Subsistence, Economics and Political Anthropology

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Subsistence, Economics and Political Anthropology
ANTH 101Intro to Cultural Anthropology

• Cultural Ecology and Culture Area
• Types of Subsistence
• Foraging, Horticulture, Pastoralism, Intensive
  Agriculture, Industrialism
• Economic Anthropology
• Reciprocity, Redistribution and Market Economy
• Political Anthropology
• Centralized and Non-Centralized Societies
• Bands, Tribes, Chiefdoms, States
• Nations
• Conflict Resolution

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Culture and the Ecosystem

• Humans adapt to their environment together,
  they and their environment are an ecosystem.
• The foods a culture subsists on are tied to its
  ecosystem.

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Cultural Ecology (Julian Steward)

• Your environment directly influences your culture
  (cultural ecology).
• Ex the Hopi (who farm) and the Navajo (who herd)
  live in the same environment.
• Ex the Cheyenne went from farming to foraging.

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Culture Areas

• When cultures in one region share similar
  cultural patterns, the region is a culture area.
• Societies in a culture area share cultural
  similarities.
• Ex. Native American culture areas

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Ex. Indigenous World Culture Areas
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Ex. 3 Rain Gods in around Mesoamerica
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Types of SubsistenceForaging

• AKA, hunting and gathering
• Today, only 250,000 people are foragers (.00005
  of the worlds population).
• They now live in marginal areas
• Many more no longer forage.
• Ex. California Indians (casinos)

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Locations of Modern Day Foraging Peoples (Kelly
1995)
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Forager Characteristics

• Live in small, nomadic bands or tribes.
• No farming / livestock, but there is a
  well-balanced diet.
• Some had enough food around them they became
  sedentary.
• Northwest Coast Indians
• Chumash California Indians
• Khoisan (!Kung)
• Complex hunter-gatherers

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Ex. Australian Aborigines before and after
Westernization
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Types of SubsistenceHorticulture

• Domestication of crops with hands and hand-held
  tools only.
• Extensive agriculture, slash and burn
  agriculture.
• Also led to sedentism
• Ex. Tsembaga (PNG)
• Subsistence, prestige crops (esp. yams) coffee
  (cash crop), raise pigs.

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Types of SubsistencePastoralism

• Raising of livestock / cattle.
• Nomadic pastoralists do little or no
  horticulture.
• Wealth measured in cattle.
• Exs.
• Wodaabe (Niger and Nigeria oxen)
• Maasai (Kenya and Tanzania cattle)
• Bakhtiari (Iran goats sheep)
• Saami (Scandinavia reindeer)
• Navajo (Southwest US sheep)

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Types of SubsistenceIntensive Agriculture

• Intense production of foods with more than just
  manual labor.
• Uses irrigation, plows, draft animals, fertilizer
• Creates surpluses
• Arose with first cities (Ex. Çatal Höyük).

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Types of SubsistenceIndustrialism

• Uses heavy industry and machines as major part of
  subsistence.
• Has only existed for a few centuries
• Much of the world uses industrialization today
• Postindustrial society?
• Computers, bioeconomics

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Economic Anthropology

• Anthropological study of economic systems.
• Three main systems of distribution and exchange
• Reciprocity
• Redistribution
• Market Economy

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Systems of Distribution and Exchange
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Reciprocity (Marcel Mauss)

• Exchange of goods, services of about the same
  value, between two or more parties
• Includes gift-giving (gifting), which always has
  some string attached - even warm, fuzzy feeling

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ReciprocityGeneralized Reciprocity

• Value of the gift is not calculated, repayment
  time not specified.
• Ex. Parents providing for children
• Kids expected to care for parents in the future,
  love them, give grandkids, etc.

