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Websites
- Anthropology for Beginners
http://sumananthromaterials.blogspot.com/2011/09/economic-anthropology.html
As the discipline of anthropology studies the human condition in all spaces and all times, one of the best ways to discover why the discipline should study economic relations is by exploring the sub-field economic anthropology. This blog is one of the most user-/reader-friendly sites relative to such an endeavour. Students will find information about the empirical approach to studying economic relations (in the vein of Mauss and Malinowski), examine the impact of neo-classical economics, and begin to explore the interplay between anthropology and the political, domestic, and international economic arenas.
- “60 Second Adventures in Economics,” The Open University
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LCRNI04tnN8.
This clip offers a concise, insightful, and animated depiction of the ways in which economic systems are acted upon—and act upon—the structure and ideologies of American society (in particular).
- Food Anthropology
http://foodanthro.com
This is an excellent resource for obtaining the latest research on food and anthropology, including book reviews, blogs, newsletters, and links to relevant journal publications.
- The Canadian Association for Food Studies
http://cafs.landfood.ubc.ca/en/
This page discusses many of the issues surrounding globalization, transnationalism, and shifting food economies that are explored ethnographically in this chapter.
- Boyapati, Vijay, (Mar 2, 2018) “The Bullish Case for Bitcoin”
https://medium.com/@vijayboyapati/the-bullish-case-for-bitcoin-6ecc8bdecc1
Article that provides good links to discussions on bitcoin as well as forms of currency, serving to explain the connection between exchange and economic systems, using Polanyi’s model with examples from the past and present-day to illustrate the differences.
- “Living Tradition: The Kwakwaka’wakw Potlatch on the Northwest Coast”
https://umistapotlatch.ca/potlatch-eng.php
This website provides a detailed account from the Kwakwaka'wakw about their practice of the potlatch, including its purpose, history, meaning, and its relationship to wealth and culture. There are Elder recordings as well as images of the practice; accounts of the federal government banning of the practice and its impacts are listed.
Videos
Arnaquq-Baril, Alethea “Angry Inuk: The anti-sealing industry has had dire impacts on Canada’s Inuit families” (YouTube, posted January 12, 2018 44:18)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=85Ns94DWAQ8
Arnaquq-Baril explains how seal meat is the staple food for the Inuit and that they are pushing for a sustainable role in the global economy but must deal with protest and opposition. As an Inuk filmmaker, she gives voice to those affected by the seal hunting ban and follows a group of students who travel to Europe to plead their case before the European Union panel. The video highlights the challenges of contrasting cultural practices and understandings of natural environments and modes of use.
BBC Four. 2006. “Tales from the Jungle: Malinowski—Part 4 of 6.” YouTube video, 9:30. Posted Feb 2007, by “WeegieLou,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=df9BlSbYiKY.
This short section of the movie Tales from the Jungle: Malinowski documents Bronislaw Malinowski’s work on exchange, as discussed in this chapter. Here, he explores the kula exchange system, highlighting his theory of functionalism. In understanding kula as a form of reciprocity, he argues that its participants value kula for its social functions, like reinforcing the status of high-ranking men in Trobriand society.
Marshall, John. 1950/8. !Kung Series. Watertown, MASS: Documentary Educational Resources, 2009. DVD, 161 min.
This series of short films, produced between 1950 and 1958, provide an excellent complement to this chapter’s discussion of the subsistence economy of the Ju/’hoansi (formerly called the !Kung). This hunter–gatherer society, referred to as the “original affluent society” by Marshall Sahlins, is one that has experienced enormous change with the advent of colonialism. This series of films documents, among other things, changes to their subsistence economy..
McKenna, Brian. 2005. Big Sugar: Sweet, White and Deadly. Montreal: Galafilm Productions.
In this documentary, Brian McKenna explores how our “taste” for sugar is closely intertwined with the growth and development of capitalism and big business. While sugar was a status food for the European aristocracy throughout much of the 1700s, the growth of the slave trade in the 1800s, fuelled by the Industrial Revolution, transformed sugar into a necessity enjoyed by all levels of society. This was made possible through the elimination of import tariffs in Europe. Ultimately, McKenna points out that our continued reliance on sugar has had drastic effects upon the livelihoods of people living in the Caribbean, and he uses the Dominican Republic as a case study.
