Cultural Ecology (1) Flashcards
What is meant by modes of production?
Modes of production are the various ways in which societies gather or produce the items they need in order to survive and prosper
What are the five main modes of production?
Foraging– gathering of resources from nature (hunting, trapping, fishing, etc.)
Majority of pre-colonial Indigenous societies in Canada
Horticulture– gardening or small plot agriculture, born from planting foraged seeds.
Periodic shifts to new areas as the soil becomes degraded; near water body
Pastoral– following or herding of grazing animals (Indigenous groups with bison or caribou)
Agriculture– intensified horticulture, massive exports made possible through technological developments
Industrial– Industrial revolution, intensification of social relationships of agriculture, communication technology, peastant agriculturalists turned to industrial workers, Green revolution, post WWII phenomenon
Who is the product being produced for?
- Domestic production
- Production for exchange
Define cultural ecology.
Adaptation of culture to the environment
- Introduced by Julian Steward
- theory of cultural ecology and evolution
- criticized for racist undertones
- cultural evolution: simple to complex stages of societal advancement
Define Julian Steward’s “cultural core”.
Features of social and economic life that are most closely related to subsistence.
- patrineal band or family level of integration
Julian Steward’s concept of cultural ecology, and related cultural evolution, is commonly rejected by anthropologists for oversimplifying cultures and having a anthropocentric view.
What approach would be considered cultural ecology’s counternarrative?
Cultural relativism–
Each culture is accepted in its own terms as a product of its unique history.
Do you think Townsend agrees with Steward? Why or why not?
No, I do not think Townsend agrees with Steward.
What is evolutionary theory in anthropology?
Unilineal evolution along prescribed lines (savagery, barbarism, civilization)
Characteristic of majority of anthropology in the 19th century
List three anthropologists that support evolutionary theory.
Herbert Spencer
EB Tylor
Lewis Henry Morgan
Franz _____ (1858-1942) and most of his students rejected ________ theory in favour of historical particularism, focus on culture and _______ ________, opposed to scientific racism.
Franz Boas (1858-1942) and most of his students rejected evolutionary theory in favour of historical particularism, focus on culture and cultural relativism, opposed to scientific racism.
Name three anthropologists that received backlash for evolutionary theory and materialistic thinking.
Leslie White
Julian Steward
Marvin Harris
What is Steward’s multilineal evolution.
views the process of cultural development as an adaption to nature’s resources through technological breakthroughs, as well as coping with outside cultural influence.
Compare environmental determinism and cultural ecology.
Environmental determinism states that the conditions of the environment shape culture.
Cultural ecology is the study of how people use culture to adapt to the conditions of the environment.
How is the case of the last northern cod relate to cultural ecology?
Rapid maladaptation of fishing technology and changes to the cultural core caused for instability in the environment.
Describe contemporary cultural ecology.
“Cultural ecologists who follow in Steward’s path today look at the way societies respond to changes in their environment and in the cultural core”
