Understanding Human Adaptive Strategies: A Historical Perspective
Humans have utilized various adaptive strategies throughout history to survive and secure a livelihood, including hunting-gathering, horticulture, pastoralism, etc. This session introduces these strategies, their characteristics, and why they persist in modern times. The discussion also covers the human condition and the development of adaptive mechanisms to meet survival needs.
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Lecturer: Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, UG Contact Information: ddzorgbo@ug.edu.gh College of Education School of Continuing and Distance Education 2014/2015 2016/2017
Session Overview Introduction This session introduces students to earliest attempts humans made to survive or the secure a living for themselves. These are hunting and gathering adaptive strategies as known as foraging and horticulture Objectives At the end of the session, the student will be able to: Identify the earliest mechanisms/techniques through which humans have tried to satisfy their survival needs which we call adaptive strategies Identify and explain the characteristic features of these adaptive strategies Explain why these mechanisms still survive in some parts of the modern world. Slide 2 Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG
Session Outline In this session we shall be concerned with: Describing hunting and gathering societies Explaining their characteristic features Indicating where they are located in the modern world Showing their Present State and Future Prospects Slide 3 Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG
Reading List Assimeng, M. (1999), Social Structure of Ghana, Tema, Ghana Publishing Corporation. Kottak, C. P. (2004), Cultural Anthropology, Boston, McGraw Hill Corporation. Kottak, C. P. (2004), Anthropology: The Exploration of Human Diversity, Boston, McGraw Hill Corporation. Nolan, P. & G. Lenski, (2004 or any of the newer editions), Human Societies: An introduction to macrosociology, Boulder Paradigm Publishers. Nukunya, G. K. (2006), Tradition and change in Ghana: An introduction to sociology, Accra, Ghana University Press. Sanderson, S. K. & A. S. Alderson (2005 or its newer editions), World societies: the evolution of human life, Boston, Pearson Education Inc. Slide 4 Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG
Topic One: The Human Condition and Adaptive Strategies Over this long period of history, humans have struggled to exist in various environments and they have developed multiple strategies or means of survival with increasing sophistication to survive or make a living. These various strategies to survive is what we refer to as adaptive strategies. The types of adaptive strategies they have developed are hunting-gathering, horticulture (subsistence agriculture), pastoralism, agriculture, industrialization and different accompanying forms of distribution. We will discuss the hunting-gathering adaptive strategy first Slide 5 Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG
Topic Two: Origin of Hunting or Foraging Societies All humans until about 10,000 to 12,000 years ago, all humans everywhere were foragers However differences in environments created different patterns of foraging For example in the hot climates foragers have a greater variety of plant and animal species that those in the cold climate; or some foragers specializes in fishing from the sea, rivers, lagoon Irrespective of their environments, all foragers are mainly dependent on what nature supplies them Slide 6 Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG
Topic Two: Hunting and Gathering (cont d) Hunter-Gatherers are normadic meaning when resources became scarce, the group moved to a new area to find sustenance These societies were common until several hundred years ago, but today only a few hundred remain in existence, such as indigenous Australian tribes sometimes referred to as aborigines, or the Bambuti, a group of pygmy hunter-gatherers residing in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Hunter-gatherer groups are quickly disappearing as the world s population explodes. Slide 7 Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG
Topic Two: Hunting and Gathering Society (cont d) They predominant depend solely what the environment can offer in terms of raw food. The came into existence about 10,000 12,000 years ago, Groups were based on mainly kinship ties move in bands of 5 to 10 They were highly mobile, division of labour is based on gender Hunter-gatherers relied on their surroundings for survival they hunted animals and foraged for uncultivated plants for food Slide 8 Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG
Hunting or Foraging Societies (cont d):Correlates or Features Foragers are usually mobile people and have few material possessions. They usually live in bands usually determined by kinship relations The division of labour is based mainly on gender. Men typically hunt animals or fish while women gather fruits, edible plants or vegetables, root crops and stay at home or in the domestic/private spheres to take care of the young ones Whatever social distinctions existed were based mainly on age. Older people provide leadership, and are revered as having wisdom and young ones given respect to them Foraging societies are mostly egalitarian the few social differences we can perceive based on differences in and gender Slide 9 Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG
Hunting or Foraging Societies (contd): In Historical and Contemporary Times Historically foragers are found in many parts of the world. For example, in Africa, Asia, Europe, North America, South America, Asia, etc. Today foragers exist in many nation-states and often their ways of life are coming under threat from modernization and development processes However, some few have held tenaciously to their way of life either because their environment continuous to supply their needs or governments or colonialists have not found their environments attractive enough for exploitation and development Some so-called modern people continue to engage in foraging. For example in Africa people continue to hunt in forest, fish in lakes, seas, rivers, lay traps for animals, gather mushrooms, snails, mangoes, etc. even though they can be said to be in modernizing and developing societies. Slide 10 Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG
Conclusions In this session we have: Examined the evolution of humans and their adaptability to different environments throughout history Defined Adaptive Strategies as the various means through which humans secure living Described and analyzed the earliest adaptive strategy: hunting and gathering techniques Examined the characteristics or features of hunting and gathering societies Attempted to show where they are located in the world Assess their historical and present state Slide 11 Dr. Dan-Bright S. Dzorgbo, Sociology Dept. UG