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ReciprocityBalanced Reciprocity

• Must return goods of nearly equal value in a
  certain amount of time
• Exs.
• trading of baseball cards
• holding of dinner parties
• buying a round of drinks

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ReciprocityNegative Reciprocity

• One party tries to gain material advantage over
  another (better of the bargain).
• Unfriendly, impersonal transaction.
• Exs.
• Bartering
• Gambling
• Stealing
• Cheating
• Selling used cars

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Redistribution

• Flow of goods into a central place to be
  redistributed (usually equally).
• Exs.
• pure communism (commune, monastery, early
  Christianity)
• government programs, services
• NWC Indian potlatch
• PNG moka
• Maya cargo cult

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Market Exchange

• Buying and selling of goods and services
• Prices set by supply and demand
• Usually happens at specific times and places
• Money exchanged instead of goods

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Market Economy Formal and Informal Sectors

• That which is counted in the GNP (gross national
  product)is the formal sector.
• In much of Third World, formal sector accounts
  for less than half of the economy.
• Economic activities that arent counted in the
  GNP are in the informal sector
• Exs.
• prostitution
• flea markets
• drug trade
• bake sales
• Illegal immigrant labor

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Political AnthropologyCentralized and
Non-Centralized Societies
According to Julian Steward, societies are either
centralized or non-centralized
POWER IN THE HANDS OF FEW
POWER IN THE HANDS OF MANY
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Non-Centralized SocietiesThe Band

• Nomadic group of related households occupying one
  region (about 50 to 500 people)
• Gather on ad hoc basis to hunt and gather
• Reciprocity-based economics
• No permanent leader
• Least complex form of political organization

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The Band Examples

• !Kung (southern Africa)
• Headman coordinates band movements, chooses new
  campsites
• Does not judge his people
• Has no more possessions than anyone else

• The Paiute (US)
• Men and women together hunt small game, gather
• Men sometimes hunt big game
• Men and women serve as ad hoc leaders, shamans

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Non-Centralized SocietiesThe Tribe

• Group of independent communities occupying one
  region (about 200 2,000 people)
• United by common language, culture, kin ties
• Sometimes nomadic, sometimes sedentary, light
  farmers / herders
• Leader (big man) holds prestige, not authority
• Elders hold the true authority.

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The Tribe Examples

• The Nuer (Sudan)
• Pastoralist culture
• Political authority maintained by segmentary
  lineages.
• Each lineage is equal to all others
• Authority often based on age

• Papua New Guinea tribes
• Horticultural pastoralist peoples, wealth
  measured in pigs
• Big man's power transitory, prestige enhanced by
  redistribution (moka)

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Centralized SocietiesThe Chiefdom

• Regional polity with two or more groups organized
  under one chief (ascribed rule) (several 1000s)
• Wealthy chief / king heads a ranked hierarchy
• Increase in population, complex tech, jobs,
  instability
• May be basis of civilization
• Often unstable

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Historical Examples

• Hawaii
• Medieval Europe / Africa / Japan
• Eastern Woodlands cultures (N. America)
• Hopewell / Mississippian societies
• Chesapeake-area chiefdoms
• Southeast Asia (Angkor Wat)

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Modern Example the Kpelle (Liberia)

• Series of chiefs, each ruling over several
  subchiefs
• Chiefs hear settle local disputes, distribute
  medicines
• Salaried by Liberian govt, given other perks
• Kpelle wealth measured in wives, embroidered
  gowns, freedom from labor

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Centralized SocietiesThe State

• Strong, centralized political system with clear,
  strong leader (10,000s )
• Claims authority to maintain social order by
  force
• Most centralized, unstable political system
• Clear borders, hierarchy, jobs
• Exs. any ancient empire, any modern country

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Ancient Ex. Sumer (Mesopotamia)

• Worlds first civilization was highly stratified
  state with
• large public works
• strict legal code (Code of Hammurabi)
• State religion
• worlds first writing

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A Typical Hierarchy in a State Society the Maya
(Mesoamerica)
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Modern Example USA States and Reservations
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What Is a Nation?

• Communities united as "one people" through common
  factors
• ancestry, history, society, institutions,
  ideology, language, territory, religion.
• All bands, tribes, chiefdoms and states are
  nations
• Today there are over 200 nation-states,
  encompassing over 5,000 nations (ethnic groups,
  autonomous peoples, tribes, etc.)

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Example Map of the Nations of Europe
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Peaceful Conflict Resolution

• Conflict resolution in small societies is often
  peaceful.
• Avoidance
• Community action
• Negotiation / mediation
• Ritual reconciliation / oaths
• Larger societies have more codified ways to
  handle conflict.

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Violent Conflict Resolution

• Violence is sometimes used when peaceful
  resolution is not possible.
• More violent societies tend to have
• warlike sports, violent games
• malevolent magic
• more crime, more severe punishment for crimes
• feuding, family violence

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• Some try to end violence through peaceful means.