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112 Cards in this Set

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Betty Meggers’ study of Marajo Island makes the assumption that:
Non-industrial and small-scale societies are shaped by environmental conditions
the archaeological sequence of pottery in Marajo Island, Brazil
became more intricate and detailed the deeper the archeologists dug. This suggests that:
Social complexity decreased over time
According to Orlove, the introduction of new boats and gear among the fisherman near Lake Titicaca had which of the following effects
Fisherman changed from the poorest to the wealthiest villagers
the title “Lines in the Water” reflects the:
The fisherman’s TURFs (Territorially Use Rights in Fisheries)
In class we discussed whether or not the photo of a rice paddy was “natural”. Almost half the class answered that it was not a natural landscape. To justify this answer a student defined nature as “a landscape untouched by people”. Another student mentioned that this definition of ‘nature’ makes the assumption that:
humans are separate from nature
Orlove describes the story of the Lake Titicaca villagers as unusual and important because:
the villagers not only remain in control of their fishing zones but also maintain the ecological integrity of the lake
rice-based polyculture requires high population densities and specific environments. This provides support for which of the following scholar’s argument and about population and carrying capacity?
Boserup
Diamond argues hillside erosion became a problem for the Maya because it reduced the available farmland needed to support the population. This argument most closely reflects the thinking of:
Malthus
A key underlying principle of agroecoloigcal methods for farming is to:
Mimic ecological systems
industrial farming is highly efficient relative to some other farming techniques because it
Requires minimal human energy input (labor)
the development of hybrid crop varieties was different from the development of more recent genetically modified crops (GMOs) because
Hybrid varieties were developed in public institutions and not patented
the ability to fix nitrogen through an industrial process allowed
farming to be based on fossil fuel energy rather than energy from the sun
the vast majority of food produced by the US agricultural system is
Consumed by animals
In the movie Food Inc., the concept of a “veil” was discussed in order to demonstrate:
the divide that has been created between the production and consumption of food
According to lecture, unhealthy foods are cheap because
Corn is heavily subsidized by the US government
As seen in the film “Food Inc.”, supermarkets are an illusion of diversity because the 47,000 products they carry (on average) are:
Made by a few companies from a few ingredients
Pollan used the example of Tyson and their creation of the chicken nugget to demonstrate:
how a value added product shifts the bulk of the profit from the farmer to the processor
One of Vanessa Zejfen’s key goals is to
Purchase as much food as possible from the local region
According to lecture, what is one aspect of human population-environment dynamics that is not revealed by the fruit-fly analogy?
Relationships and power dynamics within the population
As seen in “The Legacy of Malthus” film, which of the following is a way in which the rich get richer during grain scarcity in India?
The poor must borrow grain from the wealthy at exorbitantly high interest rates
According to Pollan, the food industry supersizes food portions because
We eat more and the industry earns bigger profits
Vanessa Zajfen indicated a major problem with our food system is that it is difficult to find not only affordable food, but food that is grown with care for the consumer, environment, and farm workers because:
the country lacks middle-sized farms
According to Bodley, up until the industrial revolution ________ were the primary source of mechanical energy used to produce food and sustain a society
Humans
According to Bodley, with increasing cultural complexity, and especially since the discovery of fossil fuels, societies have tended to harness and control energy more efficiently.
False
According to Bodley, with the rise of capitalism, the central engine of economic growth has been:
Ever increasing resource consumption
Sustainable development was defined in lecture as “development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the needs of the future generations to meet their own needs.” This definition is ambiguous because:
Our needs and those of future generations are undefined
As discussed by Bodley, what strategy, developed in the US, was exported to poor countries around the world to increase food production?
