Anth 22 April 2002

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music/art presentations conclude



food production allows for specialization of labor, and therefore for professional art and music

Distinguishing Characteristics of Simple Band (H/G) vs Tribes:

• tribes do not travel and live together


• !! food production present in tribes, not bands !!


• T: larger populations supportable


• T: shared culture: dress, language, beliefs


• T: territory: units may unite in defense


• T: decisions

Tribes:

• Social Structure: tribe


• Subsistence Mode: food production subsistence and pastoral farming


• Economics: family ownership of resources, reciprocity, part-time specialists


• Mobility/Density: semi-sedentary or sedentary, low density


• Decision Making: decentralized w/ multiple decision makers and rule enforcers


• Belief Systems:

Big Men / Women

• overproduces food to sponsor feasts and give away food and goods (tools, cloth, baskets, carvings)


• to gain prestige (ego-booHtN) from other big men and women


• compare w/ conspicuous consumption

Why did monarchy ever catch on?

• need for a large military for defense/offense require strong long term authority


• labor coordination to avert famine, shortage


• long-distance trading requires such coordination


• cf "Life Without Chiefs"

band -> tribe -> chiefdom -> state -> nation ..

Pakat sp?? CP p 135

• Kenya


• African map


• Eastern Africa: pastoralist herding cultures


• not enough plant life or game to support H/G


• land is too poor, dry to support agriculture


• N Am: Caribou, musk ox N Russia: reindeer


• tropical domestication: cattle, goats, camels


• elders decide things by oral tradition without codification


• seek justice and repair of the community


• hear all accounts, including victims


• no private ownership of livestock, no word for "own"


• women have milking rights for an animal, but don't own an animal


• produce (nearly) all food and goods from bush and animals


• beads worn for ornamentation, traded for


• some manipulation of wealth in the short term

some extended discussion about consequences of agriculture, Atlanta's micro-climate (heat dome), and the growth of the Sahara, as well as te danger of plowing/irrigation versus more tradition (digging stick, bucket) techniques