0 Article 16 Life without Chiefs Are we forever condemned to a world of haves and have-nots, rulers and ruled? cthYawew Maybe not, argues a noted anthropologist-if we can relearn some ancient lessons Marvin Harris Marvin Harris is a graduate research presidents, parliaments, congress friends give each other birthday gifts professor of anthropology at the Univer- cabinets, govemors, and mayors-not to and Christmas presents. But much of mdrabh Q b of Florida and chair of the general mention the police officers, sheriffs, this is marred by the expectation that Anthropological Association. His seven- judges, district attorneys, court clerks, with expression of thanks knowledged nthropology division of the American marshals, generals, lawyers, bailiffs, ur generosity will be teen books include Cows, Pigs, Wars patrol cars, paddy wagons, jails, and Where reciprocity really prevails in and Witches and Cannibals and Kings. penitentiaries that help keep them in daily life, etiquette requires that gener a power. How in the world did our ancestors osity be taken for granted. As Robert Can humans exist without some people ever manage to leave home without them Dentan discovered during his field-work at the modern world, you wouldnt think answer. With 50 people per band ore among the Semai of Central Malaysia, ruling and others being ruled? To look mall populations provide part of no one ever says"thank you"for the 0. Democratic states may have done per village, everybody knew everybody meat received from another hunter Hav- away with emperors and kings, but they else intimately. People gave with the ex- ing struggled all day to lug the carcass have hardly dispensed with gross in- pectation of taking and took with the ex of a pig home through the jungle heat, naaebtp equalities in wealth, rank, and power pectation of giving. Because chance the hunter allows his prize to be cut up However, humanity hasn't always played a great role in the capture of ani- into exactly equal portions, which he lived this way. For about 98 percent of mals, collection of wild foodstuffs, and then gives away to the entire group our existence as a species(and for four success of rudimentary forms of agricul- Dentan explains that to express gratitude million years before then), our ancestors ture, the individuals who had the lyck for the portion received indicates that lived in small, largely nomadic hunting. of the catch on one day needed a hand- you are the kind of ungenerous person pdi"LofI and-gathering bands containing about out on the next. So the best way for who calculates how much you give and 50 to 50 people apiece. It was in this them to provide for their inevitable rainy take: "In this context, saying"thank you' social context that human nature day was to be generous. As expressed is very rude, for it suggests, first, that evolved. It has been only about ten thou- by anthropologist Richard Gould, The one has calculated the amount of a gift sand years since people began to settle greater the amount of risk, the greater and, second, that one did not expect the down into villages, some of which even- the extent of sharing. "Reciprocity is a donor to be so generous " To call atten- tually grew into cities. And it has been small society's bank tion to one's generosity is to indicate only in the last two thousand years that In reciprocal exchange, people do not that others are in debt to you and that the majority of people in the world have specify how much or exactly what they you expect them to repay you. It is repug not lived in hunting-and-gathering expect to get back or when they expect nant to egalitarian peoples even to suggest cieties. This brief period of time is not to get it. That would besmirch the qual- that they have been treated generously nearly sufficient for noticeable evolution ity of that transaction and make it simi- Canadian anthropologist Richard Le to have taken place. Thus, the few re- lar to mere barter or to buying and tells how, through a revealing incident, t maining foraging societies are the clos- selling. The distinction lingers on in he learned about this aspect of reciproc- est analogues we have to the"natural cieties dominated by other forms of ex- ity. To please the Kung, the"bushmen lt state of humanity. change, even capitalist ones. For we do of the Kalahari desert, he decided to buy 3. To judge from surviving examples of carry out a give-and-take among close a large ox and have it slaughtered as a f ges, our kind got along quite well for culating, and imbued with a spirit of agricultural villages for the largest and the greater part of prehistory without so generosity. Teen-agers do not pay cash fattest ox in the region, he acquired what much as a paramount chief. In fact, for for their meals at home or for the use appeared to be a perfect specia assured ns of thousands of years, life went of the family car, wives do not bill their his friends took him aside an without kings, queens, prime ministers, husbands for cooking a meal, and him that he had been duped into buying From New Age Joumal, November/December 1989, 5-209. Excerpted from Our Kind by Marvin Harris. o 1989