Whittemore, Jessice. 2012. “Forms of Economic Distribution and Exchange within Society: Lesson 12.” Study.com. Online video, 7:49. http://study.com/academy/lesson/forms-of-economic-distribution-exchange-within-society.html
This short video provides an excellent synthesis of the modes of production and exchange systems discussed in this chapter. Students are introduced to some of the key tenets behind various forms of reciprocity (generalized and balanced) as well as redistribution.
Books and Articles
Blount, Ben G., and Kathi R. Kitner. 2007. “Life on the Water: A Historical-Cultural Model of African American Fishermen on the Georgia Coast (USA).” National Association of Practicing Anthropologists Bulletin 28: 109–122.
Blount and Kitner discuss how, in fisheries research, one needs to develop systematic ways to record and represent local fishing knowledge. They use ethnographic interviews that are loosely structured to talk with elderly African American fishermen who had worked in coastal Georgia. The interviews touched on the meaning of life on the water for these fishermen.
Crowther, Gillian. 2013. Eating Culture: An Anthropological Guide to Food. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
In her work, Crowther discusses how food is at the centre of human life but is highly cultural in its selection and preparation. She looks at the caste system and food preparation values of India to show the inter-relationships of religion and conceptions of purity around diet. Whether hunter-gatherers or agriculturalists, societies have expectations of what is “good food” and what should and should not be eaten. This has been impacted by globalization and the Green Revolution, leading to what some have termed “gastroanomie” and the resurgence of food cultures though out the developed and developing world. Several case studies illustrate the key concepts and provide a rich understanding of how we wrap up food in our lives.
Elardo, Justin. 2007. “Marx, Marxists, and Economic Anthropology.” Review of Radical Political Economics 39: 416–422.
Elardo discusses the development of economic anthropology in the 1960s and traces parallels with Marxist political economy. He notes that both approaches share a common emphasis and both are seen as holistic and interdisciplinary. Despite these similarities in emphasis and practice, Elardo notes that there are distinct differences in theoretical perspectives. Political economists emphasize economic organization, while anthropologists also consider culture, kinship, symbols, political institutions, and religion.
Gombay, Nicole. 2010. Making a Living: Place, Food and Economy in an Inuit Community. Saskatoon: Purich Publishing.
Drawing upon her ethnographic fieldwork, Gombay explores the ways in which food has become a central defining feature of group identity within an Inuit community in the Northwest Territories. Throughout, she explores changes in diet over time in relation to changing environmental pressures, as well as the impact of colonialism and various forms of neo-colonialism.
Gurven, Michael, Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, Paul L. Hooper, Hillard Kaplan, Robert Quinlan, Rebecca Sear, Eric Schniter, Christopher von Rueden, Samuel Bowles, Tom Hertz, and Adrian Bell. 2010. “Domestication Alone Does Not Lead to Inequality: Intergenerational Wealth Transmission among Horticulturalists.” Current Anthropology 51: 49–64.
The authors examine wealth inequality in four small-scale horticultural societies and how these inequalities are transmitted from one generation to another. Wealth is defined broadly to include cultural knowledge, material capital such as land and household wealth, and relational capital in the form of social connections and field labour. Their basic conclusion is that domestication alone is insufficient for inequality, and its transmission across generations resembles patterns seen in more complex societies.
Hann, Chris, and Keith Hart. 2011. Economic Anthropology: History, Ethnography, and Critique. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Hann and Hart’s subtitle clearly stakes out that their work will consider not only how economic anthropology developed, but also how it is practiced, and perceived by other scholars within and outside economic anthropology. They note that economic anthropology is usually traced to the writings of Marx, Weber, and Durkheim, but argue the core questions of economic anthropology are actually much older. The authors have as their goal to create an accessible overview of economic anthropology—and for this task they are quite successful.
Ingles, Palma, and Jennifer Sepez. 2007. “Anthropology and Fisheries Management in the United States.” National Association of Practicing Anthropologists Bulletin 28: 1–15.
