ANT 121 Chapter Notes - Chapter 5: River Corve, Crop Diversity, Ester Boserup
10 Dec 2013
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Foraging obtains wild plant and animal resources through gathering, hunting, scavenging, or fishing. Australian aborigines: desert environment of the ngatatjara, sparsely populated, traditionally nomadic and isolated, now, live in small villages and forage sometimes. General features of foragers: nomadic lifestyle, sparsely populated areas, do not recognize individual"s land rights, generally no political leaders or social hierarchy, division of labor based on age and gender. Generally yields more food than foragers, can support larger communities, have social differentiation: extensive (shifting) cultivation work on land for short periods of time then left idle and cleared by slash-and-burn when needed. Requires large amounts of land: long-growing tree crops, intensive agriculture cultivation of permanent fields generally with use of fertilizers, irrigation systems, mechanical tools. Generally have towns and cities, craft specialization, complex political organization, large differences in wealth and power. More subject to famines and food shortages-lack of crop diversity, producing for a market, etc.