Green Revolution
How was Leslie White’s theory describing the relationship between energy and cultural evolution flawed?
function of culture is the amount of energy harnessed and how it is put to work
prior to the use of fossil fuels, per capita energy use didn’t increase much as humans were the main source of mechanical energy
. Turn of lights, buy local food, replace your incandescent light bulbs with CFLs. These are
common suggestions to help create a more sustainable world. However, these suggestions are problematic because
They reduce sustainability to individual actions
Why are high energy societies unsustainable over the long term?
there’s a limited lifespan on nonrenewable resources, and fossil fuels will run out eventually
Also because of the unequal distribution of consumption and resources high energy societies are unsustainable. 10% of the world’s people consume 44% of global energy.
According to lecture, for most of human history production and consumption have been __________.
closely fused
Why did erosion of hillsides become such a problem for the Maya?
As people started occupying the hill slopes and cultivated them, the hillsides started eroding
the acidic, infertile hill soil was carried into the valley and blanketed the more fertile soil, and thus reducing agricultural yields
How are Maya kings and the CEOs of modern corporations similar?
The Mayan kings and the chief of the Easter Islands erected huge statues and monuments, despite the lack of resources. They lived extravagant lives and didn’t think about the impact of their consumption had on the rest of the population
Describe the uncultivated landscape of the altiplano
The slopes of the mountain were covered with perennial grass (called ichu) and shrubs. Similar to Siberia or Northern Canada in the sense that it is open grassland
What land is the most hospitable in the whole region around Lake Titicaca?
The strip of land right on the shores of the lake, for all its droughts, forests, and floods, is the only hospitable section in the immense, barren steppe of grass and rock that stretches from on cordillera to the other.
In what ways is Lake Titicaca a unique lake?
formed by plate tectonics, which is why parts of it are so deep. Because of erosion, lakes like this are scarce
What three aspects of Orlove’s research plan were most important to him?
list of price of fish
A complete census of the fishermen
A detailed record of the fish caught
How did Orlove determine that fishing was a viable livelihood and made good economic sense?
The cost of boats and nets was not too expensive
Also government regulations were very weak in this area. Even those who didn’t have enough money for the boats and nets could get credit by selling livestock.
How did IMARPE interpret the results of the fish catch study? How did they use this information?
The catch was higher than expected. This suggested the importance of IMARPE’s continued operations around the lake
What were the major sources of error in Orlove’s fishing study data?
When the fisherman recorded catch data in his notebook, when he transferred data to the catch survey form, when Hilda entered the data on the coding form, and when the research assistant entered the data into the computer from the coded form
Why did Orlove pay the fishermen who participated in the research? What problems could this technique create?
Orlove decided to pay the fishermen to give them an incentive to stick with the program for the full fourteen months
Why did Orlove think the ritualized way in which the IMARPE staff distributed research materials to the fisherman was important?
Orlove was impressed by the formality. He realized that IMARPE had limited resources as well, and they had to make sure that the supplies given to the fishermen were used for the project, and not sold or taken for the kids to use in school
Why does supersizing cause us to eat more than we normally would?
Whoever snuck S into “Fast Food” was pretty clever. (What?)
Supersizing makes us eat more than we normally would because it is a bigger portion. People feel bad getting a second helping of food, but getting a supersized menu allows people to eat more without feeling bad. People will eat more when it comes in a single serving
What is high fructose corn syrup and why is it so problematic from a human health point of view?
High fructose corn syrup is refined corn. Humans have an inherent sweet tooth, so that’s why the cleverest thing to do is to turn corn into sweetener and adding it to processed food
Why does complicating food make economic sense to the food processors?
Because the more ingredients you add to a product, the less dependent you are on just one product. “The further a product’s identity moves from a specific raw material the less vulnerable it is to its processor”
In what sense is the industrial food system extremely inefficient relative to less complex food systems?
Industrial food systems expend a lot of machine energy compared to actual labor, which is inefficient. Replacing human energy with fossil fuels
What percentage of the total energy expended in the American food system supports primary production?
Less than 25% of total energy is expended in primary food production
What percentage of the total potato crop is shipped to consumers as raw tubers to be cooked in the household?
About 30% of the marketed potato crop was shipped raw to customers, the rest is used for chips and french fries
What strategy, developed in the US, was exported around the world to intensify agriculture?