The authors discuss the importance of anthropological studies of fishing—an activity common to many coastal societies. Federal and state laws have led to renewed interest in fisheries management, as the social impact of new regulations must be considered for new regulations that might affect fishing activities. Social and cultural data must be used in the assessment of new regulations, including the sustainability of livelihoods and lifeways of those who participate in fishery activities.
Jonaitis, Aldona, and Douglas Cole. 1991 Chiefly Feasts: The Enduring Kwakiutl Potlatch. Seattle and New York: University of Washington Press.
Jonaitis and Cole document the material culture that is produced for potlatch celebrations by the Canadian Kwakiutl chiefdoms on the northwest coast. As a form of redistribution, the competitive potlatch feasts represent an important means of negotiating a sense power and authority among chiefs of particular villages. This book highlights the importance of various forms of material culture as key items in this redistributive economy.
Mazzeo, John, Alexander Rödlach, and Barret P. Benton. 2011. “Introduction: Anthropologists Confront HIV/AIDS and Food Insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa.” Annals of Anthropological Practice 35: 1–7.
Mazzeo and his colleagues introduce a set of papers that discuss the approaches that anthropologists and others use to understand and confront the HIV/AIDS pandemic. They note that there are some positive developments, including the possibility of an HIV/AIDS vaccine. However, they note there are problems with structural inequalities and poverty that influence the spread of infectious diseases. The authors focus on ways that the findings of anthropologists and other scholars can be used to alleviate human suffering and confront directly problems associated with HIV/AIDS.
McKay, Deirdre. 2009. “Performing Economy Differently: Exploring Economic Personhood and Local Economic Diversity.” The Australian Journal of Anthropology 20: 330–346.
McKay discusses how popular views consider the “real” economy as being represented by capitalistic companies, market transactions, and wage labour. Anthropologists, on the other hand, note that these ides of economy are dis-embedded because they ignore the social component—and how the “real” economy interpenetrates individuals’ daily lives. The author evaluates how people act—or perform—in an economy, using an example from the Philippines.
Paolisso, Michael. 2007. “Cultural Models and Cultural Consensus of Chesapeake Bay Blue Crab and Oyster Fisheries.” National Association of Practicing Anthropologists Bulletin 28: 123–135.
Paolisso discusses his active anthropological study of Chesapeake Bay fisheries. His current focus is on blue crab and oyster fisheries, and he discusses two approaches to cultural analysis: cultural models and cultural consensus. Cultural models are shared understandings about how the world works and these are used to guide behaviour. Cultural consensus is “a quantitative approach that looks for patterns of agreement and disagreement in knowledge and values,” in this case about Chesapeake fisheries.
Peebles, Gustav. 2010. “The Anthropology of Credit and Debt.” Annual Review of Anthropology 39: 225–240.
Credit is typically characterized as beneficial and productive for the creditor, while debt is perceived in a negative and destructive plight for the debtor. Earlier anthropologists have suggested that the relationship between credit and debt help build relationships of hierarchy and dominance. Ethnographic research has demonstrated that there is a dialectic relationship between credit and debt. Peebles contrasts popular characteristics of credit and debt in his overview, compared to classic and modern anthropological perspectives.
Pottier, Johan. 1999. Anthropology of Food: The Social Dynamics of Food Security. Cambridge: Polity Press.
Pottier critically examines food security in the developing world and the regimes that have changed how many societies gain and share their food, with particular examples from Zambia with hybrid crops and Bangladesh and Green Revolution crops. The impacts of the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank on food production and traditional societies work to maintain traditional forms of cooperative harvesting and exchange are explored. New approaches to food growing and reducing local poverty while respecting local cultural is a key theme throughout this book.
Van Esterik, Penny. 2006. “From Hunger Foods to Heritage Foods: Challenges to Food Localization in Lao PDR”. In Fast Food/Slow Food: The Cultural Economy of the Global Food System, edited by R. Wilk. Lanham, pp. 83–96. Lanham, MD: Altimira Press.
Canadian anthropologist Penny Van Esterik draws upon her research on food, status, and the effects of globalization upon the localized perceptions of food in Lao. She argues that globalization, via tourism and other forces, has had the effect of transforming local “poverty” foods into distinctive markers of national heritage.