食料生産と社会構造 : 人間にとって食料とは何か(1)

Abstract

In this paper, the author proposes a new study area, called 'anthropology of food', which deals with matters of food, such as production, consumption, distribution, food preference, and its social structure in the world. This area includes the study of socio-economical food structures of human groups in the world and in human history. Discussion ranging from the great transformation of social structures that took place during the Agricultural Revolution (or Neolithic Revolution) in the Neolithic age to Economical Liberalization in the 21st century falls under this study area. In the present day Equatorial Africa, some human groups are hunters and gatherers, and other groups are slash and burn agriculturists. They live in the same ecological environment, but both groups have very different social structures, especially in the ways that they acquire food, its consumption and distribution. The author describes one of the typical slash and burn agriculturalist groups, the Tembo, and their food production, distribution, and consumption system, and their social structure. The Tembo are relatively independent from the world market economy. They produce their foodstuff by themselves and sell their agricultural products at outdoor markets held on a fixed day and in fixed places. These kinds of societies, which the author terms 'articulated societies', are not organized by the market economy in their community but articulated with the market economy. Another, slash and burn agriculturalist group, the Fung, described by Sakanashi produces cacao. The Fung's economy is more integrated in world market than the Tembo's. All of their cacao beans are sold outside of the community and they use money in everyday life in the village. These kinds of societies, which the author terms 'integrated societies', are well organized with the market economy. However, even in the 'integrated societies', we find some social networks that work on different principles than that of a market economy.