article

Labor specialization and the formation of markets for food in a Shipibo subsistance economy

Human ecology20 (4) • Published In 1992 • Pages: 435-462

By: Behrens, Clifford A..

Abstract
This paper examines the relationship between food production and exchange, and the manner in which this relationship is affected by a shift from a subsistence to a market-oriented economy. Analysis of Shipibo production and exchange data reveals that cash cropping has produced two groups of specialists within the formerly subsistence economy. The first group produces rice for regional markets and includes households with fewer women, but continues to exchange food within the traditional kin-based exchange system when it can. The second group contains men whose superior abilities as fishers and hunters are well recognized, and who now frequently sell wild food (fish and game) to rice producers, rather than distribute it freely. To better understand this specialization, a formal theory that replicated the formation of cash markets for food and labor in a subsistence economy is developed based on the ethnographic literature for the Amazon and on the theory of time allocation (pp. 435-436).
Subjects
Theoretical orientation in research and its results
Gift giving
Buying and selling
Labor and leisure
Household
Extended families
culture
Shipibo
HRAF PubDate
2002
Region
South America
Sub Region
Amazon and Orinoco
Document Type
article
Evaluation
Creator Type
Ethnologist
Document Rating
5: Excellent Primary Data
Analyst
John Beierle ; 2001
Field Date
June 1980-August 1981
Coverage Date
1980-1981
Coverage Place
village of Nuevo Eden, headwaters of the Pisqui River, Peru
Notes
Clifford A. Behrens
Includes bibliographical references (p. 460-462)
LCCN
72623826
LCSH
Shipibo-Conibo Indians