9.30.08 Notes.doc

PAGE PAGE 2 Anthro 130-9.30 Readings: chapters 10, and 13-15 Richard Lee- work week is short, lots of leisure time, food is constant and abundant, and the myth of hunter/gatherers just barely scraping by is false, if that way is such a great way of life, why aren?t we all doing it?, they lived almost better than anyone but there are not very many left, the mongongo nut, Lee Kromp- reciprocity, also applies to modern states, gifts have strings and it is the strings that are important, it is important to delay and differ the gift return, value doesn?t always matter, gift giving can be a weapon (potlatch) Cocaine and Bolivia- Office Work and Crack- Peurtaricans in New York City selling Crack, people being dissed, loss of honor and pride because of the people selling Crack, street identity provides respect and credibility and dignity but it is short lived because you have to deal with addiction and death and violence [Note: see bands/tribes/chiefdoms/states table on page 2] Levels of structural complexity, continued States: will take over other states, Peasants: (half of the world today) by-product of a state; rural populations of subsistence farmers incorporated into a large state, two things apply to them at all times- part of a state but somewhat separate, they are farmers but are tied to markets, live in permanent villages and farms, economically organized by reciprocity and also tied to the state (penny capitalist) they make tiny surpluses and then try to sell them off, they have to contribute to the state but get the least back from the state, social organized both as its own community where kinship is very important but also part of the state where kinship is not very important, peasant communities are ?face to face? communities and deal with conflicts on its own, politically organized with its own officials and such but state officials can also come in Prime movers- what causes states to emerge, what factors account for a state becoming a state? population growth- as the population grows, a system for controlling and taking care of and organizing all the people has to be developed energy capture- being able to maximize the production of food and other similar things, harnessing energy, using animals to plow a field, innovations that only capture energy technological innovation- inventing a better plow, domestication, does not have to be related to capturing energy, it can be anything that makes the people more efficient ?leapfrogging?- the valley of Mexico, Aztecs; moved into the valley of Mexico as a small tribal level society, they learned about chiefdoms from the tribes they settled among, eventually they took over the other tribes that they learned from Limiting factors- reasons that groups do not move to a higher societal level Environment- if the environment cannot support a larger number of people, cannot provide enough resources Disease- in certain areas when too many people are together for too long, diseases spread (in tropical areas) Latitude- disease and things spread more easily in large areas that are more horizontally spread out (continent shape) Subsistence and economic systems foraging and domestication- foraging is the same as hunter/gatherer, hunting and gathering really should be called gathering and hunting because the gathering aspect is more important; domestication- a species with genetic changes selected that affect part of the species that is useful to humans, wolf becomes a dog, humans remove competing species and directly care for the species and we begin to select the attributes that we like the best; weeding, feeding, and breeding pastoralism- the herding of animals for subsistence, two kinds nomadic and transhumance transhumance herding- not nomadic, they have a village or community where the herders live, throughout the year they move their herds to wherever they can get the best grass, only certain people from the village herd the animals usually boys and young men Horticulture/agriculture- gardeners, crops, is just for you or your family/ field designated to a few specific crops, to make a surplus of food Reciprocity generalized- exhibit in close kinship, you give but are not concerned with or expecting immediate return balanced- further in kinship, more distant relatives, returns are expected, if I give you a gift I expect to get one back negative- more distantly related people, idea is to get as much out of the transaction as possible, uses cheating and lying EX. buying a car Redistribution- goods come in and pool at a central location with the chief and then he reorganizes and sends the goods back out to the people Markets- buying and selling, supply and demand, profit motive NAMES AND TERMS Leslie White- talked about the capturing or harnessing of energy which accounts for the growth of states, domestication Robert Carneiro- suggested that environmental circumscription keeps people from being able to spread out and separate, which causes a population growth with causes an area to move toward being a state EX. Mountains, islands Julian Steward and culture core/periphery- said in any culture you will find stuff that relates directly to how they make a living and stuff that does not relate directly to making a living, the stuff that is directly related is called the core (by technology, social organization, and ideationally) there are also things on the ?outside? of the core in the same categories but they do not relate directly to making a living: Swiss Alps and the Himalayans Aztec Inca: ayllu-is a small family that would own a field or a few small fields and farm those fields for food. mita Jared Diamond- talked about the Latitude theory for limiting population growth, disease was facilitated by the shape of the continent BAND TRIBE CHIEFDOM STATE Total Numbers Fewer than 100 200-400 each village 5,000 - 20,000+ Linked villages Generally 20,000+ Subsistence Nomadic gatherers-hunters Horticulture farmers Pastoralist herders Agriculture, Herding Intensive agriculture, Tribute (taxing) Settlement Pattern Temporary camps Semi-Permanent or permanent villages Fortified centers Ritual centers Urban; cities, towns Frontier defenses Roads Economic Organization Reciprocity Balanced Reciprocity Redistribution of surpluses Some craft specialization Markets, Taxation Social Organization Kinship, Egalitarian Informal leadership Kinship, Clans, Pan-tribal associations Kinship-based ranking under hereditary leader High-ranking warriors Class/caste based hierarchy under bureaucratic leaders Political Organization Egalitarian ?Big Man? Inherited rule- ?Chief? Centralized government Examples Inuit, !Kung Kayapo, Yanomamo Kwakiutl Inca, all modern states