This document discusses different patterns of subsistence around the world. It describes four main patterns: food foraging, pastoralism, horticulture, and agriculture. Food foragers live in small, egalitarian bands and gather wild plants/hunt animals. Pastoralists herd domesticated animals and follow grazing patterns. Horticulturalists grow crops and settle permanently, developing ownership. Agricultural societies are highly stratified, populate large areas, and produce food surpluses, allowing specialization. The patterns represent increasing control over food sources and complexity in human societies over thousands of years in response to population growth.
27.wild life and wildlife management A series of Presentation ByMr Allah Dad ...Mr.Allah Dad Khan
A series of Presentation ByMr Allah Dad Khan Special Consultant NRM , Former DG Agriculture Extension KPK Province , Visiting Professor the University of Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan allahdad52@gmail.com
If not we will be divided in to uncountable groups each manipulated by vested foreign and domestic interests to economically rob us from our ability of creative thinking and innovation.
Development projects, as stated above, needs money for each of them to execute. And the money takes the route of foreign direct investment (FDI). Investment needs interest. Usually the investment in infrastructure projects will be inflated ten times higher to earn not only more interest but to make local governments not to be able to pay. When unable to pay, local governments open up natural resources to foreigners for ruthless exploitation. It is a saga that documents one resourceful country after another resourceful country. Dams interrupt river flow thus the cultural bondage of all the tirthas along the river. Can you imagine how to perform aarti when the rivers are dry? That really doesn’t surprise me; people are more interested in forcing themselves upon Nature as opposed to being in tune with it. Nothing in Uttarakhand is endangered or unfriendly to wildlife except under the British rulers.
As Netaji Subhash Chnadra Bose said “any form of oppression should be fought back” it is true in the era of intellectual and scientific arenas.
Although we declare “Satyameva Jayate” as an emblem of the state. It is mentioned on most of documents of our government. The reality is far from the truth.
27.wild life and wildlife management A series of Presentation ByMr Allah Dad ...Mr.Allah Dad Khan
A series of Presentation ByMr Allah Dad Khan Special Consultant NRM , Former DG Agriculture Extension KPK Province , Visiting Professor the University of Agriculture Peshawar Pakistan allahdad52@gmail.com
If not we will be divided in to uncountable groups each manipulated by vested foreign and domestic interests to economically rob us from our ability of creative thinking and innovation.
Development projects, as stated above, needs money for each of them to execute. And the money takes the route of foreign direct investment (FDI). Investment needs interest. Usually the investment in infrastructure projects will be inflated ten times higher to earn not only more interest but to make local governments not to be able to pay. When unable to pay, local governments open up natural resources to foreigners for ruthless exploitation. It is a saga that documents one resourceful country after another resourceful country. Dams interrupt river flow thus the cultural bondage of all the tirthas along the river. Can you imagine how to perform aarti when the rivers are dry? That really doesn’t surprise me; people are more interested in forcing themselves upon Nature as opposed to being in tune with it. Nothing in Uttarakhand is endangered or unfriendly to wildlife except under the British rulers.
As Netaji Subhash Chnadra Bose said “any form of oppression should be fought back” it is true in the era of intellectual and scientific arenas.
Although we declare “Satyameva Jayate” as an emblem of the state. It is mentioned on most of documents of our government. The reality is far from the truth.
Presentación de Dawn Morrison (Canadá) - Seminario Internacional Pueblos Indí...FAO
Presentación de Dawn Morrison (Canadá) en el marco del Seminario Internacional de Expertos sobre 'Diversidad Cultural, Sistemas Alimentarios y Estrategias Tradicionales de Vida' realizado del 4 al 6 de noviembre de 2014 en Cusco Perú.
Role of bushmeat in food security and nutritionCIFOR-ICRAF
This presentation highlights the importance of bushmeat for the food security, nutrition and income of rural and urban populations in the Amazon and Congo Basins. Following an introduction on the size and nature of the bushmeat value chain, we show the potential ecological, economical and nutritional crises if we pursue unsustainable practices. We then propose a portfolio of solution around a more sustainable supply, a reduced demand and a conducive enabling environment at national and international levels.
