Are Mixed Economies Persistent or Transitional? Evidence Using Social Networks from Arctic Alaska

Abstract

Two opposing narratives describe future prospects for mixed economic livelihoods in Alaska and the broader Arctic. On the one hand, Arctic anthropologists have written about the emergence of persistent mixed economies in Native communities. A second narrative echoes modernization assumptions and assumes that "subsistence is dying," mixed economies are transitional, and Native communities are headed inevitably toward full market dependence. We provide evidence that mixed economies are not transitional. Mixed economies have three components: households engage in (1) market exchange, (2) subsistence activities, and (3) culturally embedded social relationships sustained by flows of wild food and other resources. Using household-level social network and economic data from two Iñupiat communities spanning 30 years, we explore hypotheses designed to test an assumed transition to market dependence. If transition assumptions hold, households with high engagement in the cash economy will have low engagement in subsistence production and diminished social relationships. Results do not support this narrative of change. Although there is considerable variability in household harvest, income, and social relationships, those highly engaged in market activities are also disproportionately involved in subsistence activities, sharing, and cooperation. Beyond broad narratives, an assessment of underlying processes and conditions supporting persistent mixed economies is warranted. [Arctic, mixed economies, subsistence hunting, cash economy, social networks] RESUMEN Dos narrativas opuestas describen las perspectivas de futuro de los medios económicos mixtos de sustento en Alaska y más ampliamente en la regiónártica. Por un lado, los antropólogos de la regiónártica han escrito sobre la emergencia de persistentes economías mixtas en comunidades nativas. Una segunda narrativa hace eco de las asunciones de la modernización y asume que esa "subsistencia está muriendo", las economías mixtas son transicionales, y las comunidades nativas se están dirigiendo inevitablemente hacia una dependencia total de los mercados. Proveemos evidencia que las economías mixtas no son transicionales. Las economías mixtas tienen tres componentes: hogares toman parte en (1) intercambio en los mercados, (2) actividades de subsistencia, y (3) relaciones sociales culturalmente embebidas sostenidas por flujos de alimentos silvestres y otros recursos. Usando redes sociales a nivel de hogares e información económica de las dos comunidades Iñupiat abarcando 30 años, exploramos hipótesis diseñadas para evaluar una asumida transición a una dependencia de mercados. Si las asunciones sobre la transición se sostienen, los hogares con alto involucramiento en la economía monetaria tendrán bajo involucramiento en la producción de subsistencia y reducidas relaciones sociales. Los resultados no apoyan esta narrativa de cambio. Aunque hay una considerable variabilidad en la cosecha del hogar, el ingreso y las relaciones

A scoping review of traditional food security in Alaska

“…Community patterns differ with respect to the extent of the resilience and sustainability of traditional foodways, including the role of a mixed cash and subsistence economy, and whether all people’s cultural, spiritual and nutritive needs are being met through the current traditional food system [12,18,19]. What is clear is that food insecurity remains a problem for many; and regardless of these apparently shifting trends, when someone is food insecure, it impacts emotional, social and physical health.…”

Multiplex social ecological network analysis reveals how social changes affect community robustness more than resource depletion

“…This seems intuitively correct. Some households (specifically, elder, young, and disabled families) have less productive capacity to give significant food away or provide services, but all households may receive (5,21). We then analyzed the relations between different layers, using Spearman correlation between inand outgoing strengths of nodes across layers.…”

“…Mixed subsistence-cash economies are characterized by strong human-landscape connections, in which social relations facilitate flows of food and other resources among households (5). Early termed the moral economy (6), cultural norms of sharing and cooperation enable risk sharing, improve food security, improve health and equity outcomes, and contribute to group identity and cohesion (7)(8)(9)(10).…”

Transitions of social-ecological subsistence systems in the Arctic

“…store-bought food in times of hardship or hunting equipment in times of prosperity (Tyrrell 2009). Recent studies show that sharing networks remain persistent despite higher engagement in cash economy at the household and community levels (Dombrowski et al 2013;BurnSilver et al 2016). Similar analyses of sharing networks have not been undertaken in Greenland, but case studies suggest that networks and food markets depend on whether you are a professional commercial hunter or a non-professional hunter that mainly distribute fish-and wildlife resources locally (e.g.…”

“…This characteristic and well-documented organization of collective provisioning actions among Inuit in the Arctic is the basis for the mixed subsistence-cash economy (Wolfe 1984;Langdon 1991;Marquardt and Caulfield 1996;Usher et al 2003), and is also important in terms of buffering subsistence disparities between lower-and higher-income households (Dombrowski et al 2013;BurnSilver et al 2016). Fuel, supplies and hunting equipment are costly, and access to such resources either by cash income or through sharing networks is a collective challenge of the resource users (Pearce et al 2015).…”