CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY
CH 5 - MAKING A LIVING
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If you had to hunt and gather your
own food, where would you live?
COLD
COOL
MILD
http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/ClimateChange/2ColumnSubPage
/STDPROD_090063.html
ADAPTATION
ADAPTATION – KEY TERMS
Adaptation: The way organisms modify or adjust to their environments to
fulfill their needs
Anthropogenesis: The process whereby ecosystems are influenced or
altered by humans
Carrying Capacity: The number of people the available resources can
support at a given technological level
Culturally Conditioned Bias: The assumption that our own culture is
best, and that different or older cultures are less progressive
Ecosystem: A functioning system composed of both the physical
environment and the organisms within it. Human ecosystems often must
be interpreted in cultural terms
Horticulture: Cultivation of crops using hand tools such as digging sticks
of hoes
Patterns of subsistence: Food-procuring strategies
ADAPTATION establishes a moving
balance between needs of a population
and the potential of its environments
The Tsembaga
(Papa New Guinea)
-A horticulture society,
mostly vegetarian
--Also raises pigs, but only
eats them during times of
need (illness, injury,
warfare) or during times of
celebration
Tsembaga Pig Sacrifice
-Because of prestige, the pigs were rarely
killed, population would grow
-Eventually, their food needs would compete
with that of the people
-The need to expand food production to meet
everyone’s needs would lead to warfare
between groups
-After warfare, festivals were held and the
pigs were eaten to celebrate the end of
hostilities
-In peaceful times, festivals would be held to
eat the pigs and reduce the strain on food
--the cycle of fighting and feasting ensured a
balance between humans, land, and animals
ADAPTATION also refers to:
1. the interaction process between
changes an organism makes to its
environment
AND
2. The change the environment makes to
an organism
Sickel-cell Anemia vs. Malaria
-Affecting populations of Central
African decent
--a genetic mutation causing the red
blood cell to deform and become rigid
--people who inherited gene from both
parents would die in childhood
--this selective pressure kept the gene
from spreading
BUT THEN...
-Slash-and-burn horticulture caused a change in
the environment
-This caused mosquito populations carrying
malaria to increase
-Malaria enters red blood cells and can be fatal
-However, people who receive the sickle-cell gene
from only one parent have a natural defense
(antidote)
-These people didn’t succumb to Malaria, and
because of they were favoured by natural
selection, the sickle-cell gene started to increase
again.
SO...
People change the environment (slash-and-burn
horticulture) and the environment changes them
(increase in sickle-cell gene)
ADAPTATION can also be viewed through
human ecology
-Human ecology borrow from concepts of natural
ecology.
-An ecosystem is composed of the physical environment
and the living organisms within it; an important part of
this environment for humans is culture
-For example, with the Tsembaga, consuming pigs is not
simply economical, but it is also social and spiritual.
ADAPTATION can also be viewed through
a historical lens
For example, from about 3500BC until
the 17th century, aboriginal peoples in
southern Quebec maintained a way of life
that was in balance with their resource
base.
Then the Europeans arrived.
Ojibwe Nation
The Ojibwe lived on the northern shores of
Lake Huron and Superior
-They live in small families for most of the
year
-They hunted moose, deer, bear, and beaver;
also gathered food
Sugar camp
http://theplainsofaamjiwnaang.wordpress.com/2009/12/02/lifestyle-andworldview-of-the-ojibwa/
-Fall: Fishing, Spring: Maple syrup, Summer:
Harvest wild rice on water banks
-Fairly sedentary and abundant lifestyle
Then the Europeans arrived
-Ojibwe engaged in the fur trade
-Lured to Saskatchewan and
Manitoba for new trapping
grounds
-Adopted the plains nomadic
lifestyle, becoming bison hunters
and accepting rituals such as the
Sun Dance
http://new.wildaboutgardening.org/en/growing/section3/ecozone_map/index.htm
-They didn’t completely abandon
their woodlands heritage
-continued to make maple
syrup and fish
-Became famous for their
herbal remedies (Midewiwin)
-Their floral art was adopted by
plains nations
FOOD-FORAGING
Which is a better way of life?