Harvesting Justice - Transforming Food, Land, and Agricultural Systems in the...berat celik
“We are the food we eat, the water
we drink, the air we breathe. And
reclaiming democratic control
over our food and water and our
ecological survival is the neces-
sary project for our freedom.” 3
— Vandana Shiva, physicist and activist
Malnutrition—and particularly protein deficiency—remains a challenge for many poor people across West Africa, compromising or stunting the physical and mental development of millions of children. While overall nutrition has improved across the continent, sufficient protein consumption remains a challenge.
A recent issue of the West Africa Trends newsletter, a trend monitoring report from the African Center for Economic Transformation, investigated the potential for locally produced bushmeat—the common term for the meat of wild animals—to provide protein and improved nutrition for many poor households in the region. Often the primary source of animal protein for many communities, bushmeat’s demand has made the supply unsustainable, endangering the ecosystems where wild animal populations live, and potentially driving some species to extinction. To meet the demand, while mitigating the environmental stress, commercial breeding of grass cutters (cane rats), squirrels, certain types of birds, and insects are being explored. With education, regulation, and the support of the public-private sector, development of innovative breeding methods could generate a sustainable supply of bushmeat and provide poor farmers an opportunity to sell in premium urban markets, where it is considered a delicacy.
- The political ecology of understanding the creation of
the international order!
- Social movements and the challenge to existing orders!
- Linking the body and spaces of resistance
Dignity and pride are not only two different feelings, but, in some ways, opposites. You can step on your pride to preserve your dignity. You can destroy your dignity because of your pride.
- Luigina Sgarro
When it comes to human dignity, we cannot make compromises.
- Angela Merkel
We must build a new world, a far better world one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected.
- Harry S. Truman
While bush meat consumption as a driver of deforestation has received international attention, understanding the roles played by women and men in the consumption of wild animals will be vital if the trade is to continue sustainably. This presentation gives an overview of CIFOR research on the roles and contributions of men and women in the hunting, trade, and consumption of bush meat within the value chain.
Robert Nasi, CIFOR Scientist and Leader of the CGIAR Research Programme on Forest, Trees, and Agroforestry (http://www.cifor.org/crp6/), gave this presentation at the first Africa Congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) and the Forestry Network for sub-Saharan Africa (FORNESSA), held in Nairobi, Kenya in June 2012.
This lecture explores food sovereignty and the right to food. It also looks at country foods and regulation by Health Canada of country foods. The impact of climate change on subsistence hunting and fishing and gathering for indigenous people in Canada.
Presentación de Dawn Morrison (Canadá) - Seminario Internacional Pueblos Indí...FAO
Presentación de Dawn Morrison (Canadá) en el marco del Seminario Internacional de Expertos sobre 'Diversidad Cultural, Sistemas Alimentarios y Estrategias Tradicionales de Vida' realizado del 4 al 6 de noviembre de 2014 en Cusco Perú.
Role of bushmeat in food security and nutritionCIFOR-ICRAF
This presentation highlights the importance of bushmeat for the food security, nutrition and income of rural and urban populations in the Amazon and Congo Basins. Following an introduction on the size and nature of the bushmeat value chain, we show the potential ecological, economical and nutritional crises if we pursue unsustainable practices. We then propose a portfolio of solution around a more sustainable supply, a reduced demand and a conducive enabling environment at national and international levels.
Harvesting Justice - Transforming Food, Land, and Agricultural Systems in the...berat celik
“We are the food we eat, the water
we drink, the air we breathe. And
reclaiming democratic control
over our food and water and our
ecological survival is the neces-
sary project for our freedom.” 3
— Vandana Shiva, physicist and activist
Malnutrition—and particularly protein deficiency—remains a challenge for many poor people across West Africa, compromising or stunting the physical and mental development of millions of children. While overall nutrition has improved across the continent, sufficient protein consumption remains a challenge.
A recent issue of the West Africa Trends newsletter, a trend monitoring report from the African Center for Economic Transformation, investigated the potential for locally produced bushmeat—the common term for the meat of wild animals—to provide protein and improved nutrition for many poor households in the region. Often the primary source of animal protein for many communities, bushmeat’s demand has made the supply unsustainable, endangering the ecosystems where wild animal populations live, and potentially driving some species to extinction. To meet the demand, while mitigating the environmental stress, commercial breeding of grass cutters (cane rats), squirrels, certain types of birds, and insects are being explored. With education, regulation, and the support of the public-private sector, development of innovative breeding methods could generate a sustainable supply of bushmeat and provide poor farmers an opportunity to sell in premium urban markets, where it is considered a delicacy.
