In archaeology, differences of plant remains between contexts, regions or periods are usually interpreted in terms of social inequality (Bender 1978; van der Veen 2003), political power (Hastorf 1993; Quilter and Stocker 1983), territory exploitation (Rosenberg 1990) and, lately, feasting activities (Dietler and Hayden 2001; Duncan et al. 2009; Hastorf 2003), but rarely in terms of group identification, despite the fact that anthropology has highlighted more than once that food expresses one’s identity better than any material culture (Counihan and Kaplan 1998; Fischler 1985; MacClancy 2004; Montanari 2000; Scholliers 2001). In a comparable way to the faunal exploitation strategies discussed by Fiore et al. in the previous chapter, we propose here that plant exploitation strategies relate not only to factors such as optimality or expediency but also to group identity. Based on models drawn from the anthropology of food (Counihan and Van Esterik 1997; Douglas 1971; Fischler 1988; Goody 1982; Lévi-Strauss 1964, 1997; Mead 1997; Mennell et al. 1992; Mintz 1996) and social psychology of intergroup relations (Tajfel and Turner 1979, 1986), as well as on ethnobotanical examples (Pieroni and Price 2006a), we argue that cultural groups produce, select, and eat different food, and therefore exploit different territories, in order to differentiate themselves from other groups and to build strong group identities. In addition to economic rationality, ecological constraints, or technical limitations, social group alimentary choices may also reflect the need to express positive differentiation from an external group and similarity with those from the same group. Appealing to psychological theories of social identification that explain how individuals’ behaviours are affected by their relationships within their groups, we seek to explain how food choices as an expression of group identity may have shaped environments, created long-distance trade, and in some cases led to environmental overexploitation. In this way social identity concepts (Tajfel and Turner 1979, 1986) can help us to understand the link between trade, exotic products, prestige, and identity and the pivotal role plants may have played in the creation of group identity and in defining intergroup relations.
Do humans possess an autonomous system justification motivation? A pupillometric test of the strong system justification thesis
