CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY

CHAPTER 8 Economic Systems

1. Introduction to Economic Anthropology
a. Yam and banana leaf exchange of the Trobriand Islanders
i. Matrilineal and matrilocal
ii. Operate under chiefdom level of political organization
iii. Yams as mens wealth, banana leaves as womens wealth
1. Can be used to buy goods and services
2. Can buy a magical spells, sleeping mats
3. Usually stored in a yam house
a. Members cannot outshine the appearance of their yam house to
the yam house of the chief
4. A man will give yams to a new son-in-law, or a new brother-in-law
a. Equivalent to father in law giving a husband-to-be $1000
b. Hubby will place these yams in the yam house
c. Shows off the wealth and success of the new husband
d. Also shows how generous and well-liked in the relationship with inlaws
e. Given among men
f. Emphasizes kinship and close relationships within community
g. Sort of like showing off the bank account
5. Usually when the husbands yam house is overflowing, the young man will
give a feast
a. In recognition to the generosity of in-laws
2. When a female has a death in her kin group
a. People in the community give condolences
b. Other women in this woman give her shredded banana leaves
i. Used to make skirts that women wear after going through
puberty
c. If there are too many unsuspecting deaths, the wife will need to use
her husbands yams to buy banana leaves or hire her friends to
help her shred banana leaves
d. Extremely important why a man must maintain his bank account of
yams so that wife can use yams for these situations
3. Boyowa, baku and wawa
a. Baku = yam restoration/extension spell
i. Decreases desire for people to eat their own yams
ii. Shaman will chew on ginger root and mix with saliva and
then spit over a pile
b. Wawa = garbage heap
iv.
2. Productive Resources 3 forms
a. Raw materials
i. Land ownership among food-foragers, horticulturalists and intensive ags.
ii. Hunter-gatherers claim caretakership on land
iii. Will change as people began to produce their own food
1. From caretaker owner
iv. Intensive agriculture societies = land owned by nuclear family

b. Labor
i. Roles of men, women, children, elders
1. Numerous societies where children play a role in generating income for
family
2. Children have mobility
3. Childrens income will have to do with their future when they get married
and live independently
4. Elders:
a. Traditional muskowgi elder
i. Telling an origin story
ii. Uses a turtle as a mnemonic device as part of story telling
1. Turtle = earth diver
iii. The elder holds the rights to retell her story
1. Particularly important
2. Key element that keeps muskowgi people together
5. Anybody living under the same roof = community
a. Any variation of family
6. Ex. Hausa, Nigeria custom of purdah
ii. household vs. family
1. who is getting together on a daily basis?
2. Family comprised of:
a. 1 woman per dependent offspring and at least 1 adult male
b. When minimum is met as a residential group, now can describe as
a family
3. Anything else is a household
4.
iii. craft specialization
1. a function of knowledge and skill to produce a specific craft
a. can be roles in society as well (craft of healing, being a leader)
b. access to resources
i. access to a mentor who can assist you in your craft
2. skill
3. access to resources
c. technology
i. skills and number of tools
ii. peoples ability to use tools
iii. when in surplus, peoples ability to trade away tools
iv. sometimes tools are rare and compact
v. ownership of tools
1. tools tend to be shared more freely in food-foraging societies rather than
food-producing societies
2. tools once shared with entire group are now only shared within the family
3. associated with specialization of tools
3. Leveling mechanisms
a. Among whom and purpose
b. Leveling out social status or economic wealth
i. Ex. cargo system of Maya, Mexico, Guatemala
1. A system of social obligations in society
2. Man must assume of one of 7 or more civic and religious jobs in society
a. Depends on mans free time and economic wealth

3.
4.
5.
6.

Level out economic wealth, not social status

hierarchical system of civic and religious positions
hierarchal pyramid of civic and religious jobs
unpaid jobs
a. contributing back to community
7. social status goes up as you take on higher positions
8. does not level out society status but does level out economic status
ii. Ex: leveling system in the San/JuHoansi people
1. Bellttling of achievements /success
2. Downplay significants
iii. Dont want individuals to think that they are better than anybody else
iv. Every individual contribution is downplayed to emphasize the community
v. What you achieve is an achievement for the entire group
vi. Not innovative, usually dont try to stand out
c. Chincheros Indians of Peru
i. Name comes from chicon (snow capped mountain) and sinchi (brave man)
ii. There about 13 million speakers of cectuwa
iii. The people who natively speak the language live in Peruvian Andes mountains
iv. Live about 12k feet about sea level
v. Textiles = weaving is way of life for society
1. Female weavers
2. Begin with observation at 6-7 years
3. Kimas = narrow ribbons/belts
4. Eventually the weavers create more intricate patterns
5. Different patterns signify family and village association
6. Women are producing decent income
7. Recently, a revival has ensued and now the younger generation are
learning weaving
8. Their method of income from tourists by providing textiles to sell
4. Modes of distribution and exchange
a. Reciprocity 3 forms
i. Exchange of goods and services between 2 or more people, or 2 or more groups
of people
ii. Goods and services are roughly equal in quality
iii. Neither item nor time specific
iv.
v. Generalized
1. Neither item or time specific
2. ex. !Kung and Semai, Malaysia
3. almost impolite to thank someone for this exchange
a. implies wow youre being nice just today instead of wow youre
nice everyday
4. expected of people to be generous everyday of their lives
vi. Balanced
1. Both time and item specific
2. Short time frame
3. Highly specific in nature
4. Item is very specific as well
5. Publicly recognized as a very equal standard
6. ex. Kula Ring of Trobriand Islanders

a.
b.
c.
d.