- The political ecology of understanding the creation of
the international order!
- Social movements and the challenge to existing orders!
- Linking the body and spaces of resistance
Dignity and pride are not only two different feelings, but, in some ways, opposites. You can step on your pride to preserve your dignity. You can destroy your dignity because of your pride.
- Luigina Sgarro
When it comes to human dignity, we cannot make compromises.
- Angela Merkel
We must build a new world, a far better world one in which the eternal dignity of man is respected.
- Harry S. Truman
While bush meat consumption as a driver of deforestation has received international attention, understanding the roles played by women and men in the consumption of wild animals will be vital if the trade is to continue sustainably. This presentation gives an overview of CIFOR research on the roles and contributions of men and women in the hunting, trade, and consumption of bush meat within the value chain.
Robert Nasi, CIFOR Scientist and Leader of the CGIAR Research Programme on Forest, Trees, and Agroforestry (http://www.cifor.org/crp6/), gave this presentation at the first Africa Congress of the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) and the Forestry Network for sub-Saharan Africa (FORNESSA), held in Nairobi, Kenya in June 2012.
This lecture explores food sovereignty and the right to food. It also looks at country foods and regulation by Health Canada of country foods. The impact of climate change on subsistence hunting and fishing and gathering for indigenous people in Canada.
The slides depicts the real face of the grazing when the level of integrity increases to max. How people in different parts of the world are getting affected also how hazardous it is to environment. Several Human wildlife conflicts are ruining the flow of the ecosystem so how to mitigate them, how to spread awareness all are portrayed in the given slide.
Cultural AnthropologyGetting FoodCultural Anthro.docxfaithxdunce63732
Cultural Anthropology
Getting Food
Cultural Anthropology
Food-getting activities take precedence over all other survival needs, including reproduction, social control, defense, and transmission of knowledge to the next generation
Cultural Anthropology
In our society food-getting strategies are simplified – we merely need to go to the supermarket
Video:
"'Freegans' Take Green to Extreme"
Cultural Anthropology
But for some of the world, the level of food-getting takes up more time and is much more labor-intensive. It is called subsistence economics.
Cultural Anthropology
Subsistence economics is a situation where basically all able-bodied adults are engaged in getting food for themselves and their family as their main activity
Cultural Anthropology
Subsistence economics is how humans obtained their food for millions of years by foraging for their subsistence – e.g. gathering plants, nuts, berries, scavenging, hunting and fishing
Cultural Anthropology
Foraging is much less common today
As a subsistence style, it is used today by hunter-gatherers, who make up only about 5 million people on the planet
Cultural Anthropology
Foraging for plant life – gathering plants, berries, seeds, nuts and tubers is more common in areas close to the equator as compared to northern latitudes such as the Arctic, where plant life is scarce
Video:
"Hunter-Gatherers"
Cultural Anthropology
In northern climates, since plants are scarce, hunting is more predominant
See an Inuit (Eskimo) hunter in Northern Canada in the classic anthropological film “ “Nanook of the North” (1922)
Foragers
Foragers actually spend less time obtaining food than most other types of food-getters
!Kung adults of Southern Africa spend just 17 hours a week on average getting food
Characteristics of Foragers
Foragers generally have small communities with no class differences
Getting Food: General Features of Food Collectors
A survey of 180 food-collecting societies indicates that there is a lot of variation with regard to which food-getting activity is most important to the society. Gathering is the most important activity for 30 percent of the surveyed societies, hunting for 25 percent, and fishing for 38 percent.
*
Food Production
Most of the world does not forage for food but produces it in one fashion or another
3 types of food production; horticulture, pastoralism, and intensive agriculture
No food production strategy is perfect, as the videos illustrate
Video:
'Women’s Horticulture Group in Burkina Faso"
Food Production
Horticulturalists have relatively small plots of land
Often use hand tools instead of machines
May also raise small animals; pigs, chickens, sheep, goats
Getting Food: Food Production
Horticulture
Plant cultivation carried out with relatively simple tools and methods; nature is allowed to replace nutrients in the soil, in the absence of permanently cultivated fields
Main Horticultural Method - Shifting cultivation
.