Exporting the factory farms of the industrial world to the rest of the world. Applying biological engineering to design specialized plants that respond to high doses of fertilizer, pesticides and water. For example the Green Revolution
Can economic growth be sustained indefinitely?
It must be stressed that while development may indeed become sustainable, growth, by definition, cannot be sustained indefinitely
What are ‘externalities’?
The by-products of the process, such as waste, depletion, pollution, and various indirect social costs are externalities which do not immediately detract from growth measured as GDP and may actually increase it
Historically, what has been the relationship between capitalism and consumption?
Historically capitalist growth has invariably meant increased consumption. Economic growth is the essence of capitalism, and capitalism drives consumption. The culture of capitalism encourages the production and sale of commodities.
What percentage of personal income does the average American spend on food?
Americans spend 9.7% of our income on food, by far the smallest share than any other nation
Why is how you eat just as important as what you eat?
Affects your food choices, if you eat in a group you are more likely to monitor your intake
In what sense is the Maya collapse a warning for those living today?
The Mayans had the culturally most advanced society at the time. Their environment did present some challenges, but it was considered stable. The collapse of the Mayan civilization shows us that even the most advanced and creative societies may crash if we don’t manage our resources
Explain how the Peruvian government interpreted the decline in the trout population during the 1960s (p150). How did the government try and solve the problem?
The govt. attributed decline to overfishing. They demanded boats to be registered
How did the introduction of canneries put pressure on and change the customary system of fishing territories?
The money the fishermen earned gave incentive to fish more often and farther from shore
Describe how the spatial aspects of fishing changed after the introduction of the rainbow trout?
Fishermen began to travel farther from shore than usual. This was proven to be risky when going out at night based on considerable dares
What led to the rise of nylon gill net use?
Growth of trout population and demand. Gill nets trap fish and fishermen can return and haul the net in as long as a day later
Why does Pollan call hybrid corn greedy?
Because of the amount of nutrients (nitrogen) that are needed in order to produce the crop. Consumes more fertilizer than any other plant
What’s the relationship between munitions and industrial farming?
The munitions plants created ammonium nitrate, used for making explosives. After the war they had an excess supply of ammonium nitrate, which happens to also be a great fertilizer. They decided to spray the excess on the farmland as fertilizer
Why does Pollan argue that it would be better if we could just drink petroleum directly rather than eat corn?
Because the production cost of corn is much higher than the cost of petroleum.
What happens to the excess fertilizer that is applied to the fields of US farms?
It gets washed into the rivers and lakes when it rains, creating dead zones. Also seeps into the groundwater and pollutes the groundwater.
Why do US farmers continue to over-produce corn even though it lowers the price and undermines their livelihood?
Because corn is so heavily subsidized the farmers have to keep producing corn in order to make money. This happened because the Nixon administration wanted to lower the prices of corn
Why are the free market and agriculture incompatible?
Because as farmers produce more, the price of corn falls and they have to produce more in order to make a profit. It’s a vicious cycle.
Who ultimately reaps the biggest reward from current farm policies?
The big corporations who control the farms. For example, Cargill and Coca Cola
What happens to most of corn grown in the US?
Most of the corn grown in the US is eaten by humans indirectly. The corn is fed to animals that we eat, or processed into high fructose corn syrup found in most foods.
How is breakfast cereal the prototypical processed food?
Cereal takes four cents worth of corn and transforms it into four dollars worth of cereal. Takes corn meal, corn starch, corn sweetener, and chemicals and transforms it into a novelty product.
From a capitalist point of view, how are the farmer’s field and the human organism less than ideal?
The farm is subject to a number of uncontrollable externalities, for example weather, pests, and rising prices of raw material. All of these can negatively affect profits earned. The human is less than ideal because we can only eat so much food (“the fixed stomach”).
What is the underlying cause of the obesity epidemic?
An excess of corn that is being processed into high fructose corn syrup and used in almost everything.
Why does it make good economic sense for low-income people to eat junk food rather than unprocessed foods?