ring follows the path of the item, not the actual specific ring
trading partners on chain of islands
ritual trading of gifts
vaygua, kitomu = ceremonial items
i. vaygua
ii. red kowry shell in exchanged between men in clockwise
direction
iii. white armband= counterclockwise
iv. young boys aim to take part of trading
v. provides network opportunities with other people in other
communities/islands
vi. there are resources that every island has unique to each
other
vii. this trading paved the way for good relations
viii. paves way for more practical applications and trading
ix. price depends on its history/who was involved in its trade
and lifetime
x. its cultural history = important
xi. new items have far less value than older than items
xii. new piece of vaygua = kitomu
1. wild card item
2. a chief newly in power can order a new kitomu to be
traded
xiii. reinforces relationships between men
xiv. canoes are usually decorated to show that they come in
peace
xv. constantly trading/nobody has the items for more than a few
hours
e. red necklaces clockwise
f. white armbands, counterclockwise
vii. Negative
1. The trader/both people try to get the better hand of the deal
2. Try to play up value of items to get best deal possible
3. It is believed that every man has a certain aspect in magic
4. Men use magic to try to better their deals in their trades
b. Redistribution
i. Requirements of redistributive economy
1. Centralized body of authority needs to be present
a. As in, a chief whose leadership is fixed
b. Chief may operate or with a council
c. Usually hold position for a while
2. Need surpluses for a redistributive economy
a. Would not be associated with food foraging society
i. No fixed authority
ii. Different from reciprocity
1. Redistribution lacks the 2-way symmetrical exchange of goods and
services
a. The trade is uneven
2. Surpluses are funneled into the fixed authority and then the authority
redistributes the goods as they see fit
a. Highly centralized government
3. Are visible archeologically

a. Have distinctive buildings

b. Large collection of artifacts
c. Administrative records that describe the surpluses
iii. Ex. Potlatch of Kwakiutl, NW Canada & SE Alaska
1. maxa
a. To do a great thing
b. When more than one occasion is being celebrated at a Potlatch
i. E.g. the celebration of passing chief while celebrating new
chief
2. Potlatch of Kwakiutl
a. potluck = a lot of food
b. Quantities of gifts are redistributed to guests of the party
c. Allows everyone in society to come together and show support for a
new chief
d. Validate social status
e. No potlatch = no recognition
f. The Kwakiutl
i. Part of NW culture area
ii. Associated with Queen Charlotte islands
iii. Traditionally a food foraging society
iv. Built villages along beaches
v. Not very mobile
vi. Large population in villages
vii. Traditionally sedentary lifestyle
viii. Have stratified/ranked society
1. (in our society) social classes
2. Kwakiutl rank individually (you could be #1 as chief or
be #2012)
3. Individuals can move up and down with their rank
4. Based on proximity to chief and role in society
ix. Have a chiefdom level of political organization
x. Any new position has to be verified through a potlatch
xi. Potlatch = only way to go up poli/soc hierarchy
g. Potlatch comes from Chinook language
i. Means to give
h. Public ceremonial and social events
i. Large amounts of people are invited
j. Large amounts of goods are redistributed to the community
k. Claims the social status and heritage of the host family
3. Purpose
a. Reinforces constant exchange network through obligations
b. greater gift received obligates the recipient to give back a gift of
equal or greater
i. the recipient could be obligated to do favors
c. potential allies are given greater/bigger gifts
d.
4. occasions for hosting one
a. the passing of an important chief
b. celebration of the new chief
c. any important marriage
i. these people could be influential in the community
d. birth of a child to a high ranking family

e. rite of passage for a child who is becoming an adult and will have
an important role in society
f. a thanks for work
i. to thank people for contributing towards construction of a
building
5. nature of gifts given
a. material and nonmaterial items
b. trade blankets
c. coppers
d. canoes and tools and weapons
e. food
f. today @ modern potlatches: people give cash, very expensive
items,
g. nonmaterial items: rights to engage in a specific dance, right to
retell a story
i. incredible honor to have these rights
ii. essentially the same as being treated as part of the family
6. designs on costumes reflect family traditions and imagery
7. images reflect clan affiliation
a. traced through fathers kin group
b. (other NW cultures trace through mothers kin group)
8. potlatches can last for a whole night or for several days
iv. Enga, Papua New Guinea
c. Market Exchange
i. Refers to exchange to goods and services with set prices based on supply and
demand
ii. Location of transaction is through material
1. Now goods no longer need to be present
iii. Goods are often presented at marketplace
iv. Features
1. Concept of seller and consumer
2. Occasionally a marketplace
3. Concept of price and some form of currency
4. Typically mass-produced items
5. Supply and demand
6. Scarcity and profit
7. Archeoligcally evidence of strong market economy
a. 5 BC
b. In Ancient Greece
i. Amphoras for transporting oil
c. Societies dont become dominated by market economy until
industrial revolution
d. Some cultures dont even use market economy
v. Marketplace
1. functions aside from economic exchange
2. also serves as a place to get news
3. a place for entertainment
4. a place to settle court disputes
5. even might be a place to find a marriage partner
6. HUB of activity
7. Nucleus of community

5. Video: Crooked Beak of Heaven Gitskan, Haida, Kwakiutl Cultures; Canada and SE Alaska