A Research Paper Entitled " A Geographical Study on Equines Conservation Issues and Challenges in (EPC) NRCE, Bikaner Rajasthan " presented by Ram Avdhesh Singh* in the 44th, RGA National Conference held at S.R.L.S. Govt. College Kaladera, Jaipur Rajasthan on 6 Oct. 2016.
A Research Paper Entitled " A Geographical Study on Equines Conservation Issues and Challenges in (EPC) NRCE, Bikaner Rajasthan ", presented in the 44th, RGA National Conference at S.R.L.S. Kaladera, Jaipur Rajasthan on 6 Oct. 2016.
An economic System during early civilization and at present times.
*The sources/references of pictures and authors of the collected ideas of this PowerPoint Presentation is highly recognized.
Neuro-symbolic is not enough, we need neuro-*semantic*Frank van Harmelen
Neuro-symbolic (NeSy) AI is on the rise. However, simply machine learning on just any symbolic structure is not sufficient to really harvest the gains of NeSy. These will only be gained when the symbolic structures have an actual semantics. I give an operational definition of semantics as “predictable inference”.
All of this illustrated with link prediction over knowledge graphs, but the argument is general.
Kubernetes & AI - Beauty and the Beast !?! @KCD Istanbul 2024Tobias Schneck
As AI technology is pushing into IT I was wondering myself, as an “infrastructure container kubernetes guy”, how get this fancy AI technology get managed from an infrastructure operational view? Is it possible to apply our lovely cloud native principals as well? What benefit’s both technologies could bring to each other?
Let me take this questions and provide you a short journey through existing deployment models and use cases for AI software. On practical examples, we discuss what cloud/on-premise strategy we may need for applying it to our own infrastructure to get it to work from an enterprise perspective. I want to give an overview about infrastructure requirements and technologies, what could be beneficial or limiting your AI use cases in an enterprise environment. An interactive Demo will give you some insides, what approaches I got already working for real.
Key Trends Shaping the Future of Infrastructure.pdfCheryl Hung
Keynote at DIGIT West Expo, Glasgow on 29 May 2024.
Cheryl Hung, ochery.com
Sr Director, Infrastructure Ecosystem, Arm.
The key trends across hardware, cloud and open-source; exploring how these areas are likely to mature and develop over the short and long-term, and then considering how organisations can position themselves to adapt and thrive.
Securing your Kubernetes cluster_ a step-by-step guide to success !KatiaHIMEUR1
Today, after several years of existence, an extremely active community and an ultra-dynamic ecosystem, Kubernetes has established itself as the de facto standard in container orchestration. Thanks to a wide range of managed services, it has never been so easy to set up a ready-to-use Kubernetes cluster.
However, this ease of use means that the subject of security in Kubernetes is often left for later, or even neglected. This exposes companies to significant risks.
In this talk, I'll show you step-by-step how to secure your Kubernetes cluster for greater peace of mind and reliability.
Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey 2024 by 91mobiles.pdf91mobiles
91mobiles recently conducted a Smart TV Buyer Insights Survey in which we asked over 3,000 respondents about the TV they own, aspects they look at on a new TV, and their TV buying preferences.
GDG Cloud Southlake #33: Boule & Rebala: Effective AppSec in SDLC using Deplo...James Anderson
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The modern software delivery process (or the CI/CD process) includes many tools, distributed teams, open-source code, and cloud platforms. Constant focus on speed to release software to market, along with the traditional slow and manual security checks has caused gaps in continuous security as an important piece in the software supply chain. Today organizations feel more susceptible to external and internal cyber threats due to the vast attack surface in their applications supply chain and the lack of end-to-end governance and risk management.
The software team must secure its software delivery process to avoid vulnerability and security breaches. This needs to be achieved with existing tool chains and without extensive rework of the delivery processes. This talk will present strategies and techniques for providing visibility into the true risk of the existing vulnerabilities, preventing the introduction of security issues in the software, resolving vulnerabilities in production environments quickly, and capturing the deployment bill of materials (DBOM).