16. Life without Chiefs n absolutely worthless animal. procity. The man who would be king other groups he must be careful not to course,we will eat it, they said,"but would be left by himself to exercise a keep est items for himself. it won't fill s soverel In the evening, the headman stands home to bed with stomachs rumbling. in the center of the plaza and exhorts Yet, when Lee's ox was slaughtered, it THE HEADMAN his people to be good. He calls upon turned out to be covered with a thick LEADERSHIP, NOT POWEr them to control their sexual appetites, why they had said his gift was valueless, To the extent that political leadership ex- quent baths in the river. He tells them even though they knew better than he ists at all among band-and-village socie- not to sleep during the day or bear what lay under the animals skin ties, it is exercised by individuals called Yes, when a young man kills much headmen. These head however grudges against each other meat he comes to think of himself as a lack the power to compel others to obey COPING WITH chief or a big man, and he thinks of the their orders. How can a leader be pow FREELOADERS rest of us as his servants or inferiors We erful and still lead? fuse one who The political power of genuine rulers During the reign of reciprocal exchange boasts, for someday his pride will make depends on their ability to expel or ex- and egalitarian headmen, no individual, him kill somebody. So we always speak terminate disobedient individuals and family, or group smaller than the band of his meat as worthless. This way we groups. When a headman gives a com- or village itself could control access to cool his heart and make him gentle mand,however, he has no certain physi- natural resources. Rivers, lakes, beaches, Lee watched small groups of men cal means of punishing those who oceans, plants and animals, the soil and and women returning home every eve- disobey. So, if he wants to stay in"of- subsoil were all communal property ning with the animals and wild fruits fice, "he gives few commands. Among Among the !Kung, a core of peop and plants that they had killed or col the Eskimo, for instance, a group orn in a particular territory say that lected. They shared everything equally, follow an outstanding hunter and defer they"own"the water holes and hunting even with campmates who had stayed to his opinion with respect to choice of rights, but this has no effect on the peo- behind and spent the day sleeping or hunting spots. But in all other matters, ple who happen to be visiting and living taking care of their tools and weapons. the leader's opinion carries no more with them at any given time. Since "Not only do families pool that day's weight than any other man's Similarly, Kung from neighboring bands are re production, but the entire camp--resi- among the KUng, each band has its rec- lated through marriage, they often visit dents and visitors alike- shares equally nized leaders, most of whom are each other for months at a time and have in the total quantity of food available, males. These men speak out more than free use of whatever resources they need Lee observed. The evening meal of any others and are listened to with a bit more without having to ask permission one family is made up of portions of food deference. But they have no formal Though people from distant bands must from each of the other families resident. authority and can only persuade, never make a request to use another band s ter There is a constant flow of nuts, berries, command. When Lee asked the Kung ritory, the "owners "seldom refuse them roots,and melons from one family fire- whether they had headmen--meanin nce In place to another, until each person has re- powerful chiefs they told him,"Of land and other vital resources means that ceived an equitable portion. The following course we have headmen! In fact, we are a form of communism probably existed morming a different combination of fora- all headmen. Each one of us is headman among prehistoric hunting and collect gers moves out of camp, and when they over himself. ing bands and small villages. Perhaps I return late in the day, the distribution of manship can be a frustrati ing should emphasize that this did not rule foodstuffs is repeated. and irksome job. Among Indian groups out the existence of private property In small, prestate societies, it was in such as the Mehinacu of Brazil,'s Zingu People in simple band-and-village socie everybody's best interest to maintain National Park, headmen behave some- ties own personal effects such as weap- each other's freedom of access to the thing like zealous scoutmasters on over- ons, clothing, containers, omaments, natural habitat. Suppose a! Kung with a night cookouts. The first one up in the and tools. But why should anyone want lust for power were to get up and tell morning, the headman tries to rouse his to steal such objects? People who have his campmates, "From now on, all this companions by standing in the middle a bush camp and move about a lot have land and everything on it belongs to me. of the village plaza and shouting no use for extra possessions. And since ll let you use it but only with my per- them. If something needs to be done, it the group is small enough that every mission and on the condition that I get is the headman who starts doing it and body knows everybody else, stolen first choice of anything you capture, col- it is the headman who works harder than items cannot be used anonymously. If lect, or grow. "His campmates, thinking anyone else. He sets an example not you want something, better to ask for it that he had certainly gone crazy, would only for hard work but also for gener- openly, since by the rules of reciprocity pack up their few belongings, take a osity: After a fishing or hunting expedi- such requests cannot be denied long walk, make a new camp, and re- tion, he gives away more of his catch I don' t want to create the impression sume their usual life of egalitarian reci- than anyone else does. In trading with that life within egalitarian band-and-vil
