Cultural Anthropology Chapter 7

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  1. carrying capacity
    The maximum number of people a given society can support, given the available resources.
  2. optimal foraging theory
    A theory that foragers choose those species of plants and animals that maximeze their caloric intake for the time spent hunting and gathering.
  3. foraging
    A form of subsistence that relies on using animal and plant resources found in the natural environment (also called hunting and gathering).
  4. neolithic revolution
    A stage in human cultural evolution (beginning around ten thousand years ago) characterized by the transition from hunting and gathering to the domestication of plants and animals.
  5. horticulture
    Small-scale crop cultivation characterized by the use of simple technology and the absence of irrigation.
  6. shifting cultivation (swidden, slash and burn)
    A form of plant cultivation in which seeds are planted in the fertile soil prepared by cutting and burning the natural growth; relatively short periods of cultivation are followed by longer fallow periods.
  7. pastoralism
    A food-getting strategy based on animal husbandry- found in regions of the world that are generally unsuited for agriculture.
  8. transhumance
    Movement pattern of pastoralists in which some of the men move livestock seasonally.
  9. nomadism
    Movement pattern of pastoralists involving the periodic movement of human populations in search of food or pasture for livestock.
  10. stock of friendship
    A gift of livestock from one man to another to strengthen their friendship
  11. agriculture
    A form of food production that requires intensive working of the land with plows and draft animals and the use of techniques of soil and water control.
  12. peasantry
    Rural peoples, usually on the lowest rung of society's ladder, who provide urban inhabitants with farm products but have little access to wealth or political power.
  13. industrialization
    A process resulting in the economic change from home production of goods to large-scale mechanized factory production.
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Cultural Anthropology Chapter 7
2010-10-18 01:52:42
Cultural Anthropology Making Living

Making a Living
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