Overview
This lecture explores subsistence systems, the cultural and economic methods societies use to acquire food, and examines how different systems shape social organization, property, gender roles, and global inequalities.
Modes of Subsistence
- Four main subsistence modes: foraging, pastoralism, horticulture, and agriculture.
- Foraging relies on wild resources; pastoralism on herding domesticated animals; horticulture on small-scale shifting gardens; agriculture on intensive, mechanized crop and livestock production.
- Many societies use a mix of these modes, but one is usually dominant.
Foraging
- Foragers depend on wild plants and animals, using extensive ecological knowledge.
- Foraging societies are typically small, mobile, and maintain egalitarian social structures.
- Property is minimal and sharing is valued; division of labor often follows gender lines.
- Some sedentary forager societies, like the Pacific Northwest's Kwakwakawakw, developed social inequality.
- Foragers have influenced their environments, blurring the line between "natural" and "built" landscapes.
Pastoralism
- Pastoralists herd and depend on domesticated animals for milk, meat, wool, and trade.
- Often nomadic to access grazing land; community property rules govern land use.
- Wealth and status are tied to livestock; gender roles often restrict property rights to men.
- Pastoral systems can shape ecosystems through rotational grazing.
Horticulture
- Horticulture involves shifting cultivation, using simple tools and human/animal labor.
- Farms support local consumption, not profit; crops are diverse and fields are rotated.
- Practices such as intercropping beans, corn, and squash increase resilience and productivity.
- Social status and obligations can be tied to crop yields (e.g., yams in Trobriand Islands).
Agriculture
- Agriculture uses advanced technologies for intensive, continuous production of a few staple crops.
- Led to population growth, labor specialization, wealth inequality, and environmental changes.
- Global agriculture separates producers from consumers via complex commodity chains.
- Risks include reduced dietary diversity, vulnerability to famine, and social class divisions.
Human-Environment Interaction
- All human societies modify their environments; no ecosystem is purely "natural."
- Domestication includes plants and animals, transforming landscapes and social structures.
- Foodways—the cultural norms governing food—are key for anthropologists.
Key Terms & Definitions
- Subsistence system — methods used by societies to acquire and distribute food.
- Foraging — reliance on wild resources for food.
- Pastoralism — herding and raising domesticated livestock.
- Horticulture — small-scale, shifting cultivation for local consumption.
- Agriculture — intensive, technological cultivation of staple crops and animals.
- Broad spectrum diet — diet from a wide range of resources.
- Carrying capacity — number of calories land can provide for people.
- Built environment — human-modified spaces, including farms and settlements.
- Commodity chain — steps food takes from production to consumption.
- Mono-cropping — dependence on a single crop, risking malnutrition.
- Foodways — cultural rules and meanings around food and eating.
Action Items / Next Steps
- Reflect on where your food comes from and your community's dominant subsistence system.
- Consider discussion questions on food knowledge, commodity chains, and mono-cropping.
- Review the key terms and definitions for exam preparation.