3. THE ORGANIZATION OF SOCIETY AND CULTURE lage societies unfolded entirely without fort, all of which initially seemed an in- a feast as lavish as that of the challeng- th disputes over possessions. As in every nocent extension of the basic principle ers, their mumi suffered a great social p social group, nonconformists and mal- of reciprocity humiliation, and his fall from mumi contents tried to use the system for their But how little our ancestors under- hood was immediate. wn advantage. Inevitably there were stood what they were getting themselves At the end of a successful feast, the freeloaders, individuals who consis- into! For if it is a good thing to have a greatest of mumis still faced a lifetime ntly took more than they gave and lay headman give feasts, why not have sev- of personal toil and dependence on the ack in their hammocks while others did eral headmen give feasts? Or, better yet, moods and inclinations of his followers. the work. Despite the absence of a why not let success in organizing and Mumihood did not confer the power to criminal justice system, such behavior giving feasts be the measure of one's le- coerce others into doing one's bidding, pbtgT eventually was punished. A widespread gitimacy as a headman? Soon, where nor did it elevate one's standard of liv belief among band-and-village peoples conditions permit, there are several ing above anyone else's. In fact, because attributes death and misfortune to the would-be headmen vying with each giving things away was the essence of malevolent conspiracy of sorcerers. The other to hold the most lavish feasts and mumihood, great mumis consumed less task of identifying these evildoers falls redistribute the most food and other meat and other delicacies than ordinary to a group's shamans, who remain re valuables. In this fashion there evolved men. Among the Kaoka, another So psr sponsive to public opinion during thei he nemesis that Richard Lee's IKung mon Islands group, there is the saying, divinatory trances. Well-liked indi- informants had warmed about: the youth "The giver of the feast takes the bones viduals who enjoy strong support from who wants to be a"big man, and the stale cakes; the meat and the fat their families need not fear the sha- A classic anthropological study of go to the others. "At one great feast at- man. But quarrelsome, stingy people big men was carried out by Douglas tended by 1, 100 people, the host mumi, who do not give as well as take had Oliver among the Siuai, a village people whose name was Soni, gave away thirty- who live on the South Pacific island of two pigs and a large quantity of sago- reaisnpfbo better watch out Bougainville, in the Solomon Islands. In almond puddings. Soni himself and FROM HEADMAN the Siuai language, big men were known some of his closest followers went hun- TO BIG MAN as mumis. Every Siuai boy's highest am- gry. "We shall eat Soni's renown,"they bition was to become a mumi. He began said. Reciprocity was not the only form of ex- by getting married, working hard, and change practiced by egalitarian band- restricting his own consumption of FROM BIG MAN TO CHEF and-village peoples. Our kind long ag meats and coconuts. His wife and par found other ways to give and take. ents, impressed with the seriousness of The slide(or ascent?) toward social Among them the form of exchange his intentions, vowed to help him pre- stratification gained momentum wher- isitihc known as redistribution played a crucial pare for his first feast. Soon his circle ever extra food produced by the inspi role in creating distinctions of rank during of supporters widened and he began to diligence of redistributors could be the evolution of chiefdoms and states. construct a clubhouse in which his male stored while awaiting muminai feasts Redistribution occurs when people turn followers could lounge about and guests potlatches, and other occasions of redis over food and other valuables to a pres- could be entertained and fed. He gave a tribution. The more concentrated and tigious figure such as a headman, to be ast at the consecration of the club- abundant the harvest and the less per- pooled, divided into separate portions, and house; if this was a success, the circle ishable the crop, the greater its potential given out again. The primordial form of of people willing to work for him grew for endowing the big man with power dpet redistribution was probably keyed to sea- larger still, and he began to hear himself Though others would possess some sonal hunts and harvests, when more food spoken of as a mumi. Larger and larger stored-up foods of their own, the redis- than usual became available feasts meant that the mumi's demands tributor's stores would be the largest. In True to their calling, headmen-redis- on his supporters became more irksome. times of scarcity, people would come to tributors not only work harder than their Although they grumbled about how hard him, expecting to be fed; in return, he followers but also give more generously they had to work, they remained loyal could call upon those who had special and reserve smaller and less desirable as long as their mumi continued to skills to make cloth, pots, canoes, or a irlrra portions for themselves than for anyone maintain and increase his renown as a fine house for his own use. Eventually, else. Initially, therefore, redistribution "great provider the redistributor no longer needed to strictly reinforced the political and eco- Finally the time came for the new work in the fields to gain and surpass nomic equality associated with recipro- mumi to challenge the older ones. He big-man status cal exchange. The redistributors were did this at a muminai feast, where both vest surpluses, a portion of which con compensated purely with admiration sides kept a tally of all the pigs, coconut tinued to be given to him for use in and in proportion to their success in pies, and sago-almond puddings given communal feasts and other communal giving bigger feasts, in personally con- away by the host mumi and his follow- projects( such as trading expeditions and tributing more than anybody else, a ers to the guest mumi and his followers. warfare), was sufficient to validate his in asking little or nothing for their ef- If the guests could not reciprocate with status. And, increasingly, people viewed
