ANTH 320/DEVS 321, FALL 2017, Dr. S. Vincent

Description of Poorland, a country of the Global South and of Villachica, a peasant community in Poorland.

Average annual income: $US650

Literacy: 65 percent

Total population: 20 million
•    80 percent of population is of indigenous descent
•    60 percent of population lives in urban areas, half of these (6 million people) in the capital, Bigugly
•    39 percent in rural areas, many with access to small plots of land for subsistence farming
•    1 percent live as hunter-gatherers and horticulturalists in the jungle

Poorland’s major exports are:
•     the tuttle crop (a popular leisure beverage in the Global North and beginning to be of interest in Emergland, similar to coffee or tea)
•     and the mineral wormite (mined in both underground and open pit mines, used in electronics produced in Emergland, which are used throughout the world in both personal and high tech applications)

The state of Poorland in the global context:
•    Poorland was “discovered” by the Yurroppan colonial power Spam about 500 years ago, gaining independence about 200 years ago
•    Some trade and political relations still happen with Spam, although Canda and other countries of the Global North became dominant trade and political partners about 100 years ago
•    More recently, Emergland, formerly a country considered poor but whose major efforts in producing cheap industrial goods with its abundant and poorly paid work force have made it a global economic power. Emergland is transforming this economic dominance into global political clout

Distribution of wealth:
•    .5 percent of the population controls 70 percent of the wealth – they are mostly descended from the colonial elite, although Poorland gained independence 150 years ago; they tend to live in wealthy parts of the capital city
•    80 percent of the population controls 10 percent of the wealth – mostly indigenous, living in all areas of the country
•    therefore 19.5 percent controls 20 percent of the wealth - this is the middle class; they live mostly on the coast and in Bigugly

Territory:
•    Poorland has a total size of 1 million square kilometres. It has an ocean coast with a port where the capital city, Bigugly is located. There are few roads in areas distant from the major cities.
•    Poorland’s territory is a mixture of
•    - mountain (45 percent – where the wormite for export is mined; most of the peasants, including the people of Villachica, live here and carry out subsistence and market agricultural production and are starting to experiment in growing tuttle crops);
•    - lowland (45 percent - where the tuttle, mostly for export, is grown by peasants who have moved there; some of this is unexploited jungle where some forager people, notably of Marj’nal cultural groups, live); and
•    - the capital city, Bigugly, is on the coast; the coast covers 10 percent of the territory but has almost all of the industry and infrastructure

Villachica
•    Villachica is a highland peasant community with a small population. They rely on subsistence agriculture, some market selling of tuttle, and income from Villachiqueños who work in the wormite mines. Further, many Villachiqueños have migrated to the lowlands to grow tuttle (having got the land through a government sponsored program to colonize the jungle 50 years ago), as well as to the capital, Bigugly and smaller cities such as Smallugly. Thus, the population has a small core of residents who have never migrated and a larger group who have returned after short or long periods of migration, either to retire or to wait until an opportunity arises that will provide them an income elsewhere. All Villachiqueños also have ties to migrants who have lived elsewhere for their entire working lives, and whose children have never lived in Villachica, although they may visit for fiestas.
•    Villachica has a local elected government that has a mandate to manage collective resources. Most of the land is collectively owned, although little of it is useful at the moment. In addition, most families own land, although the amounts are unequal. Some families do no farming at all, since returns from farming are very low and it is considered hard work that gives no prestige.
•    All resident Villachiqueños have incomes below the poverty line, and most migrant Villachiqueños are also poor. A few migrants have moderate incomes.