OR
Foraging
• 90% of humans who have lived were foragers,
supporting themselves on a combination of wild
plan collection, hunting and fishing.
• They lived in the best environments in the world,
had well balanced diets, and considerable leisure
time.
• Examples of cultures that used subsistence
strategies based on foraging:
1. The Ju/’hoansi (Kalahari Desert, Africa)
2. The Blackfoot (North American Prairies)
THE FOOD FORAGING WAY OF LIFE
Is it really primitive, backwards and
undeveloped?
Blackfoot Confederacy
-Nations living in Alberta and
Montana that foraged and hunted
Bison
-Band membership fluctuated
depending on the season and
availability of food
-Bands came together in the
summer for feasting and religious
rituals
-Movement patterns throughout
the year were relatively fixed
THE FOOD FORAGING WAY OF LIFE
Is it really primitive, backwards and undeveloped?
Ju/hoansi [zhutwasi]
Kalahari Desert, Africa
-20 hour work week, less than
contemporary Western industrial
societies
-A diet that meets and even exceeds
modern nutritional guidelines
-balanced life of work, love, ritual, play
-Because of these factors,,
anthropologists have labelled them the
“original affluent society” because
http://www.jelldragon.com/theoldways/grashoek.htm
THE FOOD FORAGING WAY OF LIFE
Is it really primitive, backwards and undeveloped?
Are modern day food-foragers they way they are
because they don’t know any better?
-Most foragers have had some interaction with other food producing cultures
-the Ju/’hoansi trade with Bantu farmers
-The Mbuti (also foragers) live closely with Bantu- and Sudanic-speaking farmers
-In the 1980’s, a global recession led to the abandonment of many sheep stations in
Australia, leading to large numbers of unemployment. Many Aboriginal people
returned to foraging for subsistence. Not only were they well fed, but they didn’t
rely on any governmental assistance during the rest of the recession
-Modern day foragers choose to maintain that lifestyle, not because of ignorance,
but because of informed choice.
Characteristics of Food Foragers
Characteristics
Key Points
Mobility and
Technology
-Food foragers do not form or practice animal
husbandry
-Must live where food sources are available
-wandering but is done within a fixed territory
-composition and size of social groups varies
regionally and seasonally
Camp Organization
-The amount of people a group can contain
based on economical factors
- Carrying Capacity puts food resources against
the number of people
-Density of social resources which is the number
or intensity of interaction between people
Examples
-Ju/’hoansi, depend on the
reliable and highly droughtresistant mon-gongo nut, may
keep to fairly fixed annual
routes and cover only a
restricted territory
-Mi’kmaq traditionally lived in
winter camps composed of a
few related families. They
hunted seal, beaver, moose,
and caribou, while in summer,
when resources were more
plentiful, especially fish, they
formed bonds of several
hundred people.
An example of camp
organization is the Ju/’hoansi
and the Blackfoot. Camp
organization in the Ju/”hoansi
is dependant on social
influences, people leave when
they get tired of their group or
experience conflicts. Whereas,
camp organization in the
Blackfoot is dependant on
food availability wherein
people separate into smaller
groups at different times of
the year to hunt for food.
Better or worse than
Toronto, and Why?
Division of Labour
-
A crucial component of social organization and
cooperation
Men and women have different tasks
Food Sharing
Egalitarian Society
- Hunting and butchering of
large game is done by men
- Women gather food and
vegetal foods, and domestic
chores
- Women walk 10 km/day to
gather food
- Men do the dangerous
tasks (hunting)
Ju/’hoansi women decide
Food sharing is common amongst foragers
It is used to distribute resources
And camp are the center of daily activity
who gets what/ they divide
the food
-No one owns significantly more than others – helps
to limit status differences
-Status differences by themselves do not suggest
inequality
-Food foragers don’t carry a lot of food on them
(agrarian) and wealth is a sign of deviance rather
than a likable quality
-Most groups use home ranges where access to
resources is open to all members: what is available to
one is available to all
-Food foragers owned little property
-The Ju/’hoansi’s belongings
are under 11 kg.
-Montagnais and Naskapi
(Innu) people of Labrador –
women provide clothing and
men provide food
-Exception – Blackfoot possess
horses
we have different opinions
It could be better because they
share what they have