Speakers:
Bob Boule
Robert Boule is a technology enthusiast with PASSION for technology and making things work along with a knack for helping others understand how things work. He comes with around 20 years of solution engineering experience in application security, software continuous delivery, and SaaS platforms. He is known for his dynamic presentations in CI/CD and application security integrated in software delivery lifecycle.
Gopinath Rebala
Gopinath Rebala is the CTO of OpsMx, where he has overall responsibility for the machine learning and data processing architectures for Secure Software Delivery. Gopi also has a strong connection with our customers, leading design and architecture for strategic implementations. Gopi is a frequent speaker and well-known leader in continuous delivery and integrating security into software delivery.
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In today's fast-changing business world, Companies that adapt and embrace new ideas often need help to keep up with the competition. However, fostering a culture of innovation takes much work. It takes vision, leadership and willingness to take risks in the right proportion. Sachin Dev Duggal, co-founder of Builder.ai, has perfected the art of this balance, creating a company culture where creativity and growth are nurtured at each stage.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024Albert Hoitingh
In this session I delve into the encryption technology used in Microsoft 365 and Microsoft Purview. Including the concepts of Customer Key and Double Key Encryption.
Encryption in Microsoft 365 - ExpertsLive Netherlands 2024
Lesson 5 patterns of subsistence.doc
1. Patterns of Subsistence
How People Make a Living
By Robbi Erickson http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/12140/
patterns_of_subsistence.html
Introduction
There are several different ways in which a culture can provide for their subsistence.
They can be food foragers, pastoralists, horticulturists, or agriculturists. Each pattern
of subsistence has its own level of stratification, settlement patterns, and degree of
labor specialization.
There are several different ways in which a culture can provide for their subsistence.
They can be food foragers, pastoralists, horticulturists, or agriculturists. Each pattern
of subsistence has its own level of stratification, settlement patterns, and degree of
labor specialization.
Food Foragers
Food foragers live in small bands of 100 or less people, who work together in an
egalitarian society, and who gather wild harvests and hunt for meat. There is a
sexual division of labor among the men and women. Men are required to do the
tasks that require physical strength and endurance like hunting and preparing
tough materials, while women are required to tasks that allow the accommodation
of child rearing restraints. This includes gathering wild nuts, grasses, cereals, and
vegetables, cooking, sewing, and maintaining the home. There is no stratification
in type of culture and sharing of the spoils of nature is done equally among its
members. However there are specific rules about how much meat eat person in the
band receives. This is based on the biological and cultural protein and fat needs of
each member. Food foragers move frequently through a roughly defined territory
and often follow seasonal patterns of wild crops and game migrations. (Searles and
Less, 2002, pg. 118).
Food foragers live in small bands of 100 or less people, who work together in an
egalitarian society, and who gather wild harvests and hunt for meat. There is a
sexual division of labor among the men and women. Men are required to do the
tasks that require physical strength and endurance like hunting and preparing
tough materials, while women are required to tasks that allow the accommodation
of child rearing restraints. This includes gathering wild nuts, grasses, cereals, and
vegetables, cooking, sewing, and maintaining the home. There is no stratification
in type of culture and sharing of the spoils of nature is done equally among its
members. However there are specific rules about how much meat eat person in the
band receives. This is based on the biological and cultural protein and fat needs of
each member. Food foragers move frequently through a roughly defined territory
and often follow seasonal patterns of wild crops and game migrations. (Searles and
Less, 2002, pg. 118).
2. Foragers in the North
American Subarctic
(Eskimo or Inuit in the
early 20th century)
An example of a food foraging culture is the Netsilik that occupy the land along
the Arctic coast northwest of Hudson Bay. The Netsilik are hunters and gatherers,
however, because of the frozen and barren condition of the land they inhabit, there
is very little to gather, and so they must rely on hunting. They use what resources
they have available to provide for their daily living needs. Hunting provides for their
food, clothing, and tool needs, while ice provides shelter, and entertainment. The
Netsilik migrated based on a two-season per year cycle. During the summer they
migrate inland to fish and hunt. This is the best time of the year for the Netsilik
because food is plentiful and varied. (Searles and Lee, 2002, p. 103). During this
time of plenty, each man hunts and fishes for his own family unit by himself.
