Week 3 - Lecture 1 - Economic Systems PDF

Economic systems - Getting what you need - Foodways - Food collection, food productions Food production: act of making something from raw materials 4-5 economic systems From youngest to oldest – Etic framework – model allows for comparison Industrialism/captialism Intensive agriculture P...

Economic systems - Getting what you need - Foodways - Food collection, food productions Food production: act of making something from raw materials 4-5 economic systems From youngest to oldest – Etic framework – model allows for comparison Industrialism/captialism Intensive agriculture Pastoralism Horticulture Foraging Etic – generalizations, outsider’s frameworks Emic – Maisin / taltan 1. Foraging ○ Food gathering ○ Fishing ○ Trapping ○ Collecting ○ NOT producing food Extensive economic activity ○ A lot of land ○ Not always used Seasonal round Labour - family – kin-based economy Flexible system Man - hunter Woman - gatherer ○ Not always true ○ Claims reflect stereotypes of 20th-century US and Europe ○ Research suggests childcare in many hunger-gather societies was shared by multiple people, system know as alloparenting Alloparenting: raising of children by non-biological adults who serve as parents Tasks by age Efficiency Property - very little property  Own what you harvest But sharing is a key value ○ Sensible People don’t own land Sustainability – a balance between resources taken from the environment + the time needed for their regeneration… them foraging is sustainable Change – impacted by others + practicing other economic systems 2. Horticulture The Maisin Production of food Cultivation of domesticated plant foods in gardens 10-12,000 yrs. Ago ○ Sub-sahara africa, south + SE Asia ○ Central + S. America Trade-offs more food - surpluses Social difference ○ Ex. Iroquoian horticulture based on corn, beans, and squash Tree crops - bananas, figs Sead crops - wheat, barley, rice, corn Root crops - yams, potatoes, taro Fibre crops - flax, hemp, cotton Melons - watermelons, cucumbers, squashes Of 200,000 wild plant species, only a few thousand are eaten by humans, and just a few hundred of these have been more or less domesticated Tools - digging sticks Extensive mode of economy - no irrigation - no fertilizer - light tools Horticultural Cycle 1. Clearing of land 2. Plant the crops 3. Weed the gardens 4. Harvest the crops 5. Maintain social fertility a. Slash, burn back into soil b. Mix plants growing in the same soil  c. Fallow - let it regenerate fertility d. Eventually… you must move the gardens Maisin practice swidden (slash and burn) horticulture, clearing and using garden site for two to three years before abandoning them to the bush and move on Labour - gendered, patrilineal society - Nuclear family Property - own what you grow - don't own land Sustainability - Horticulture works except when it doesn’t - Change impacted by the activities of agri. + capitalism Pastoralism An ecosystem based on the production of meat + milk  Common in S. Europe, central, northern, Africa, American southwest, northern Europe Unpredictable or low rain fall Herd animals – milk Extensive economic activity ○ Must move your animals Domesticated herd animals Major five domesticated animals - Sheep - Goat - Cow - Horse - Pig Trade Property Own animals Don’t own land Labour - Trans humance pastoralism Men + boys move animals Women + children in a village Nomadic pastoralism Everyone moves w/ animals Gendered Labour Women own sheep Sustainability - pastoralism works… except when it doesn’t Change - follow from the activities of agri. + industrialists Foragers, Horticulutralists, Pastorialists all equal… - Extensive land use - Affected by other systems Agri., Industry all equal… - Intensive land uses - Affect others (Hugh Brody) 4. Agriculture - Intensive Agriculture Production of food - field grown plants ○ Irrigation ○ Fertilizers INTENSIVE LAND USE ^^ For sale Land ownership Drafter animals, plows Large, permanent settlements Labour Not everyone farms ○ Many ppl do other things Family farms - sustainable, family, ownership, etc Plantations - profit, hird, concentrated, labour, land ownership - Questions of sustainablilty Industrial Agriculture - profit, machines replacing human labour - Capital and corporate ownership - how sustainable is it? - requires energy, chemicals, demand for more and more land 5. Industrialism Machines take over bulk of food production Related generally to capitalism - increased desire to produce for profit ○ Concentrated ownership (corporations) of land + means of production Labour is specialization Ownership of private property Auerbach - wild capitalism - book from water to wine Tahltan Hunting and History in an Animated World The field for prof; Home for Tahltan people from Iskut Village Symbols of who the tahltan are - storytelling as entry point for understanding values Method: Participant observation (long-term investigation) Wanted to see how life was in every season Arthur Nole - Tahlan Elder - “A lot time ago it was harder, when people went to hunt. Today we use vehicles to help us, but we are still Native people.” Freshwater fishing is an important economic activity - Freshwater fishing plays a minor role economically but adds to a sense of community identity