Why Forage? Hunters and Gatherers in the Twenty-First Century

352 Pages·2016·5.585 MB·English

by  Brian F. Codding, Karen L. Kramer (eds.)

anthropology codding
• Why Forage?
kramer
HUNTERS AND GATHERERS IN
brian f. codding
is an assistant professor THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
of anthropology at the
University of Utah. He
has published more
than thirty peer-reviewed
papers on the ecology of
hunter-gatherers.
karen l. kramer
is an associate professor
of anthropology at the
University of Utah and the
author of Maya Children:
Edited by Brian F. Codding and Karen L. Kramer
Helpers at the Farm. SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH ADVANCED SEMINAR SERIES
The earliest humans were hunter-gatherers. Even though
many of these foragers long ago transitioned to pastoralism
and agriculture, foraging persists as a viable economic strat-
egy both in remote regions and within the bounds of devel- W
oped nation-states. Given the economic alternatives available,
why do some groups choose to maintain their hunting and h
gathering lifeways? Through a series of detailed case studies, y
the contributors to this volume examine the decisions made
contributors F
by modern-day foragers to sustain a predominantly hunting
Douglas W. Bird o
and gathering way of life. What becomes clear is that hunter-
Rebecca Bliege Bird r
Nicholas Blurton Jones gatherers continue to forage because the economic benefi ts of a
Brian F. Codding doing so are high relative to the local alternatives and, perhaps
g
James E. Coxworth
more importantly, because the social costs of not foraging are
e
Russell D. Greaves
Robert K. Hitchcock prohibitive; in other words, hunter-gatherers value the social ?
Karen L. Kramer networks built through foraging and sharing more than the
Richard B. Lee potential marginal gains of a new mode of subsistence. Why
Karen D. Lupo
Forage? shows that hunting and gathering continues to be a
Maria Sapignoli
vibrant way of life even in the twenty-fi rst century, and the
George W. Wenzel
David W. Zeanah authors predict that it will remain viable well into the future.
ISBN 978-0-8263-5696-3
90000
university of new mexico press SCHOOL FOR ADVANCED RESEARCH ADVANCED SEMINAR SERIES
unmpress.com • 800-249-7737
9 780826356963 >
Why Forage?
codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 1 4/19/16 9:50 AM
School for Advanced Research
Advanced Seminar Series
Michael F. Brown
General Editor
Since 1970 the School for Advanced Research
(formerly the School of American Research)
and SAR Press have published over one hundred
volumes in the Advanced Seminar Series. These
volumes arise from seminars held on SAR’s
Santa Fe campus that bring together small
groups of experts to explore a single issue.
Participants assess recent innovations in theory
and methods, appraise ongoing research, and
share data relevant to problems of significance
in anthropology and related disciplines. The
resulting volumes reflect SAR’s commitment to
the development of new ideas and to scholarship
of the highest caliber. The complete Advanced
Seminar Series can be found at www.sarweb.org.
codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 2 4/19/16 9:50 AM
Why Forage?
hunters and gatherers in
the twenty-first century
Edited by Brian F. Codding and Karen L. Kramer
school for advanced research Press • santa fe
university of new Mexico Press • albuquerque
codding_whyfor_txtfnl_rev1_sp16.indd 3 4/19/16 9:50 AM
© 2016 by the School for Advanced Research
All rights reserved. Published 2016
Printed in the United States of America
21 20 19 18 17 16 1 2 3 4 5 6
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
Names: Codding, Brian F., editor. | Kramer,
Karen, editor.
Title: Why forage? : hunters and gatherers in the
twenty-first century / edited by Brian F. Codding
and Karen L. Kramer.
Description: Santa Fe : School for Advanced
Research Press ; Albuquerque : University of
New Mexico Press, 2016. | Series: School for
Advanced Research Advanced Seminar Series |
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2015050549 (print) | LCCN
2016014134 (ebook) | ISBN 9780826356963
(paperback) | ISBN 9780826356970 (electronic)
Subjects: LCSH: Hunting and gathering
societies. | Subsistence farming. | Subsistence
hunting. | Economic anthropology. | BISAC:
SOCIAL SCIENCE / Anthropology / General.
Classification: LCC GN388 .W58 2016 (print) |
LCC GN388 (ebook) | DDC 306.3/64—dc23
LC record available at http://lccn.loc.gov
/2015050549
Cover photograph: Pumé foragers by
Russell D. Greaves
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Contents
LISt Of ILLuStrAtIONS  vii
ACkNOWLEDGmENtS  xi
INtrODuCtION Hunters and Gatherers in the Twenty- First Century  1
Karen L. Kramer and Brian F. Codding
CHAptEr ONE Diversify or Replace: What Happens to Wild Foods When
Cultigens Are Introduced into Hunter- Gatherer Diets?  15
Karen L. Kramer and Russell D. Greaves
CHAptEr tWO Inuit Culture: To Have and Have Not; or, Has Subsistence
Become an Anachronism?  43
George W. Wenzel
CHAptEr tHrEE “In the bush the food is free”: The Ju/’hoansi of Tsumkwe
in the Twenty- First Century  61
Richard B. Lee
CHAptEr fOur Twenty- First- Century Hunting and Gathering among
Western and Central Kalahari San  89
Robert K. Hitchcock and Maria Sapignoli