However as the winter takes hold of the land the Netsilik migrate back to the coastal
winter camps that consist of 50 to 100 people. It is during the winter that seal
hunting is the main staple of their lives, and because of the difficulty in catching
seals, teamwork and sharing is vital to surviving the harshness of winter. The
Netsilik lack stratification because of this need to share during the tough times of the
year. Also because of the nature of their environment, specialization of roles is also
not present. (p. 105).
Anthropologists have identified three major variations of the foraging subsistence
pattern:
1. pedestrian (diversified hunting and gathering on foot)
The most well known pedestrian foragers were the Australian
Aborigines, the San speakers of Southwest Africa, the pygmies of West Central
Africa, most California Indians, and the Paiutes of the Great Basin in Western North
America.
3. Agta Kung San
2. equestrian (concentrating on hunting large mammals from horseback)
Equestrian foragers have evolved in only two areas of the world--the
Great Plains of North America and the sparse grasslands of Southern Argentina.
In both cases, pedestrian foragers acquired horses from Spanish settlers in the
early 17th century. Over several generations, horse breeding and riding skills were
honed.
North American equestrian
foragers of the Great Plains
in the late 19th century
3. aquatic (concentrating on fish and/or marine mammal hunting usually from boats)
Aquatic foragers focus their subsistence activities on fish, mollusks,
crustaceans, and/or marine mammals. The most well known aquatic foragers lived
on the Northwest Coast of North America from the Klamath River of California to the
Aleutian Islands of Alaska.
4. Foragers in the North
American Subarctic
(Eskimo or Inuit in the
early 20th century)
Pastoralists
Pastoralists differ from food foragers in that they have domesticated certain animals
to provide meat, dairy products, and skins to fulfill their needs. In most other ways
their cultures are similar. They lack stratification, they migrate in a defined territory
usually following the grazing patterns of their herds, jobs are divided based on sex,
and live in small to medium sized groups.
AAssociated Contentn example of a pastoral group of people is the Basseri of
southern Iran. Basseri follow a two-season per year migration that follows the
grazing needs of their herds. In the winter they graze their herds on the plains
and foothills, and in the summer they graze in the lush mountain pastures. The
Basseri, unlike the Netsilik, do have specialization in their labor. They are excellent
weavers and tanners. Women use goat hair to spin yarn and weave saddlebags,
carpets, and sleeping rungs. (Searles and Lee, 2002, pg. 108). Although they have
claim to a right to use certain pastures, they do not own land. A sexual division of
labor is seen in this group of people. The men are in charge of herding the animals
while the women are in charge of keeping the home and raising the children. They
also often have small gardens where they raise vegetables for the winter months.
It is important to note that women’s work, among the Basseri, does not include
dangerous jobs because of the value placed on their reproductive role. (p. 110).
Horticulturists
The previous two subsistence groups were defined as food-gatherers, horticulturists
on the other hand, belong to a category of food subsistence defined as a food
producer. Horticulturists differ from food gatherers in that they have a vested
interest in the crops they plant, and therefore do not migrate, or at least not as
much, as food gatherers. Most set up permanent residences and an ownership of the
land is claimed. Because they are sedentary, they also accumulate more material
objects, and place value in possessions. (Searles and Lee, 2002, pp. 124-125). This
practice is not practical in migratory societies.
The previous two subsistence groups were defined as food-gatherers, horticulturists
on the other hand, belong to a category of food subsistence defined as a food
producer. Horticulturists differ from food gatherers in that they have a vested
interest in the crops they plant, and therefore do not migrate, or at least not as
much, as food gatherers. Most set up permanent residences and an ownership of the
land is claimed. Because they are sedentary, they also accumulate more material
objects, and place value in possessions. (Searles and Lee, 2002, pp. 124-125). This
practice is not practical in migratory societies.
5. Women from a Papua New
Pigs raised for food and sale on Guinea
a horticultural village selling fruits
small horticultural farm in and
Colombia vegetables in a small town
market
An example that illustrates horticultural subsistence is Afghanistan Wheat Farming.
