Reciprocity

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Reciprocity
Generalized- when everyone gives of time, food,
and artifacts with no one keeping record of what
is being given or received. Balanced-
gift-giving and favors which are reciprocated In
a timely manner. Negative- when one tries to get
more than is given.
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Diversity of Hunter-Gatherers G/wi and !Kung of
the Kalahari
!Kung- because of all the ethnographic work done
on them, they are the HG stereotype DONT GET
CAUGHT UP IN THIS! NOTE THE DIVERSITY!
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G/ wi

• They live in the central portion of the Kalahari
  and are among the
• most isolated
• Why do they inhabit this area with very little
  rain
• No permeate water hole

• Food
• Very broad use of plants. 80 of diet comes from
  plants
• (beans, roots, nuts)
• 20 from animals
• Tsama melon and Bi bulb provide lots of water

NO GROUP HUNTING DONE INDIVIDUALLY BECAUSE OF
THE TOPOGRAPHY OF THE LAND THIS IS AN ADAPTIVE
STRATEGY TO THE ENVIRONMENT
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• DRY SEASON
• Split up into small groups and are sedentary
• Dispersed
• Family size
• RAIN SEASON
• Standing water holes (attracts game)
• Live in large groups
• Shift from hole to hole
• 40-50 people

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!Kung

• NW Kalahari
• No migrating herds w/i the area
• 1 staple crop (mongongo nut)
• 33 of the diet is the mongongo nut, 33 are
• from other nuts, 33 is from hunting
• There is more water/standing water holes
•  

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MAIN STAPLES OF THE !KUNG SAN'S DIET(in
July/August 1964) (Special note The figures in
the chart below represent a seasonalhigh in
mongongo nut consumption high in fat at 80 of
calories, andtherefore should not be taken as
representative of averagemacronutrient
composition of the !Kung's diet.)
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• DRY SEASON
• Large groups
• Concentrated sedentary
• RAIN SEASON
• Split up into small groups
• Disperse
• Very mobile
• Mongongo nut time
• Average times of moves is 12
• Water holes are so important that they are owned.
  People use
• them according to kinship ties, However, as
  long as someone
• asks permission and recognizes ownership,
  permission is never
• denied
• Diversity b/w the G/wi and the !Kung is based on
  water

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PROBLEMS WITH MAKING A LIVING

• Cold at night (while hunting, fire or rocks are
  put under the
• sand to keep them warm)
• Unpredictable variation (yearly food production)
• Individual rain fall etc hunting
• Hunting is risky and very unpredictable

GROUPS THAT COME BACK WITH NOTHING Agta 63
Simang 61 Ache 44 Pygmies 54 (spear)
48 (bow)
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TROPICAL FOREST SOLUTIONS

• Work harder and devote more time
• Store food (meat drying)
• Emphasize more reliable foods (plants)
• Sharing (hunter cannot eat his kill) this
  reinforces sharing.

KALAHARI

• Game is scattered
• Water is scarce (this affects plant growth and
  animals)
• Sharing
• Storage of food (dry meat)
• Plant food (mongongo nut)

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Horticulture as an Adaptive Strategy

• Extensive Technology Skill to manipulate nature
• Sedentary Lifestyles
• Larger groups this is due to the increase in
  carrying capacity
• that results from food production
• Larger numbers requires organization Kin system
• Poorer nutrition
• Higher energy budget more calories are spent per
  person
• per week procuring food.
• Generalist like H/G they are family-based
  generalists, not
• specialist
• Well defined division of labor
• Generalized Reciprocity with close kin and
  lineage members
• Balanced Reciprocity outside these areas.

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Horticulture as an Adaptive Strategy Yanomamö

• Villages (shabono) are scattered with trails
  leading to
• gardens
• Dry season September March
• Rainy season April August
• Bulk of food comes from cultivated plants 80-90
• Plantains are the most important part of the diet

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Moawa, headman of Mishimishimabowei-teri
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Shamans sometimes succumb to the attacks of enemy
hekura spirits and must depend on the efforts of
their allies for help. Moawa stands over a
prostrate shaman and attempts to revive him
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Each family's home is furnished with hammock
strung between the house posts. Men stick their
bows and arrows into the roof thatch when not in
use
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Choosing Garden Location

• Hunters are always on the lookout for new
  locations
• Land must have few trees
• Well drained
• Should not be inundated during the wet season
• Should be conveniently located near fresh water
  source.

