ANTHRCUL 101 1st Edition Lecture 15Outline of Last LectureI. Nova Video ct’dII. “What Do We Mean By Human: and Why Does it Matter” (Wolpoff)III. SvantePaabo on the Human Genome IV. The Origins of AgricultureOutline of Current Lecture I. Benefits of Food ProductionII. Costs of Food ProductionIII. North American Dependence on CornCurrentLecture2/20: Predicaments of Food ProductionI. Benefits of Food Productiona. Predictable in time and spaceb. High productivityc. Can sustain larger populationsd. High starch (calories)e. Can produce storable surplusf. Higher populations?II. Costs of Food Productiona. More workb. Lower adult staturec. Lower quality foods, worse nutritiond. Less varietye. Heavier disease burdenf. Territoriality and competitiong. Vulnerable to collapseh. Other Consequences: i. Michael Pollan, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, on the costs/benefits (mostly costs) of industrial agricultureIII. North American Dependence on CornThese 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.a. “The great edifice of variety and choice that is an American supermarket turns out to rest on a remarkably narrow biological foundation comprised of a tiny group of plants that is dominated by a single species: Zea mays, the giant tropicalgrass most Americans know as corn” (Pollan, 18)b. When you look at a carbon analysis of the average American’s flesh, “we North Americans look like corn chips on legs,” says Todd Dawson, a Berkeley biologist. (23)c. How is our all-corn diet obscured? Language!i. “For modified or unmodified starch, for glucose syrup and maltodextrin, for crystalline fructose and ascorbic acid, for lecithin and dextrose, lactic acid and lysine, for maltose and HFCS, for MSG and polyols, for the caramel color and xantham gum, read: corn.” (Pollan, 18-19, bold added)d. Why corn?i. Maize, domesticated from teosinte in Mesoamerica, evolved into its contemporary forms over thousands of years.ii. Understanding Corn’s Dominance1. Corn’s peculiar (and ultra-efficient) biological attributes2. Corn co-evolved with, and became dependent on, native inhabitants of Central America ultimately allowed pioneers to settle new territories without local help3. Corn production magnified with the development of nitrogen fertilizersiii. Corn, a ready-made commodityiv. It has been used:1. As food 2. To feed animals 3. As heating fuel4. As intoxicant (whiskey)5. As a currencya. Corn was used to pay for slaves, as well as used as the foodupon which slaves subsisted in the passage from Africa (26).b. Corn is particularly amenable to industrial production because it easily becomes a form of intellectual property (30-31,
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