Unlike the food gatherers, stratification is seen at this level of subsistence
patterning, although it is only marginally observed. For example, in the bazaar where
merchants and farmers sell their merchandise a chief of the merchants is selected
based on an informal election of one man. Exchange is made using money on a cash-
and-carry basis. This too is different from food gatherers who mostly rely on their
own abilities to acquire food sources from the wild as opposed to buying or trading
for it. Because of the nature of their work, and its dependence on larger labor forces,
work is not as strictly divided among the sexes in the field. Men and women take
part in the cultivation of the land, however bartering tends to remain a man’s world.
Labor specialization is observable at this level as farmers produce surpluses of food
that can be sold to people who did not take part in its cultivation. The farmers in
turn can acquire material goods like tools, clothes, and specialty items made by
specialized craftsmen. (p. 126).
Agriculture
The next step up is agricultural subsistence groups. Here there is a deeply
stratification of its members. Populations are much larger and the development
of urban centers is possible because of the ability to produce a surplus of food.
Specialization of labor is clearly seen in these types of groups, and other areas of
interest like religion, science, math, and the arts are more fully developed.
An example of this type of subsistence group is illustrated by the Taiwanese Rice
Farming. Here there is a strong centralized bureaucratic government. Men and
women both work in the fields and harvest the crops of rice. In depth knowledge
about the biological weaknesses and needs of the rice plant is needed by the farmers
so that the correct fertilizers and growing techniques can be used to produce the
largest crop. (Searles and Lee, 2002, pg. 128-129). Farmers’ associations help
to maintain ties in the group and provide up-to-date information about farming
techniques. It is also possible to borrow money from the association to fund the
acquisition of farming equipment and machinery. A formal legal system is in place
6. that governs land rights, tax obligations, and sales of crops. (p. 131).
Heavily fertilized and
Rice production in China using
irrigated
gasoline driven rototillers (top
hillside terraced fields
left)
used
and large amounts of hand
for intensive rice farming
labor
in
for planting
Indonesia
Modern Large-Scale Societies
In large-scale societies today, agriculture has become highly efficient, requiring
much fewer people to produce the food for everyone else. This is particularly true
of mechanized grain farming and ranching. Technological advances in farm
production now occur frequently and are spread world wide within a few years. Our
new sources and uses of energy often require international trade on a global scale to
acquire them. This is particularly true of petroleum products.
In many of the poor developing nations in the tropical regions of the world,
plantation agriculture has increasingly replaced subsistence horticulture.
Plantations are large, labor-intensive farms that mostly produce fruit, sugar,
fiber, or vegetable oil products for the international market. The laborers usually
work for very low wages that keep them in poverty. Many of the plantations of
Indonesia, Philippines, Central America, the Caribbean, and West Africa are owned
by multinational corporations such as Dole and the National Fruit Company. The
net effect of this form of agriculture generally has been the flow of wealth from poor
nations in the southern hemisphere to rich ones in the northern hemisphere.
A century ago, the typical North American family lived on a farm in a multi-
generational household. Today the common pattern is a nuclear family household
in an urban or suburban environment. The form of the contemporary North
American family is largely a result of the demands of the work place. Corporations,
governments, and other major employers are often nationwide and even
international in their operations. Many commonly require their employees to move
from city to city and even country to country every few years. As a result, it is
extremely difficult for extended families to remain together in the same community
once the children grow up. We have become a people with few long term community
roots. It is not surprising that 3/4 of the people living in California today were not
7. born there. This pattern of frequent job related migrations is now occurring across
the globe.
We are moving into a post-industrial information-based economy in the U.S. and
other economically dominant nations. There is an increasing emphasis on mental
rather than hard physical labor. The economic and political power of women has
risen significantly in part as a result of this change.
Comparisons
Over the last 10,000 years, human populations have grown rapidly. This has
resulted in increased pressure to produce more food with the same amount of land.
As a consequence, our foraging ancestors were forced to change their subsistence
patterns radically. Horticulture and pastoralism solved the problem for several
thousand years. However, by 5,000 years ago in some regions of the world,
intensive agriculture became a necessity. During the 19th and 20th centuries, most
of humanity was forced to adopt this means of food production. Accompanying
the transition to intensive agriculture was the development of towns, cities, and
international commerce.
