subsistance Flashcards
Adaptive Strategy
means of making a living; production system
Economy
system of resource production, distribution, and consumption
Types of Adaptive Strategy Societies 5
foraging, horticulture, pastorialism, agriculture, industrialism
foraging
hunting gathering
mobility use of natures resources
Food sharing and reciprocity
horticultire
slash burn, swidden, shifting
fallow period
narratives: destructive primative, land degradation
What’s left out of the story: Fire-adapted landscapes, External intervention undermines local knowledge, skills
pastorialism
herding
Transhumance
Agriculture
fARMING
land-intensive
capital-intensive (Dutch flowers)
machine intensive (Ukrainian wheat farming)
Industrialism in Globalized World
Irrigation: While horticulturists need to wait for rain
terracing- allows for farming on hills
complex organization, broad scale, global
rural-urban disconnect
nature-culture dichotomy
domination of market economics
impacts on human health and wellbeing
tensions b/t conservation and development
tensions in local vs. global
stratification and power relations
Nomadism
Whole group moves
Transhumance
Permanent settle with a few people venturing out
horticulture vs agriculture
Horticulture
Shifting/Slash and Burn (swidden)
Use of simple tools and manpower(Extensive)
Dependent on rainy season
Agriculture
Continuous cultivation of land
Use machine and animals for cultivation(Intensive)
Extract water from other sources for irrigation
Economy
consumption of goods and services along with the system of production, distribution, and trade within a society.
Capitalist System
private ownership, buying, and selling; valuations based on supply and demand
moral economy
Focuses less on the economic transaction and focuses more on the social exchange and relationships
reciprocity 3 types
Generalized: expect nothing in return
Balanced: have to pay back whatever you took
Negative: stealing or cheating someone
extensive
unit per labor
Involves a small amount of labor, fertilizing, and capital inputs relative to the area of land
intensive
unit per land
Involves a large amount of labor, fertilizing, and capital inputs relative to the area of land
Contemporary challenges facing foragers, pastoralists, horticulturalists, and smallholder agriculturalists
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Foragers, pastoralists, and horticulturalists are marginalized because they are squeezed between conservation (protected areas) and development (agriculture).
◦Tragedy of the commons applies to pastoralists because they overgraze their land and underestimate the environmental impact of their behavior.
◦
Smallholder agriculturalists are exploited and undercompensated by big companies
“Fortress conservation”: nature should be protected from humans
The 3 spheres of sustainability
enviromental social and economic
culture is?
an adaptation
redistrobution
flow of goods into the center and back out again (Chiefdoms, Feudal Systems, Potlatch)
19th century enclosure act
eviction of peasants
The Great Transformation
by Karl Polanyi
inked the development of the modern state with the establishment of a market economy.
Market economy unravels social fabric)
green revolution
leap in research and the development of agricultural technology to increase yields
Increase inputs of water, pesticides, and chemical fertilizers
GMOs (genetically modified organisms)
Transport and mechanization
Increase frequency and intensity of cropping
Promoted in developing countries
pros of green revolution
increase yields
decrease hunger
reduced prices
cons of green revolution
Undermined local knowledge
Excessive consumption in Global North(Northern hemisphere)
Issues with labor
Increased vulnerability due to the establishment of a monoculture crop
Detrimental to environment
CGIAR (Alternative development paradigms)
agricultural research organizations for sustainable development. Their research is dedicated to reducing rural poverty, increasing food security, improving human health and nutrition, and ensuring more sustainable management of natural resources.
cultural ecology
Culture is adaptive to diverse environments and is not linear
sustainablility
Balancing social, economic, and ecological concerns. Tries to create the most efficient consumption of resources so that future generations will have access to the resources without completely sacrificing social and economic potential.