CHAptEr fIvE Why Do So Few Hadza Farm?  113
Nicholas Blurton Jones
CHAptEr SIx In Pursuit of the Individual: Recent Economic Opportunities
and the Persistence of Traditional Forager- Farmer Relationships in the
Southwestern Central African Republic  137
Karen D. Lupo
CHAptEr SEvEN What Now? Big Game Hunting, Economic Change, and the
Social Strategies of Bardi Men  167
James E. Coxworth
CHAptEr EIGHt Alternative Aboriginal Economies: Martu Livelihoods in
the Twenty- First Century  185
Brian F. Codding, Rebecca Bliege Bird,
Douglas W. Bird, and David W. Zeanah
v
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vi Contents
CHAptEr NINE Economic, Social, and Ecological Contexts of Hunting,
Sharing, and Fire in the Western Desert of Australia  213
Rebecca Bliege Bird, Brian F. Codding, and Douglas W. Bird
AppENDIx A Cross- Cultural Demographic and Social Variables for
Contemporary Foraging Populations  231
AppENDIx B Economic Activities of Twenty- First- Century Foraging
Populations  241
rEfErENCES  263
CONtrIButOrS  321
INDEx  325
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IllustratIons
FIgures
I.1 Distribution of hunter- gatherer populations  2
1.1 Savanna Pumé couple hunting small game and collecting
wild tubers  16
1.2 Pumé subsistence base  23
2.1 Inuit man working on his snowmobile  44
3.1 Ju/’hoansi women gathering wild foods  62
4.1 People cooking in !Xere  92
5.1 Hadza women collecting berries  114
6.1 Bofi man making a net  139
6.2 Distribution of forest foragers in the western and central Central
African Forest  140
6.3 Bofi children on their way to exchange koko  148
7.1 Bardi men spotting a bull dugong  169
7.2 Residual plots of age- controlled relationships in three status- linked
activities and surviving offspring  179
7.3 Residual plots of age- controlled relationships between success in three
status- linked activities and surviving offspring  180
8.1 A Martu grandson and grandfather warming by a morning fire  186
8.2 Summary of demographic data  200
8.3 Number of individuals per camp per week foraging by the number
of co- residing dependents  206
9.1 Martu women hunting for sand monitor lizards   214
9.2 Map showing impact of anthropogenic fires in the
Yulpul region  224
9.3 Proportion of a sand monitor hunter’s harvest given to other
camp members  227
tables
1.1 Modern hunter- gatherer societies that combine wild resource use with
some use of cultivars and domesticated animals  17
1.2 Descriptive characteristics of Pumé wild root and manioc trips  31
1.3 The nutritional composition of two common wild root species collected
by Pumé foragers compared to bitter manioc  32
vii
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viii Illustrations
1.4 The conditions under which a nonforaged resource may enter a hunter-
gatherer diet through adoption versus trade  37
2.1 Clyde River traditional food production, 1980 and 1984  53
2.2 Per capita traditional food availability in Clyde River, 1980
and 1984  54
3.1 A breakdown of 2010 Tsumkwe study participants by gender  70
3.2 Ju/’hoan informants’ dependence on various food sources: wild,
domestic, government, and commercial  71
3.3 A rank ordering of the two most important food sources at eight remote
Ju/’hoan villages  72
3.4 Findings from the 1996–1997 Xamsa study  83
4.1 Wildlife obtained by a sample of subsistence hunters in the central
Kalahari, 1958–1966  100
4.2 Wild animals obtained by subsistence hunters in the central Kalahari,
2010–2012  101
4.3 Employment and cash income for people in the western and central
Kalahari, 2011  105
4.4 Population data for communities in the Central Kalahari Game
Reserve and resettlement sites outside of the reserve, Botswana,
1988–2014  107
4.5 A comparison of resource rights and natural resource management
in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (Botswana) and the Nyae Nyae
Region (Namibia)  109
5.1 Circumstances of Hadza life during the period 1985–2000  120
6.1 Selected historic (1610–1885) descriptions of forest foragers  144
6.2 Major colonial and postcolonial impacts on Bofi and Aka lifeways in the
southwestern Central African Republic  145
6.3 The average post- encounter return rates for prey  156
6.4 The number of prey taken from 1999 to 2003  157
6.5 A comparison of hunting inventories of Bofi foragers in Grima  157
6.6 Distributions of forest food proportions by Bofi foragers  161
6.7 Exchange values of different food commodities  163
7.1 Key technological shifts in the twentieth century and their effects on big
game hunting  174
8.1 A summary of census data by age class and gender  201
8.2 The cost (Australian dollars) and energetic value (kcal) of items at the
community shop  201
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Illustrations ix
8.3 Estimated wages earned (Australian dollars) and energetic returns
(kcal) per day for subsistence- related activities  203
9.1 Least- squares mean and return rates by habitat type and season  219
9.2 Fire size and nearest neighbor distances in lightning fire– dominated
and Martu fire– dominated landscapes  221
A.1 Cross- cultural demographic and social variables for contemporary
foraging populations  236
B.1 Economic activities of twenty- first- century foraging
populations  256
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