1. Chapter 6: Economic Systems
Avee, Peter, Fardeen, Sunil, Henil
Chapter 6: Economic Systems
Economic Anthropology and Resources (p )

2. Economic System
In many cultures people’s wants are maintained at levels that can be fully and continually satisfied, without jeopardizing the environment.
When they required meat, First Nations cultures would hunt to fill their current needs, and when they required plant foods, they gathered what they needed.
The schedule of wants or demands of a given society is balanced against the supply of goods and services available, it is necessary to introduce a non-economic variable- the anthropological variable of culture which divides wants and demands through dictating specific cultural restrictions (e.g. Muslims cannot eat pork).
Economics must be done in a humane way and have guidelines assimilated closely with social, religious, and political implications.
Specifically, we can look at yam production among Trobriand islanders
A Trobriand man gives yams to a woman to show his support for her husband and to enhance his own influence over decisions.
Any man who aspires high status must show his worth by organizing a yam competition, where he gives away huge quantities of yams to guests.
By giving yams to his sister or daughter, he expresses confidence in the woman’s husband but also makes the husband indebted to him.
Because deaths are unpredictable a man must have yams available for his wife when she needs them
The debt can be repaid only by a woman’s wealth (Banana leaves and dyed skirts).
The wealth and vitality of a dead person’s lineage is measured by the quality and quantity of the bundles and skirts distributed.

3. Economic System
Every group of people operate within an economic system that regulates the production, distribution, and consumption of goods.
Economic System – The production, distribution, and consumption of goods.
When we study the economies non-literate people, this is where we go and start using our own anthropological data.

5. Economic System
For example, “In all societies, the prevailing reality of life has been inadequacy of output to fill the wants and needs of people”(random anthro textbook with citation at the bottom of page 154  )
This statement doesn’t realize how in many cultures, people’s wants are maintained at different levels without the environment being jeopardized.
Production of goods and materials happen when need to. Having more than what you need makes no sense.
No matter how hard you work or put in work, this still leads to “unproductive” activities.
This is how we might perceive some people as “lazy” when they might be a harder worker than we thought.

8. Economic System
Since we see hunting as a “sport,” this is why hunters and gathers in food-foraging groups are often seen as spending time in “recreational pursuits.”
This is why we see the women as working their ass off till they collapse.
This is how the Europeans first saw the First Nation.
The First Nations always gathered what they needed.
For example, the Mi’kmaq only hunted for the day, not for the future (except for fish)
Whereas First Nations on the Pacific coast of Canada preserved and stored large quantities of their food and resources.
This was mostly done for the winter where they devoted most of their time to ceremonial life.
The point is, everything is balanced against the supply and services available.

10. Economic System
Tobriand Island men devote a lot of time into raising yams for everyone.
Man give woman yam means support and influence on man.
Yams are like currency and can be used to purchase things.
Yams are given to the relatives of the daughter’s husband (kind of like dowry)
Yams as payments following the death of a member of his lineage.
Yam competitions to show power and status (giving away yams to invited guests)
Annette Weiner explains all of this in an analogy stating that a yam house is like a bank account so using them as daily food is avoided as much as possible.
Yams to sister or daughter express confidence in woman’s husband but also make him indebted to him.

12. Economic System
They throw a feast for the helpers but this doesn’t pay off the debt.
Nor does any valuables of the Tobriand people pays it off
Yams also create relationships
Not only are yams represented economically, but socially and politically.
Banana leaves acts as the same thing
Men depend on woman and their valuables
This is why men stay committed to their yams
Cultures do not operate in isolation
Everyone is connected

14. Resources:
In every culture, customs and rules govern the kinds of work done, who does the work, who controls the resources and tools, and how the work is achieved.

15. Patterns of Labour
Every human culture has a division of labour based on gender and age categories.
This division ensures that skills can be learned more efficiently.
In the 19th century kingdom of Dahomey, thousands of women served as warriors and in the eyes of some observers were better fighters than their male counterparts.
Instead of biological imperatives, researchers use three configurations.
1. Flexibility and sexual integration 2. Rigid segregation by sex 3. A combination of elements of both of the previous ones.
Among the Ju/’hoansi, children are not expected to contribute to subsistence until they reach their late teens.

17. Cooperation
Cooperative work groups are found in both literate and non- literate societies as well as nonindustrial and industrial societies.
Among the Ju/’hoansi, women’s work is frequently highly social
Ju/’hoansi women also go out to gather wild berries in groups to maximize effectiveness.
Each family, as an economic unit, works as a group for its own good.

19. Craft Specialization
In nonindustrial societies, each person in the society has knowledge and competence in all aspects of work appropriate to their gender and age.
Despite this even distribution, some specialization of craft occurs.
This is often minimal in food-foraging societies, however one man’s arrows may be in demand because of his skill at crafting them.
Specialization is more apt to occur within people who produce their own food.

21. Control of Land
All cultures have regulations that determine the way land resources are allocated.
In nonindustrial societies, land is often controlled by kinship groups such as the lineage or band, rather than by individuals.
Among the Ju/’hoansi, each band of people lives on approximately 650 square kilometers.
Territories are defined by water holes, distinctive landscape features, watercourses, etc…
Among some West African farmers, a feudal system of land ownership prevails, where all land belongs to the chief, who divides it between sub chiefs, who further divide it between lineages. In this system, the people who work the land must pay taxes and fight for the chief when necessary.

22. Technology
All societies have some means of creating and allocating the tools and other artifacts used for producing goods and passed on to succeeding generations.
Food-foragers and pastoral nomads have simpler tools.
Food-foragers make and use a variety of tools, and many are ingenious in their effectiveness.
Tools are loaned in exchange for what they are used to obtain. E.g. a Ju/’hoansi who gives his arrow to another hunter has a right to a share in any animals the hunter kills.
Among horticulturalists, the axe machete and digging stick or hoe are the primary tools.
In sedentary farming communities, tools and other productive goods are more complex and more difficult and costlier to make. Individual ownership is more absolute as are the conditions under which persons may borrow and use the equipment.