ANP 370 1st Edition Lecture 4 Outline of Last Lecture I Race and Human Variation a UV radiation b Gradients c Relationship between global location and skin pigmentation d Vitamin D and folate Outline of Current Lecture II Health from Foraging to Capitalist Societies III Make sure to have signed up for oral presentations assignments will be uploaded to ANGEL IV Each member should present 2 3 minutes so that presentation is 15 minutes V Presentation is worth 25 pts 1 4 of grade a Creativity b Article summary c Presentation d Discussion portion 5 minutes Current Lecture Health from Foraging to Capitalist Societies How humans went from hunter gatherer to horticulture to the modern cultural society we are today Agrarian society to pre capitalist society big enough for own political system state Capitalist society where we are today Not every culture has followed this path from hunter gatherer to capitalist May have transferred from h g to pre capitalist or horticulture In the majority of cases societies have followed this path The Foragers Richard Lee found among the San in Kalahari Desert that they worked fewer hours per day were better nourished and healthier and enjoyed cleaner environments than their horticultural neighbors These notes represent a detailed interpretation of the professor s lecture GradeBuddy is best used as a supplement to your own notes not as a substitute o Forager hunter gatherers Men hunters Women gatherers Division of labor lacked gender inequality just different genders performed different roles Marshall Sahlins referred to foragers as the original affluent society o Foraging is a very balanced lifestyle Epidemiologist Frederick Dunn stated that malnutrition starvation and chronic diseases are rare among foragers o These findings have been replicated in studies done in the other sciences Foragers probably acquired diseases such as head and body lice pinworms and yaws from prehominid populations o These diseases likely came from primates They also suffered from zoonotic diseases through insect bites eating contaminated flesh and from wounds infected by animals o Chronic diseases were rather absent in h g society Physician Eaton and anthropologist Shostak and Konner argue for A Paleolithic Prescription based on the comparison among late Paleolithic and contemporary diets in the US What are their arguments What they suggest is that modern people adopt a stone age diet o Calorie consumption rich nutrients are consistent in these diets o The amount of work we do today is much less than what our bodies have genetically evolved to be accustomed to we are still genetically programmed as h g The life expectancy of San adults exceeds that of adults of many industrial societies However they didn t live in the Garden of Eden they were more vulnerable mortality o Nearly half of children died before reaching adulthood The Transition Why is there nutritional deficiency through the origin of agriculture What are the diseases that emerged in agricultural population transition Horticultural Society The nutritional quality of food in horticultural societies tend to be inferior to that of foraging societies The major food sweet potatoes yams bananas are high in bulk but low in nutrients These starchy tropical crops are a good source of food energy but a poor source of protein They work harder than foragers Slush and burn techniques need considerable time and energy to clear land tend and harvest o Therefore need to eat food with more energy o Would excavate land plant come back later to harvest Agrarian society when a lot of diseases emerged Due to limited access to resources and food peasants in agrarian societies subsist on a limited number of cultivated crops o Majority of food goes to the people who own the land or technology cows plows etc These crops were vulnerable to droughts floods and pests o Food quantities were variable every year The ultimate result is more food supply for the elites and chronic food shortage for poor peasants and slaves Malnutrition and greater susceptibility of diseases among the poor increase Sedentism would undoubtedly increase parasitic and infectious diseases spread by contact with human waste For example cholera chicken pox syphilis as well as tuberculosis and respiratory disease increase Due to population density measles which originated from a virus of dogs or cows spread out Due to large irrigation systems vector borne or water borne diseases such as malaria and schistosomiasis increases o A majority of these diseases didn t exist in h g o These diseases emerged because of close and persistent human contact as well as a need to control the waste produced The herding of animals would also increase the frequency of contact with zoonotic diseases ie wound infections transmit of anthrax fever and tuberculosis due to animal products such as milk hair and skin as well as insect bites increase Slash and burn agriculture in west Africa exposed populations to malaria which was absent among foragers Capitalist World System Massive malnutrition and economic inequality Susceptibility to infectious diseases increases o H1N1 o Bird flu o Explains why every year there is a resurgence of new diseases that pose threats Social mortality resulting from warfare o Warfare poses trauma on human live o Hundreds of thousands of deaths each year due to warfare Colonialism brought new diseases o Human contact in new lands brought emergence of diseases such as cholera because of trade Capitalist industrial revolution resulted in global ecological destruction It increased water and air pollution and peasants pushed off the land and migrated to horribly unsanitary and overcrowded slums Marx and Engles Capitalist Society Certain countries such as Cuba have better health care as it has eradicated malnutrition improving sanitation and providing both preventative and curative medicine Life expectancy in Cuba is 79 years Infant mortality rate 5 1 per 1 000 live births Noah Chomsky s daughter quote most people are unaware that Cuba is able to achieve better health standards than a country such as the US yet have a much weaker economy and is essentially a third world country Health in the US The US has the worst health stats among the developed countries due to part of an absence of national health plan Americans consume junk food overwork and live hectic lives WHO report Life expectancy is 81 yrs for women 76 years for men o Ranks 33rd among 193 reporting nations of the