ANTH 206 Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Ethnobiology, Relativism, Ethnocentrism
8 Jun 2018
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9/19/17
Traditional Environmental Knowledge
• Onkga's Big Moka Questions
o Ecology: why pigs?
▪ Type of agriculture is shifting/connected to the forest. Don't improve the land to the
point where they can grow grains. Cultivate potatoes and tubers, which pigs eat but
hih ouldn’t e enough for other liestok
▪ Organization of ecological relations in the area
o Importance of giving away a huge amount of food- does this affect food security?
▪ Meat is not a huge part of the diet, they can go long periods without eating meat. Pigs
are better than giving a normal harvest.
o Sustainability of ritual- relation between sustainability and ritual in a changing context
▪ Economy and ritualistic economy includes a lot of Western money. If impossible to
raise the pigs for the moka, you can substitute money
▪ Ecological setting limited production of pigs, people mix crop with coffee and sell- buy
pigs on market or give enough money to replace a pig. Money can make the ritual
happen hen loal onditions ouldn’t hae alloed it.
o Ecology: danger of epidemics, deforestation, climate change on capacity to host ritual.
▪ Catastrophes can ruin the ritual, diminishes the power structure of the group who is
supposed to host the moka. No excuses- ritual mediates relations with supernatural
beings, failing may indicate the ancestors are not on your side.
o Does failing to host the moka mean you have to engage in warfare?
▪ Links with influence of colonialism- British pacified area to protect economic interests
in the region. Go after people who started local wars, relies on supply of laborers,
need them to not be fighting.
▪ Ritual can overtake function of warfare. Competition is central to the ritual, it can
substitute for the politics of warfare
▪ Importance of ritual can increase, aided by appearance of money
• Definition of modernity- achieved by hosting ritual with Western money and
objects
o Why were some people uninterested in the ritual? Why did the persuasion not always
work?
▪ Inability to directly coerce people means that his persuasion is equal to the network of
other social relations.
▪ Big Moka is the culmination of smaller mokas- lots of different interests and smaller
groups persuading each other. Cannot extract Ongka from the other social
relationships in the area.
▪ Economic obligation- people received pigs in the past, time to pay back with interest.
o As interest increases, eventually it becomes too much. Those people lose face, lose their
honor, and the cycle starts over again.
o Systems of exchange of livestock, money- people have set a price on livestock decades ago,
money equivalent is arbitrary, symbolic aspect is the important one. People are not thinking
in market terms.
o Unlikely that you could participate in ritual with only money, not pigs. Way that money was
obtained may not fit cultural values. Men buy pigs, decide when they'll be given, eaten, etc.
▪ Men control flow of benefits that come with pigs (political influence, alliances, etc.)
▪ In some societies, money belongs to households- women can spend it.
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Document Summary
Traditional environmental knowledge: onkga"s big moka questions, ecology: why pigs, type of agriculture is shifting/connected to the forest. Don"t improve the land to the point where they can grow grains. Cultivate potatoes and tubers, which pigs eat but (cid:449)hi(cid:272)h (cid:449)ouldn"t (cid:271)e enough for other li(cid:448)esto(cid:272)k: organization of ecological relations in the area. Importance of giving away a huge amount of food- does this affect food security: meat is not a huge part of the diet, they can go long periods without eating meat. Pigs are better than giving a normal harvest: sustainability of ritual- relation between sustainability and ritual in a changing context, economy and ritualistic economy includes a lot of western money. If impossible to raise the pigs for the moka, you can substitute money: ecological setting limited production of pigs, people mix crop with coffee and sell- buy pigs on market or give enough money to replace a pig.
