in
Taiwanese Karaoke films?
Cultural Anthropology
Part III: World Capitalism,
Transnationalism and Chinese
Business Network
Lecturer
• Hsu, Yu-tsuen (徐雨村)
• Ph D Candidate in Anthropology,
University of Alberta, Canada
• Former Curatorial Assistant in the National
Museum of Prehistory (1999-2006)
• Fieldwork site: Sibu, Sarawak Malaysia
• Research interest: Cultural identity and
transnational network of overseas Chinese
Framework of this section
• Economic anthropology and World
capitalism
• Globalization
• Transnationalism
• Chinese ethnic business
• Culture in business management
Evaluation
•
•
•
•
Participation 30%
Quiz 40% (on Class 15 and 17)
Group presentation 30% (Class 18)
Topics will be announced in Class 14.
Doing Anthropology


Before we proceed to Class 13, let’s review
what anthropology can be.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhCruPBv
SjQ
Class 13
Economic Anthropology
Major references
• Harviland, William, and Haraldm Prins, Dana
Walrath and Bunny McBride
2008 Cultural Anthropology (Chapter 8.
Economic System). P. 176-198. Belmont,
USA: Thomson Higher Education.
• *科塔克著(徐雨村譯) (elective)
2009 文化人類學(第七章：謀求生計)。台北：
麥格羅希爾。
What is Economic Anthropology
• The study of human economic aspects in
term of culture.
• What is the difference between Economics
and Economic Anthropology?
What is Economics?
You have good answers, since
most of you have learned
Economics 101.
Economic Anthropology?
What’s your imagination toward
Economic Anthropology?
Film Display
Marshall, John
1961-74 !Kung Short Films. Watertown,
MA, USA: Documentary
Educational Resources.
The Wasp Nest (12:47)
(This film is available at NCCU Library)
Types of Economies
• Foragers 搜食者 ( Hunter-gatherers 狩獵
採集者 )
• Horticulturalists 粗耕者
• Pastoralists 畜牧者
• Agriculturalists 農耕者
• Industry and Commerce 工商業
• Mixed 混合
Nuer Bridewealth
http://www.d.umn.edu/cla/faculty/troufs/anth1604/camarriage_acquiring_a_spouse.html
Questions in this chapter
• How do anthropologists study economic
systems?
• How do different societies organize their
economic resources and labor?
• How and why are goods exchanged or
distributed?
Question 1: How do
anthropologists study economic
systems?
• Anthropologists study the means by which
goods are produced, distributed and
consumed in the context of the total
culture of particular societies.
• Are Indigenous people lazy in economic
pursuit?
• Non-industrialized societies: where the
economic sphere is not separated from the
social, religious and political spheres.
• Kinship obligation, ritual funds, tribute and
tax.
The Yam Complex in Trobriand
Islands (Papua New Guinea).
• People spend a lot of time in raising yam,
not for themselves or their household, but
to give to others.
• Meaning assigned to yam is more than
their cost in labor or materials. Yams
establish long-term relationships that lead
to other advantage, such as access to
land, protection, assistance, and other
kind of wealth.
Question 2: How do different
societies organize their economic
resources and labor?
• In small-scale nonindustrial societies, land
and other valuable resources are usually
controlled by groups of relatives, and
individual ownership is rare.
• Division of labor is by age and gender with
some craft specialization.
Control of Land and Water
Resources
• In traditional nonindustrial societies, land
is often controlled by kinship groups such
as family or band rather by individuals.
• In Paiwan society: Land was owned and
allocated by chief. Ordinary people leased
the land and offered tribute to chief every
year. In 1960s, the government
implemented ‘land measurement’ policy.
Division of labor by gender
• What are the major works assigned to
men and women respectively?
• Compare the situation of your
grandparents, that of your parents and
that of yours.
Question 3: How and why are
goods exchanged or distributed.
• People exchange goods through
reciprocity, redistribution, and market
exchange.
• Goods or wealth are expended not only for
profit, but also for prestige.
Reciprocity
• A transaction between two parties
whereby goods and services of roughly
equivalent value are exchanged.
• Three types of reciprocity:
1. generalized reciprocity 一般性相互關係
2. balanced reciprocity 平等互惠關係
3. negative reciprocity 負面互欺關係
1. generalized reciprocity
• Exchange in which the value of what is
given is not calculated, nor is the time of
repayment specified.
• Most generalized reciprocity occurs
among close kin or people who otherwise
have very close ties with one another.
2. Balanced reciprocity
• One has a direct obligation to reciprocate
promptly in equal value in order for the
social relationship to continue.
• Giving, receiving and sharing constitute a
form of social security or insurance.
Gift economy
• Is giving a gift an economic activity? Try
to explain it in terms of reciprocity. What
kind of reciprocities can you use to explain
the gift economy?
• Take examples from your everyday life.
3. Negative reciprocity
• The aim is to get something for as little as
possible. The parties involved have
opposing interests and are not usually
closely related; they may be strangers or
even enemies.
• An extreme form of negative reciprocity is
to taken something by force, while
realizing that one’s victim may seek
compensation or retribution for losses.
Redistribution
• A form of exchange in which goods flow
into a central place where they are sorted,
counted and reallocated.
• Chiefly redistribution: in tribal society or
chiefdoms
• Taxes imposed by central government
• Spending wealth to gain prestige: Quite
important for you to get leadership….
Market exchange
• Buying and selling of goods and services,
with prices set by rules of supply and
demand.
• Marketplace
• Market transaction in specific identifiable
location, including international trade fairs
such as the semi-annual Canton Trade
Fair.
• Traditional exchange centers are colorful
places where a host of sights, sounds, and
smells awaken the senses.
• In these markets social relationships and
personal interactions are key elements.
Such markets are gathering places where
people renew friendships, see relatives,
gossip, and keep up with the world.
Further questions
• What is the agenda of Tapu farmers’
protest? Do you agree with it? Why? Why
not? Try to analyze it anthropologically.
• Is there any element of nonindustrial
economy in modern organizational
business?