ANTH 313 Lecture 9: Anthropology 313 Lecture 9
18 Oct 2016
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Ingold, chapter 2: optimal foragers and economic man. Two trajectories combined in some anthropological thinking: neoclassical economics (based on rationality, neo-darwinism (natural selection/genes) Cultural ecology, cultural materialism, and human evolutionary ecology: there is a paradox at the hard of applying these to human-environment relationships. Neoclassical economics involves rational choices guided by optimality. Human evolutionary ecology, often uses economic models to predict community behavior and adaptations to the environment. Based on the assumption that people will choose to obtain the greatest benefit from their actions. Optimal foraging theory: the prediction that given a particular environment, a hunter gatherer cultures will adopt a patter that yields the maximum returns. Popular in archaeology, but also sustainability, and traditional land use studies (involves lots of measuring calories and distances between resource patches) Signs of grouse, moose, wolf, hare, beaver, mink, otter and muskrat. At each sign, the hunter makes a choice.