Making a New Garden

• Each man clears his own garden
• Each garden last about 2 or 3 years
• Cut smaller trees and low brush
• Large trees are not cut until everything else is
  clear
• Area is burned

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How the Yanomamö got Plantains A Yanomamö
Tale This is a story of the Yanomamö, a fierce
and warlike tribe of slash-and-burn cultivators
who live in Southern Venezuela and Northern
Brazil, as they tell it. Plantains are a staple
food of the Yanomamö today. However, it was not
so always. In the beginning only Boreawa used to
eat plantains. This was because no one knew about
them. Only Boreawa knew about them and how to
cultivate them, and he did not let the others
know. So everyone else ate only earth and
animals. One day, Horonama, who lived by eating
earth, was caught in a downpour. It rained so
much that he got lost in the forest. Then, quite
by chance, he stumbled upon the place where
Boreawa had hidden his plantains. At first,
Horonama did not know what to do with the
plantains, but by and by he figured out that
they were good to eat. Then he sought out Boreawa
and asked him how to cultivate this wonderful
food. Boreawa told him how to do it and since
then, the Yanomamö have always eaten plantains.  
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Who are Pastoralists?
Pastoralists are people who depend for their
living primarily on livestock. They inhabit
those parts of the world where the potential for
crop cultivation is limited due to lack of
rainfall, steep terrain or extreme temperatures.
In order to optimally exploit the meager and
seasonally variable resources of their
environment and to provide food and water for
their animals, many pastoralists are nomadic or
semi-nomadic. The type of livestock
pastoralists keep varies according to area, and
includes sheep, goats, cattle and camels, but
also yaks and horses in Central Asia, buffalo in
South Asia, llamas and alpacas in South America,
and reindeer in the Palearctic region. An
important characteristic of pastoralists is
their close relationship with their animals. The
identity of pastoralists is based on the close
association with their livestock that forms a key
component of their social and ritual life. By
keeping animals under conditions that are close
to the wild, but giving them the benefit of
protection and health care, pastoralists
represent a cultural counterpoint to
industrialized animal production in the west.
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It is widely recognized by ecologists that
pastoralism represents a sustainable method of
utilizing certain types of ecosystems, such as
deserts, steppes and certain mountain areas. In
fact, continued utilization of the world's arid
lands very much depends on viable pastoral
systems. Nevertheless, pastoralists have come
under pressure worldwide due to a variety of
circumstances that include population growth,
environmental degradation, and unsound development
and trade policies. Especially encroachment of
agriculture on their grazing territories and the
privatization of former communally owned land is
undermining their existence.
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Pastoralism as an Adaptive Strategy

• Sophisticated technologies
• Nomadic lifestyles
• nomadic pastoralism
• transhumance
• Large populations increases the carrying
  capacity of the land
• that is relatively infertile. This is an
  adaptive strategy
• allowing more people to live in an area.
• Property ownership animals
• Improved nutrition better nutrition than
  horticulturalist as a
• result of the cattle (protein)
• High energy budget higher than H/G because of
  the constant
• care required in herding
• Kinship and division of labor similar to
  horticulturalist
• Distribution of goods G. Reciprocity w/ nuclear
  family
• Balanced Reciprocity with others (barter and
  trade)

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Pastoralism as an Adaptive Strategy Barabaig of
Tanzania

• Adaptive problems
• Drought
• Raids and warfare
• Disease (tsetse fly)

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• How People Cope
• Cattle are an adaptive response to this type of
  environment
• In these more arid areas, camels are used
• Camels are good sources of transportation and
  only need
• water every 2 weeks
• However, they are not as easy to keep as cattle.
  
• They are mean!
• There is more labor involved
• When they do drink water, they require large
  amounts
• They do not reproduce as quickly as cattle
• Large network of kin (age-mates)
• Large settlement
• Award prestige for killing
• Leaving is also an adaptation to this environment
  
• Leave herding and hunt for other sources of meat