HIS109Y1 Chapter Notes - Chapter 1: Headmen, Wage Labour, Social Distance
Land’s End Study Questions
INTRODUCTION
- Highlanders see themselves as inferior
- Social distance is actively maintained, spatially-oriented (middle, coastal, upper hills)
- Crops are frequently devastated by animals, natural disasters, etc.
- Two decades ago, non-capitalist market/now they are capitalist, but there is little wage
work available for those who need it
- People are of multiple faiths and races, sometimes lading to contention
- Tobacco and other cash crops have been main sources of income
1. What are the main assumptions of modernization theory, and how does Land's End
challenge them?
- Modernization is always good
- Suggests positive progress
- In this case, it is more complicated; some people prosper from it (Idin), while others
suffer more (Tabang and Malia—losing autonomy)
- Idea that with the arrival of agricultural intensification and competition, former farmers
can still survive through selling their labour
2. What is Li's definition of capitalist relations?
- Private/unequal ownership of the means of production
- Non-owners selling labour
- Governed by economic competition
- The relations that involve private and unequal ownership of land or capital, and the
selling of labour by highlanders
3. What are the main characteristics of highland areas as frontiers?
- Scattered fields
- System of hierarchy Headman on the coast keep peace and solve disputes
- Houses built away from neighbours to minimize interaction and social issues
- Viewed as primitive and unruly by government and headmen
4. What were the main steps in Li's research process?
- Spoke with nine desa headmen to gain permission to hike in the highlands
- Desa – boundaries of the official administrative units
- 1990s visited around 20 neighbourhoods in the coast and highlands,
observed/tracked changes
- spent time at four sites Sibogo, Sipil, Walu (highland neighbourhoods), Pelalang
(inner hill neighbourhoods)
- learnt local Lauje language through experience
CHAPTER 1: “POSITIONS”
***examines the processes that formed identities and drew highlanders, merchants, and
government authorities into particular sets of relations over the two centuries before 1990
- power relations between highlanders and the coast set foundation for plan to begin
growing cacao (*see question 3)
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- established social positions of people in the Lauje area, explored different groups within
the area, including highlanders, coastal elites, “bela” (animist/Christian highlanders of
the inner hills)
1. What were the cultural schemes through which desa headmen and other coastal people
viewed highlanders?
- Viewed as primitive, backward, unproductive, lazy
- Headmen did not know much about highlanders due to the dispersed population
- Highlanders never stayed in one house for a long time (nomadic)
- Ancestors of highlanders were primitive, coastal people were more civilized
2. Why did highlanders not gain in status through their productive work in "feeding" the
coast?
- Merchants couldn’t force them to sell their labour because they were self-sufficient (so
there was no power over them)
- Social stigma against highlanders prevented them from social promotion (they were
considered backwards, uneducated)
- People from the coast had to accept the highlanders’ terms of trade
- Lack of wealth and weak economy
3. Use the concept of power provided by John Allen (p. 19) to identify the sets of relations that
connected highlanders to the coast in the period before cacao. I made a start on this in the
lecture notes, so begin with my list and add more elements. Think about power not only in
terms of how it dominates, controls, exploits, and coerces, but also in terms of how it forms
people, creates desires, and enables actions.
- Erosion of Choice
Must pay taxes or you can’t have access to the market
Highlanders sold tobacco to merchants they weren’t indebted to (for a better
price)
- Manipulation of Outcomes
Highlanders wanted to gain greater status and marital wealth
Planted cacao
- Threat of Force
Merchant-raiders threatened highlanders who dared to go to the coast (slavery)
- Closure of Possibilities not able to set their own terms
- Inviting gesture of seductive presence wanted access to consumer goods, to be part
of the modern world (tired of being poor and backward), so they went to the coast
markets
- Assent of Authority wanted to be within the governing structure of state
CHAPTER 2: “WORK AND CARE”
***takes a fine-grained view of some highland neighbours to explore relations of work and care
among highland neighbourhoods to explore relations of work and care among highlanders in
the period when they had plenty of land, and they grew their own food
- Highlanders’ understanding of work and property
Work means you own something, if the work is done by more than one person
then it is collectively owned
Wage labour can be uncomfortable because it is difficult to be distanced from
the product of one’s own labour
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Social distance is actively maintained, spatially-oriented (middle, coastal, upper hills) Crops are frequently devastated by animals, natural disasters, etc. Two decades ago, non-capitalist market/now they are capitalist, but there is little wage work available for those who need it. People are of multiple faiths and races, sometimes lading to contention. In this case, it is more complicated; some people prosper from it (idin), while others suffer more (tabang and malia losing autonomy) Private/unequal ownership of the means of production. System of hierarchy headman on the coast keep peace and solve disputes. Houses built away from neighbours to minimize interaction and social issues. Spoke with nine desa headmen to gain permission to hike in the highlands. Desa boundaries of the official administrative units. 1990s visited around 20 neighbourhoods in the coast and highlands, observed/tracked changes. Spent time at four sites sibogo, sipil, walu (highland neighbourhoods), pelalang (inner hill neighbourhoods) learnt local lauje language through experience.