The caloric intake is much higher and is less expensive than the fruits and vegetables that are sold in markets and grocery stores. But what are the long-term costs? Diabetes, obesity, heart disease.
How do pre-condimented hamburgers and chicken nuggets ‘liberate’ us from the table, and why is this problematic?
People tend to eat on the go in their cars. Less social interaction. Because it is the only time we have all been able to eat together at one time with completely different meals without the additional cooking time. We can freely choose as an individual what we want to eat.
How do foods like hamburgers and chicken nuggets distance us from the animals they come from?
They don’t smell or look like the animals that they came from. They are engineered to look and smell a certain way, so even if you make a hamburger at home it won’t look or smell like the hamburgers at McDonalds.
Why is eating corn directly, rather than through other foods like fast food, a more efficient way of obtaining calories?
Because eating lower on the foodchain is more efficient. Only 10% of energy is transferred between trophic levels, ex a plant like corn gets 100% of energy from the sun, but the animal that eats corn only gets 10% of that energy. This means that when we eat an animal we only get 1% of the original energy from the sun. There is a huge energy loss between trophic levels
How did the southern Maya deal with the water problem?
The Yucatan peninsula lies above a freshwater reservoir. In some areas the Mayans were able to access this freshwater through cenotes, which are underwater caves. However, some areas were at too high elevations, so they could not access this freshwater. Instead they created large reservoirs to collect rainfall and then stored it for use in the dry season. These reservoirs could last them up to 18 months (example Tikal).
Why was Maya agriculture less efficient than that of the other complex societies like the Egyptians?
The Mayan farmer produced mainly corn, which has a lower protein level than wheat or barley, which was farmed in the Old World. The Mayans didn’t keep any domesticated animals for eating either, so their diet consisted of very little protein. They depended on a narrower range of crops, contrary to the Andean farmers who also kept potatoes, quinoa, and llamas for meat. The Mayan way of farming was also much less intensive than the Aztecs’ raised field agriculture. Furthermore, the humid climate made it difficult for the Mayans to store their corn for more than a year. Finally, the Mayans had no animals to use for plowing or transport.
How do the meanings of the terms ‘Indian’ and ‘peasant’ differ?
Where Indian implies cultural distinctions and ethnicity, peasant indicates economic relations or class -- exploitative relations in which wealthy classes benefit from the poverty of the people who work the land.
When the villagers speak, what Spanish terms do they adopt and what Quechan terms do they retain? Why is this the case?
Spanish words that are adopted are for work that takes place outside the village and for which a salary is paid.
How did Orlove resolve the issue about using the term ‘fishermen’ as opposed to ‘fisher’ or some other term to describe the people he was studying?
He proposed that fisherman was the best translation of the local term and that this choice would be a conceptual shift; not a social scientific term that denoted a certain category of persons, but as an English equivalent of a local word without any claims to generalizability.
Why is the story of Lake Titicaca unique in terms of natural resource management?
The story of Lake Titicaca is unique in terms of natural resource management because outsiders are usually the ones who win when it comes to newcomers who look to their next annual report and often use resources at an unsustainable rate. The villagers seek to preserve their lands for future generations
What have ecological surveys shown about the how the fishermen manage lake resources?
The ecological surveys have shown the fisherman manage the lake well; the populations of fish, birds, and plants are all stable
How were the fishermen able to change from the poorest to the wealthiest villagers?
With the development of technology the fishermen went from being the poorest to being the wealthiest because of an increase in efficiency. As their technology improved they were able to catch more fish expending the same amount of energy they did before. The fishermen are still part of the village despite being wealthier, and actively participate in village life
Describe how Orlove’s fieldwork involved more than just research?
Orlove learned Quechua, the food the villagers ate, slept in their houses. He fully immersed himself in their culture and lived as if he too was a villager.
What message did the Peruvian songs express about life in the altiplano and how villagers are valued by outsiders?
