The four subsistence patterns of food foraging, pastoralism, horticulture, and agriculture

The four subsistence patterns of food foraging, pastoralism, horticulture, and agriculture

The four subsistence patterns of food foraging, pastoralism, horticulture, and agriculture are quite different.  A food forager is a hunter- gather (a person who hunts and gathers their food from the wild). Before 10,000 years ago foraging was the only way of life, and still exists today in some societies. The Jo-hoansi people of Namibia, the Agta people of The Phillipines, and the Mardu people of Australia still practice foraging today (Haviland et al, 2013). With foraging, there is do division of labor. Woman work beside men, sometimes hunt bigger animals as well. What determines who will do the job is based on how complicated or difficult the job is, not by the gender of the person. They do not raise animals to eat, they only have animals for pets (usually dogs), or to aid them in hunting (Haviland et al, 2013).

Pastoral societies are nomadic or transhumance people that rely on domesticated animals during their travels, for food. The nomadic people do not stay in one place, but the transhumance people build tents or huts that they return to as the season’s change. Pastoral communities usually are in dry desert lands, with no irrigation so they grow crops, so they need the meat and dairy from those animals to survive and to feed their families. This society is male dominated (Haviland et al, 2013). The men are responsible for herding the livestock they usually herd sheep, buffalo, goat, camels. The younger men (boys) have to undergo a rite of passage in some tribes, by killing an animal by themselves (Gender roles in pastoral societies, by Kate Usher) (Steer, 2015).

A woman role is to take care of the tents, the children, and to milk the cows, produce materials needs for travel, and sometimes herd small animals. They are usually not involved in any decision making. Much like most American families, the children learn the roles of the parent of the same gender. If the father holds a title of some sort, his son will inherit it. Some pastoral societies are the Bhutia people of India, the Pokot people of Africa, the kuchis of Afghanistan, the Tanzania Hadaz people, and the Yoruk people of Turkey, to name a few.

Plant cultivation for human use (horticulture) was originated 20,000 years ago in the Neolithic Age. This is done by using a hoe for digging small gardens to plant or seeds put in small pots. It includes planting trees, roots, fruits, vegetables, seeds, flowers, and more. Horticulture societies are hunter- gathering societies. This was also a male dominated society where the woman had little to do with the decision making (Haviland et al, 2013). In the earlier years, woman stayed home to cultivate the land while men go out and hunt for the food. Gender roles have changed tremendously over the years in Horticulture communities. Women gained higher statuses due to their important roles in the cultivation, planting process. At this present day and age, we now have nurseries. Field nurseries ( producing palm trees etc.), outdoor or indoor container nurseries (green houses), and retail and wholesale nurseries. Nurseries are an example of Horticulture (Haviland et al, 2013).

Horticulture and Agriculture are two different things, but people tend to think they are somewhat the same. Agriculture has a more adverse effect on the land than horticulture because Agriculturalist uses more chemicals for planting than horticulturalists do. It (farming) was easier because people could plant a lot more food because it was conducted in a wider area. It also involves raising and breeding farm animals for consumption or for profit, unlike horticulture, which just deals with planting (CANADA, 2011).

With the use of technology and various hand tools and machines, it became the most efficient way to feed your family and provide for them as well. People in the agricultural society live a much more stable life than the hunter- gathers, because they stay in one place, usually their own home or land. All of these adaptive strategies are used as a means to provide for families. Some may think of one way as being better than the other, but as time changed and people changed, the way each of these is conducted changed as well (CANADA, 2011).

I can say I definitely would not like having to live as a forager or a pastoralist. That life looks really hard, especially on the women and children. When I was a little girl, I lived on a farm with my grandparents, who were agriculturalist, and who were basically share croppers, and that didn’t look fun either. I have a little garden in my back yard so I guess that makes me horticulturalists. I do enjoy that, and I love knowing that my food is safe and unharmed, versus the vegetables we get from the store. But, we adapt to the life style we are born into, so I do not logically think I would have a problem with any of it because that would be the only life I knew, so I’m sure I would be fine(CANADA, 2011).

            The Highlands Maya cargo system is not a true leveling device for modern Maya society. The system is a combination of secular and religious positions held by households (or men) in central and southern Mexico and Central America. This system will not work in today’s society. Influence from the outside world has changed many communities and will continue to do so and the Maya society is not different.

No matter how one looks at it all, it’s still a form of control by the powerful people of the Mayas. I see it as a way to keep the rich rich, and the poor poor (CANADA, 2011).  It is supposed to benefit everyone, but it doesn’t. At the entry level, a person has to throw elaborate feasts, provide free services, and have food give-a-ways for the community, which puts them in debt, but they gain social advantages over nonmembers. If you are a wealthy man this is great, but if you are not, you and your family are stuck with that debt. They say that it keep the envy away and keeps everyone happy but it doesn’t. The poor is still poor and still at the bottom of the social ladder and at the rich mercy (CANADA, 2011).

Is has been said that pursuing these new ways will make one a social outcast, being barred and disowned by family even. People will decide on their own that they do not want to stay the lower class, and go find ways to make themselves self-sufficient or even very well off or rich, on their own. The more people that do that, the less the tradition will have any validity. The Maya society is part of this world and it will be very difficult for them, and especially upcoming generations to escape the changes along with every other society that practices many of the old traditions.