Environmental, Economic, and Nutritional Anthropology

An economy can be described as how a society meets its needs and wants. This can be through material items, such as resources like food and clothing, or through nonmaterial items, like services. Balanced reciprocity is the term used to describe building community through the exchange of equal goods and services. Every functioning society relies on an economy to transfer goods and services. Nutritional anthropology is an important factor in our understanding of humans of the past, as we can discover their eating habits, what they ate, who they ate with, and how they ate. Cultural heritage is deeply embedded in a culture's nutrition and nutritional habits. Every unique society has its own culture, and food is a major part of that distinction. How humans interact with their environment is also key to understanding how past humans lived. Humans have domesticated animals for both a source of food and resources, and also as a form of companionship. Symbiosis is a shared beneficial relationship between differing species. The domestication of common farm animals like cows, sheep, and pigs benefited humans as a source of food. The animals were able to benefit as well, as they had protection from natural predators and a supply of food. 
The Hazda people formed a symbiotic relationship with the honeyguide. The Hazda gain honey from beehives, and the honeyguide collects the wax. “Lesser Honeyguide, Indicator minor, at Pilanesberg National Park, South Africa” by Derek Keats/flickr, CC BY 2.0)

Work, Life, and Value: Economic Anthropology 

In the article "The Resistance and Ingenuity of the Cooks who Lived in Slavery" by Carolyn Wilke, the author explores Haitian American dishes that were created during the Haitian slave trade of the early 1800s. The term slave cuisine is used to show the endurance of the victims of the slave trade and how they were able to make meals and carry on the recipes despite their circumstances. Food is more than just something to eat; it is linked with culture, stories, and people. Slavery was used to diminish its victims' identity and force them to become shells of their true selves. Members of the Haitian slave trade fought against this continue to carry on their stories and identity through the form of food. 
Soup joumou, a Haitian dish. Peggy Brunache

The Resistance and Ingenuity of the Cooks who Lived in Slavery

In the video "The Future of Food: Eating Insects" posted by CBC News: The National, the video explains how a group of students plans to solve the hunger crisis through the consumption of bugs. The students recognized how there are many countries that consume bugs as a food source regularly and sought to gain a profit from it. They used crickets, as they are easy to farm in large quantities and provide a large source of iron and protein. The crickets were then processed into toritallas, where they were given to testers who left positive reviews. Overall, the use of crickets could be a viable food source for many. 
An at-home cricket farm used for later consumption. 

The Future of Food: Eating Insects

For my field research project, visiting a historical museum/site, the Panama City Publishing Company, located in St.Andrews, the printing press was able to use globalization in order to spread information about Panama City. Globalization refers to the means of interconnectedness between various parts of the world. The printing press was able to mass-produce print media, which was then able to be spread all over the world. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Field Research Project: The significance of the printing press in the history of Panama City

Image
The Significance of the Printing Press in the History of Panama City   Emily Kirkland Spring 2026  A freshly made print from the Panama City Publishing Company Museum. Project Goals and Background Research  What were the major effects of the printing press in building the economy, and the significance of St. Andrews and Panama City as shown by the Panama City Publishing Company Museum? I was unfamiliar with the rich history that Panama City holds and wanted to learn more about how our city became what it is today. The printing press, in particular, was one of the first forms of technology that aided in the spread of mass communication. Distributing and preserving forms of physical media is also important to our understanding of humans of the past, as it comes directly from the source.  In the article, "The Art of Printed Words: An Auto-Enthography" by Alexander Ginsberg, Ginsberg is completing an assignment for their studio art honors thesis. Their plan was to u...
Read more

Biology, Genetics, and Evolution

Image
 Biological Anthropology  is one of  the main subsects of anthropology. It differs from other parts of anthropology by focusing on the past of humans, instead of current trends. It encompasses how humans evolved overtime, links to early primate species, and the archeology of discovered remains such as bones. In order to better understand present humans, it is important to first understand humans of the past. To be able to organize these found differing traits and characteristics, scientists created the naming system of taxonomy . Taxonomy is used to group things that have similar traits such as gene structure or behavior. It is used a tool to display similarities and differences of both humans of the past and present in order to better understand humans as a whole.  Biological Evolution and Early Human Evidence The taxonomy system used to classify a monarch butterfly  Copyright Rice University/OpenStax, under CC By 4.0 license In order to understand present day...
Read more

Foundations of Anthropology

Image
Anthropology is the study of humans across all facets of life including culture, religion, social aspects, and how these few examples intertwine with each other. Anthropology is vast and stretches on all aspects of what it means to be human. A key component is to disregard one's own personal biases to accurately portray a human behavior or normalcies. The main goal of anthropology is to learn and understand the diversity of human nature as also to defeat the idea of ethnocentrism , which is to have biases relating to one's own idea of normal and looking down upon those who differ.  Chapter1: Introduction to Anthropology A Ghanaian woman trading clothing at a market as a source for second hand clothing that was imported from other countries like the United States.  “Market Woman - Kejetia Market - Kumasi - Ghana - 03” by Adam Jones/flickr, CC BY 2.0 Over the last few years, artificial intelligence has taken over many aspects of life, especially including creative outlets and e...
Read more