The songs indicate that forgetting someone is something you can chose to do, rather than something you do unwillingly. Also, the villagers tend to be valued as less worthy than the outsiders, and thus more forgettable.
What are subaks and what role do they play in Balinese irrigation?
small water-user groups ( about one hundred or so farmers who obtain their irrigation water from a common source, usually a main canal. The efficiency of the subaks as water-user groups had already made them famous in the irrigation literature. But as many as a hundred subaks might depend on a single river for irrigation.
What caused Lansing to focus his attention on the water temples’ role in Balinese agriculture?
the existence of a separate class of “water temples” is not mentioned in the scholarly literature on Bali, and I doubt that I could have become aware of the existence of the water temples but for the fact that my period of fieldwork happened to coincide with a phenomenon that seemed at first to have nothing whatever to do with temples: the onset of the “Green Revolution” in Balinese agriculture.
How can US farms be run on industrial principles that don’t conform to biological constraints?
Before farms had been driven by the production of legumes which fixed nitrogen in the soil for the corn, which then would feed the livestock and provide natural fertilizer. Now, inorganic fertilizer can be bought in a bag
Why was Fritz Haber’s invention a triumph and a tragedy?
Haber’s invention was a triumph because mankind was able to produce much more food (an estimated two out of five people would not be alive if it weren’t for his synthetic fertilizer). However, Haber’s technology also allowed the Germans to continue making bombs from synthetic nitrate during WWII. He directed the first poisonous gas attack in history.
What key factor allows hybrid corn to produce such high yields?
The corn stalks can be planted much closer together, allowing a much higher yield per acre planted. The non-hybrid plants would have toppled over if they were planted close together, or would not get enough sunlight and die. Hybrids are bred to have a thicker stalk and stronger root system and can withstand more.
According to Barnett, Morse, and Simon how does the economics of resource depletion resolve itself?
They declared: “The notion of an absolute limit to natural resource availability is untenable when the definition of resources changes dramatically and unpredictably over time.” Resources will be depleted, but this will make way for economic alternatives of equal or superior quality
Compare and contrast the Genuine Progress Indicator with Gross National Product (GDP).
GDP’s primary component has historically been personal consumption related to economic growth, whereas, GPI offers a separate accounting of consumption that directly supports human well-being, including things that benefit households, communities, society and the natural environment.
What segment of the population encourages ever-higher increases in resource consumption?
The elite shape the major economic, social, and ideological subsystems to promote ever-higher per capita levels of resource consumption that were patently unsustainable. The elite convinces people that growth will benefit everyone, but ultimately the elite will be the ones who benefit, and the rest of the population will suffer the consequences.
When Bodley states that over-consumption is a not a human trait, it is culturally constructed, what does he mean?
The way that consumption is viewed by the society or culture directly influences the amount consumed, therefore the business corporations and elite of the commerical world would profit when the demand increases. However in a large-scale ancient civilization they set limits to consumption.
What information did the fishermen leave out of their catch survey forms?
They left out the information they didn’t consider “work.” They didn’t record the amount of time repairing nets or the amount of time it took to walk from their house to their boats. They didn’t consider these activities as work.
Why is fishing appealing to many men who live around Lake Titicaca?
It appeals to men with smaller fields and fewer animals. They have more time and would rather spend time working than remaining idle. It also is a flexible job rather than ones in say a market where an employer gives them a schedule
Who were the Urus?
They were a separate ethnic group of people, poorer than the others, who fished, hunted, and gathered plants in the lake. Rather than paying tribute to the Incas, they provided labor and dried fish to the lords of the local ethnic groups
How do the fishermen typically indentify themselves?
The fisherman generally refer to their home provinces if they are from different sides of the lake. Those who live nearer to one another mention their districts of origin and close neighbors speak of their villages or even section of their village. They also draw on a rich series of teasing nicknames for villages known for certain vices
Describe the ‘catch survey’ method used by Orlove
The researcher takes the a sample of the total number of fishing economic units and trains a member of this sample to record their catch. The researcher also measures the catch of another sample of the same units to provide a reliability check for accuracy.