16. Life without Chiefs this status as an office, a sacred trust, mount who was the principal figure in THE END passed on from one generation to the the Cherokee redistributive network. At next according to the rules of hereditary the harvest time a large crib, identified As we know, chiefdoms would eventu succession. His dominion was no longer as the"chiefs granary, was erected in lly evolve into states, states into em- a small, autonomous village but a large each field. " To this, "explained Bartram, pires. From peaceful origins, humans political community. The big man had each family carries and deposits a ce created and mounted a wild beast that become a chief. tain quantity according to his ability or ate continents. Now that beast has taken Returning to the South Pacific and inclination, or none at all if he so us to the brink of global annihilation the Trobriand Islands, one can catch a chooses "The chiefs granaries func- glimpse of how these pieces of tioned as a public treasury in case of Will nature's experiment with mind crouching stratification fell into place. crop failure, a source of food for and culture end in nuclear war? No one The Trobrianders had hereditary chiefs strangers or travelers, and as military knows the answer. But I believe it is es who held sway over more than a dozen store. Although every citizen enjoyed sential that we understand our past be- fsy-3s villages containing several thousand free access to the store, commoners fore we can create the best possible people. Only chiefs could wear certain had to acknowledge that it really be- future. Once we are clear about the roots shell ornaments as the insignia of high longed to the supreme chief, who had of human nature, for example, we can rank. and it was forbidden for common- "an exclusive right and ability to refute, once and for all, the notion that ers to stand or sit in distribute comfort and blessings to the it is a biological imperative for our kind ,st-ird a chief 's head at a lower elevation. Brit- necessitous to form hierarchical groups. An observer sh anthropologist Bronislaw Mali- Supported by voluntary donations, viewing human life shortly after cultural nowski tells of seeing all the people chiefs could now enjoy lifestyles that set takeoff would easily have concluded present in the village of Bwoytalu drop them increasingly apart from their follow that our species was destined to be irre from their verandas"as if blown down ers. They could build bigg and finer deemably egalitarian except for distinc a hurricane"at the sound of a drawn- houses for themselves, eat and dress more tions of sex and age. That someday the out cry warning that an important chief sumptuously, and enjoy the sexual favors world would be divided into aristocrats d-yFa was approaching and personal services of several wives. and commoners, masters and slaves, bil Yams were the Trobrianders staff Despite these harbingers, people in chief- lionaires and homeless beggars would life; the chiefs validated their status by doms voluntarily invested unprecedented have seemed wholly contrary to human storing and redistributing amounts of labor on behalf of communal nature as evidenced in the affairs of tities of them acquired through dona- projects. They dug moats, threw up defen- every human society then on Earth tions from their brothers-in-law at sive earthen embankments, and erected harvest time. Similar gifts"were re- great log palisades around their villages Of course, we can no more reverse ceived by husbands who were common- They heaped up small mountains of rub- the course of thousands of years of ers, but chiefs were polygynous and, ble and soil to form platforms and mounds cultural evolution than our egalitarian having as many as a dozen wives, re- on top of which they built temples and ancestors could have designed and ceived many more yams than anyone big houses for their chief. Working in built the space shuttle. Yet, in striving else. Chiefs placed their yam supply on teams and using nothing but levers and for the preservation of mind and cul display racks specifically built for this rollers, they moved rocks weighing fifty ture on Earth, it is vital that we rec- ers did the same, but a chief s yam racks and perfect circles, forming sacred pre- takeoff and the great difference purpose next to their houses. Common- tons or more and set them in precise lines ognize the significance of cultur towered over all the others. cincts for communal rituals marking the tween biological and cultural evolu This same pattern recurs, with minor change of seasons. tion. We must rid ourselves of the variations. on several continents. Strik If this seems remarkable, notion that we are an innately aggres ing parallels were seen, for example, that donated labor created the sive species for whom war is inevita- twelve thousand miles away from the alignments of Stonehenge and ble.We must reject as unscientific Trobrianders, among chiefdoms that put up the great statues on Easte claims that there are superior and in- flourished throughout the southeastern shaped the huge stone heads of the Ol- ferior races and that the hierarchical region of the United States mec in Vera Cruz, dotted Polynesia with divisions within and between societies among the Cherokee, former ritual precincts set on great stone plat- are the consequences of natural selec of Tennessee as described by forms, and filled the Ohio, Tennessee, tion rather than of a long process of eenth-century naturalist william Bartram. and Mississippi valleys with hundreds cultural evolution. We must struggle to At the center of the principal Chero- of large mounds. Not until it was too gain control over cultural selection pe settlements stood a large circular late did people realize that their beauti- through objective studies of the human house where a council of chiefs dis- ful chiefs were about to keep the meat condition and the recurrent process of cussed issues involving their villages and fat for themselves while giving history. Not only a more just society, his and where redistributive feasts were nothing but bones and stale cakes to but our very survival as a species may held. The council of chiefs had a para- their followers pend on it