With each successive stage in this transition, people steadily moved away from a
passive dependence on the environment. As human populations grew, more food
had to be provided, which inevitably meant that there had to be greater control of
food sources. Foragers and pastoralists generally use their environments without
changing them significantly. In contrast, regions occupied by the early intensive
farming societies were radically altered. Forests were cut down, the land was
leveled, and the courses of rivers were altered to provide irrigation water. Many wild
plant and animal species came to be defined as weeds or pests and were eradicated.
Others were genetically altered through thousands of years of selective breeding
to be more useful for people. They became the domesticated food plants and farm
animals that are critical to our life today.
Societies generally became more complex with each successive stage in this
transition from foraging to intensive agriculture. Most foragers had small
communities without permanent leaders or other full-time non-food-producing
specialists. Their political systems were more or less egalitarian. Relationships
were based mainly on kinship ties and friendship. In contrast, societies that rely
on intensive agriculture to supply their food have class stratification and elaborate
political systems with hierarchies of leaders and bureaucrats. They are no longer
societies of equals. Some individuals become rich and politically powerful through
their control of the means of production, while others face conditions of poverty
with severe periodic food shortages. This discrepancy in access to resources has
been common in large-scale agricultural societies. However, economic inequality
was significantly reduced in industrial nations during the 20th century as a result of
the evolution of more democratic political systems and taxation that redistributed
8. society's wealth to some degree.
Increased efficiency in food production has resulted in a dramatic rise in the number
of non-food-producers. Among foragers, it is common for 100% of the healthy
adult population to participate directly in getting food. In Bangladesh, Guatemala,
and other relatively poor developing nations today, where farming has not been
significantly mechanized, 60-65% of the population is food producers. In the United
States, less than 1% of the entire population is still farmers. Those farmers not
only provide food and fiber for all of the non-food-producing Americans but also
for millions of people elsewhere in the world. It is ironic, that this dramatically
increased food production has not resulted in more leisure time. Far from it,
Americans now individually work more hours during the year than almost all other
nations.
Non-food producing
specialists in a modern
large-scale agricultural
society
The transition to intensive agriculture apparently had a major effect on the spread
of human parasitic diseases. The higher population densities of people resulting
from this subsistence pattern made it far easier for contagion to rapidly pass from
individual to individual. Major epidemics of bubonic plague, small pox, influenza, and
other scourges are far more likely to spread rapidly in towns and cities than among
relatively isolated small communities of foragers or horticulturalists. They are also
more likely to infect a higher percentage of the people in a dense population. It is
not surprising that the global influenza epidemic of 1918 killed 20-40 million people.
The number of deaths due to AIDS is likely to be far higher than this during the next
10-20 years. Africa will be especially hard hit by it.
Our large modern cities with their vast areas of concrete and asphalt change the
local microclimate by altering the amount of solar energy that is absorbed rather
than reflected back out into space. Cities literally become hot spots. These
artificial man-made environments also usually experience air and water pollution
problems not encountered when our populations were smaller and more dispersed.
In addition, our burgeoning populations progressively deplete important natural
resources such as drinking water, natural gas, and oil.
Another consequence of the transition to intensive agriculture and large-scale
9. societies has been a change in the nature of warfare. While most foraging societies
were peaceful and avoided violent conflicts with other societies when possible, all
of the ancient civilizations carried out bloody wars of conquest. Some pastoralist
societies were aggressive conquerors as well. As agriculture became more intensive
and populations larger in modern times, the scale of war increased dramatically. Far
more people were killed as a result of warfare during the 20th century than in any
other century in history. Armies were much larger and better equipped with efficient
mass killing machines.
Tools of mass warfare used by modern
large-scale agricultural societies
On the positive side, however, the 20th century also saw a rapid increase in scientific
knowledge and life expectancy in the developed nations. The time between major
technological revolutions has shortened to less than a single human generation.
By comparison, the lives of our relatively isolated, self-sufficient forager ancestors
remained largely unchanged over many generations.
References
Haviland, William A. (2002). Cultural Anthropology. (10th ed.). Fort Worth: Harcourt
College Publishers.Lee, Valerie L., and Searles, Richard T. (2002). Study Guide
for the Telecourse Faces of Culture. (8th ed.). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thomson
Learning.