How did IMARPE contribute to Orlove’s project?
IMARPE gave Orlove access to census results that had been conducted three years earlier
Why does Orolve state that the role of the anthropologists is not to find labels that best fit particular groups?
The role is to witness the different grounds on which these groups encounter one another. It is in the history of such encounters that identities are made and transformed -- in the accumulation of moments.
What does Lansing mean when he states that “agricultural is at once a social and technical process”?
Although the temples play a practical role in irrigation management, they are essentially social and religious institutions, for as Condominas reminds us, agriculture is at once a social and a technical process
Describe the paddy ecosystem. Other than rice, what does the system produce?
the flow of water -the planned alternation of wet and dry phases- governs the basics biochemical processes of the terrace ecosystem. Rice paddies are an excellent example of controlled changes in water levels create pulses in several biochemical cycles the cycle of wet and dry alter the soil that determines the activity of the microorganisms; circulates mineral nutrients fosters the growth of nitrogen fixing algae excludes weeds stabilizes soil tem and over a long time governs the formation of a plough pan that prevents nutrients from being leached into the subsoil.
The system produces animal proteins, eels frogs and fish
Why does Orlove tend to use the term ‘villager’ rather than ‘Indian’ or peasant’ to describe the people he is studying?
Orlove tends to use the term “villager” rather than “Indian” or “peasant” to describe the people he is studying because rather than it being a merely safe - if not cautious, or even cowardly - means of sidestepping a long debate, the word villager has many advantages. It is accurate enough, since the fisherman live in small rural communities, with an average population around a thousand inhabitants and an average area of about thirty sq kilos, it directs attention to the local dimension of human life and interaction.
What complications arose when Orlove began to study the ecology of Lake Titicaca?
Most fishermen traded their fish, so finding the price of the fish was difficult. Also, Orlove had to learn all the different types of fish in the lake, and what the different species looked like.
Why are there so few native species in Lake Titicaca?
The lake is very isolated so few fish have ever been able to reach it.
Why did the Urus population decline?
Reduction came from changes in identity. Many adopted the more prestigious Aymara language and identity. Others mingled and intermarried w/ other indian groups and lost distinctiveness
In terms of economic status, how did fisherman in the late nineteenth century compare to others who lived around the lake?
They actually become much wealthier than many other people living around the lake
How did the fisherman first react to the new trout? (
They were bewildered by it. At first were skeptical of whether or not it was safe to eat. Still tell stories to this day.
How do statistics focusing on farm labor and crop yield disguise the inefficiencies of the industrial food system?
An industrial food system engages more than just the farm labor section of the economy. There are also transportation costs associated with food production. Food distribution and processing is a bigger sector than production itself.
How is the villagers’ interpretation of ‘work’ different than that of fisheries economics?
Fisheries economics see work as an objective fact: the allocation of human effort in ways that measurably yield a product. The villagers see it as a more social reality and “doing” rather than “working.”
Describe Lansing’s ‘ritual technology’ approach? Do you think he’s taking a materialist or interpretive approach?
Precise observation of the affairs of daily life persuaded Condominas that agricultural work is not merely a sequence of technical tasks; it is a meaningful series of interactions between social groups and the natural world

materialist approach because hes looking at the relations between social groups
Prior to European contact, how did water management unify the kingdoms of Bali?
Dutch, Bali was fragmented into half a dozen or more major kingdoms. These kingdoms were often subdivided into quasi-autonomous principalities, whose rulers add new shades of diminution to the term princeling. The political boundaries of Balinese kingdoms were constantly changing as a result of warfares, alliances, and dynastic politics. But the crucial point, for our present purpose, is that the rituals of the agricultural cults essentially ignored the boundaries of tpan hese kingdoms and principalities and followed instead the natural boundaries of rivers and watersheds. Because no single kingdom controlled an entire river, delegations of farmers journeyed across the boundaries of kingdoms to perform rituals in chains of temples extending from the mountain lakes to the seacoast