Anthro week 10-11
4 types of food producers
1- Horticulturalists
2- Pastoralists
3- Intensive Agriculturalists
4- Industralists
Foodways def
methods, knowledge and practices requarding food in a particular society
Includes
1- How food is collected or produced, how it is transformed, perpared and consumed
2-Studying foodways is thus studying why we eat what we eat and what it means
3-Foodgetting stredgies are apart of foodways
Food getting stategies are flexiable and non- exclusive
-One culture may use more than 1 stradegy
-Stradegies may change with time due to internal/external factors
Food foragers def
Hunter gatherers- use what is available in enivironment
Food producers def
deliberetly keep animals, farm or transform to environment to produce food
Food foragers
Humans have spent 99% of their existance using hunting/gathering for subsistence (Had alot of impact on the definition of social connections humans developed))
Food-getting stredgies and technologies were used to define the complexity of a culture
(Foraging was viewed as primate and placed at the bottom of the ladder, due to ethnocentrism and eurocentrism)
Foraging is a complex, effective and flexible stradegy (Important to not romanticise it- In some contexts, some foragers can spend up to 70 hours a week gathering food
Categorizing and lumping together cultures based on food- getting methods can be very reductive (The lifestyles of various foraging peoples share many traits, but there are also major differeneces)
Forager foodways
Daily food may consist of wild plants, animals or fish
Wild fruits/veggies, roots, seeds, tree sap, nuts, seaweed
Small/large mammels, reptiles, amphibians, birds, insects, honey, eggs, fish, marine mammels, crustaceans, shellfish
Reasources vary seasonally
Hunting is not always the primary source of food:
Ju/'hoansi (Kalahari desert) where hunting brings approx 20% of the groups categories
Forager social organization def
Foagers live/ travel together in small groups (bands)
Size of band can vary seasonally
Living in small groups often leads to less interperosnal problems (minimizes social density)
Fluid and flexible group membership helps ease interperosnal tensions
General sexual division of labour, but some tasks are open to all memebers of the group.
Bands are egalitarian, so all members recieve immediate rewards from foaraging
-Sharing is essential to survival
Foragers and the environment:
Foragers usually move frequently (nomadic)
Move seasonally across the territoty
Reduction of traditional territories due to growth of non forager societies leads to conflict and exploration
Present day foragers also have acess to store bought processed foods, but they are shared as foraged foods would be
3 types of exchanged economies
1- Reciprocity (practiced in all types of societies)
2-Redistribution (Found in societies with centeral governing authorities, like farming, pastoral or industrial societies with offcial leaders
3-Market exchange (Found in agricutural and industeral societies where surpluses are produced)
reciprocity def
set of rules that govern the sharing of food and other items
Marcel Mauss gift theory:
Social rules dictate the requirnmemts of sharing (gifting) amoung members of a group
Parties invloved in a reciprocal exchange enter into a social/economic bond
Bonds can be broken if the "gift" is not reciprocated with something of simular value
(ex- being invited to a friends house for dinner and bringing a bottle of wine)
Marshell Sahins 3 kinds of reciprocity
1-Generalized reciprocity (often invloves family and friends, no fixed expectation of a returned favour but parties have responsibilties to reciprocate at some time in a equal way)
2-Balanced reciprocity (value of an exchange is calculated and there is an excpection that the favour will be returned within a spesific time frame)
3- Negative reciprocity (One party is trying to get more from the exchange than the other person)
Horticulturalists foodways:
Activites fan out from a centeral location, the village
Small scale farming is done, with basic tools and no irrigation (relying on rainfall)
Crops vary depeding on the environment, but can include roots, tubers, grains, fruits/veggies
While certain Horticulturalist groups pratice hunting/gathering, an considerable part of their calories comes from thier crops
(EX- The Kaluli (Papua New Guinea)
Horticulturalist social organizaion
Food getting tasks are often divided between men and women (who does what varies across)
Accumination of goods,due to sedentarism, can lead to inequalities amoung the group members
Leveling mechinism (oblgation to distribute goods) develops to maintain equal level of status amoung all members
Can be done at the individual or institutional level
Horticulturalists and the environment
Swidden (slash and burn) farming is sustainable when large amounts of land are available
Widley used across the world for many crops
Plant materials are cut down then burnt directly on the plot, ashes serve as fertilizer
Movement from one plot to another is necessory for the land to "rest"
Horticulturalists practice reciprocity
Food is distributed within the village via generalized and balanced reciporocity
ex- balanced reprocity = kula rings (trobriand islands) Gift of a red shell necklace (mwaii) or white shell armbamd (soulava) is passed onto a kula partner at a spesific time +place
Pastoralist foodways
Animal husbandry is the main mode of subsistence
Depending on the environment:goats, sheep, camels, yaks, llamas, reindeer or cattle
Animals provide food staples such as milk, blood, butter, yogurt or cheese
Most pastoralist groups dont farm,but some can cultivate plants
Ex- Basseri (iran)
Pastoralist and the environmemt
Pastorlaism works in places where farming is not an option
Pastoralists move back and forth over long distances seasonally to reach productive pastures
All parts of the animal are used
Pastoralists practice reciprocity like horticultoralists sre forgners
Likely to practice generalized reciprocity within the group
Balanced reciprocity will be praticed with other groups or outsiders
Intensive Agriculturalcal foodways
rely on a variety of domesticated plants/animals
most agricultural societies depend heavely on just a handful of crops (especilly grains) and animals are used as a source of nutrition
Insensive agriculturalist social organization
Intensive agricultural cultivation requires a fully settled population
Not everyone is invloved in farming (occupational specialization)
Agricultural labours are not the farm owners
Centeraized governing body is in place, along with nobles and peasents
Intensive agriculture and the environment
Different relation with the land
Conserving future reasources vs. maximizing production
More developed tools are necessary for yearround farming, depending on the enriornment and the crop
Rice is the most commonly cultivted grain
Different varieties ae suited to different growing methods
Redistribution def
goods/money are collected by a central authority which redistributes them (ex- taxes, tribute, religious, offerings)
Market economy def
Develops in large and complex societies
Food and other goods must be traded or purchaed according to a set price, defined by supply and demand
The price remains the same for all consumers since most buyers/sellers do not know eachother personally
Money is necessary (special purpose money and multipurpose/commodity money)
Industural foodways
Food is produced using highly mechanized industry with the goal of creating a viable product at the lowest cost
Started in the 1800s in western countries with steam powered engines and now relys on gas, biochemicals and monocropping
Agricultural products are owned and sold by a handful of multinational companies and the farmers arnt in advantageous situations
Thousands of animals are raised in confined areas
Foods are generally highly processed
EX- Green revolution in INDIA
Industuralist social organization
Food producers/consumers are connected at the global scale
Most people are not involved in the food production
Most food production takes place in rural areas on private lands owned by cooperations
Food production is hieratchical (land owners, land managers, "unskiled" labours
Migrant farm workers face difficult conditions
Industeralism and the environment
Industural food production can pollute the environmemt (animal waste or biochemical inputs)
ex- agriculutal practices are responsible for 70% of all pollution in rivers/streams in the US
Harmful to people exposed to these chemicals