Adaptations to Environments Biological –Body shape –Hair form –Skin color –Other physical adaptations Cultural –Technology –Behavior –Belief systems –Sustainable vs. unsustainable Globalization –Resource export »E.g. minerals, oil, hardwood –Indigenous subsistence vs. cash crops »E.g. Coffee, cotton, soy beans, GM seeds »Small farmer lose land »Food shortages, poverty increase »Farmer suicides in India

Subsistence Strategies Foraging/hunting-gathering Horticulture –Shifting cultivation/swidden/slash & burn Pastoralism –Transhumance –Nomadism Intensive Agriculture –Peasant/Family farming Industrialism/Industrial Agriculture

Environment Sets broad limits Carrying capacity: The number of people that a particular environment can sustain Different environments  different subsistence strategies

Foraging/Hunting-gathering Wild game and plants Small nomadic bands Sparse population Evolutionary past –98% of human existence (200,000 years) –Universal before Neolithic revolution (10-12,000 years ago)

Foraging Societies Fewer than 300,000, mostly in marginal areas Deserts & temperate forests – Ju/’hoansi (San) of Kalahari; Hadza of East Africa, Aborigines of Australia Circumpolar region – Inuit of Canada, Alaska, Greenland; Chukchi of Siberia Tropical forests – Mbuti Baka of Zaire; Aka of Central African Republic; Amazonian groups; Philippines; Borneo Inuit Chukchi Agta Hadza - Ju/’hoansi Baka, Aka Amazonian groups Subarctic groups

Foraging Strategies Optimal foraging Simple technology Extensive strategy – Large areas –Temporary use –Mobility –Low population density Nomadic/semi-nomadic Seasonal movements –Small family groups –Coordinated with plant growth, water, animal movements No individual land rights –Use rights Socially recognized priority of access

Foraging Groups Primary social unit: family or band –Band = ~10-20 related people Low level of social & political complexity –Egalitarian, acephalous, decentralized Division of labor (how work is allocated) minimal: –Age and gender, no occupational specialization –Temperate foragers Most food is gathered Minimal gender division of labor –Circumpolar foragers Most food hunted and fished Greater gender division of labor

‘Man the Hunter’ –Resource-limited environments ‘Woman the Gatherer’ –Ju/’hoansi diet 70% vegetable gathered by women Sahlins: ‘Affluent society’ –More leisure, good health –But depends upon environment Ju/’hoansi hours/week Some only 5 hours/week Some others 7-8 hours/day –In marginal areas, and cold climates

Foraging vs. Industrialism ForagingIndustrialism Reason for Production Production for useProduction for profit Consumption Low levelHigh level Minimalism, basic, finite needsConsumerism, infinite needs/wants Exchange Sharing-based, reciprocityMarket-based, cash, supply & demand Division of Labor Family-based, age & genderClass-based Low degree of specializationHigh degree of occupational specialization Overlapping gender rolesGreater gender division of labor Social Organization EgalitarianStratified Property Relations: Collective, use rightsPrivate, ownership Resource Use: Extensive & temporaryIntensive, continuous, & expanding Health & nutrition Good diet and healthHealth and diet vary by class Work and Leisure Less work, more leisureMore work, less leisure Sustainability High degreeLow degree

!Kung San (Bushmen) The Ju/’hoansi 1963: 466 Ju/’hoansi 3000 square miles 340 Tswana & Herero (“Blacks”)

Ju/’hoansi Foraging Dobe area –4000 feet –Northern edge of Kalahari –Semi-desert, temperate forest –Abundant plant foods –Game scarce & unpredictable –70% of diet vegetable

Ju/’hoansi Traditional Social Organization Egalitarian - no headman Leveling mechanisms –Insulting the meat –Sharing arrows, food –Resources pooled Disadvantage of acephalous system –No higher authority for dispute resolution –Leave or fight Kinship-based –Bilateral – trace descent through both fathers and mothers –Flexible population distribution

Ju/’hoansi Camps Traditional social unit Nuclear & extended families, ~10-30 people Flexible group of related people - Live together and move together at least part of the year Seasonal movements Economically self-sufficient Core = ‘owners’, k’ausi

Ju/’hoansi Camps Children inherit rights to parents’ camps Changing composition –Deplete local food resources –Visiting –Conflict –Marriage Couples live with either’s parents Bride service –Demographic composition Too many children or old people Flexible - mobility Unit of sharing Interconnected by kinship Move seasonally - water –Aggregate – dry winter –Disperse – wet summer