Ecology, Kinship and Social Structure

Paper Summary:

This paper contends that family, food, and environment are the key building blocks that produce a culture. The paper discusses the opinions expressed by anthropologists, Miriam Kahn, Mary Douglas, John Cole, and Eric Wolf. The focus of the paper is on the symbolism of food in the Wamiran culture in Papua New Guinea.

From the Paper:

"Of course, an anthropologist can never entirely separate the delicate relationship that exists between ecology, kinship, and social structure within any given society or community. Family, food, and environment are the key building blocks that produce a culture. The language of food's abundance can create an entire symbolic system of need, dependence, and social uncertainty, when deployed within a particular, uncertain system and environment of kinship and social structure, as noted in Miriam Kahn's text regarding Wamiran attitudes towards sustenance in Papua New Guinea."

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