Tag: seeing like a state

Homo domesticus (excerpt from Against the Grain which is a fantastic read)

I was struck by this passage from Against the Grain (by James Scott, who also wrote Seeing Like A State; thanks to my friend Cathy for the rec):

Domesticated animals—especially sheep and goats, in this case—can be seen in the same light. They are our dedicated, four-footed (or, in the cases of chickens, ducks, and geese, two-footed) servant foragers. Thanks to their gut bacteria, they can digest plants that we cannot find and/or break down and can bring them back to us, as it were, in their “cooked” form as fat and protein, which we both crave and can digest. We selectively breed these domesticates for the qualities we desire: rapid reproduction, toleration of confinement, docility, meat, and milk and wool production.

Isn’t this what governments and large institutions are doing to us? Whether intentional or purely through the invisible logic of incentives…

The main exception from the above list seems to be rapid reproduction, as fertility rates in developed countries are very clearly declining. But confinement…docility…production… one only needs to look at the inexorable march of capitalism and centralized power structures to see some worrying trends…

How Filipinos got their Spanish last names, from the book Seeing like a State

Direct quotes:

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Nowhere is this better illustrated than in the Philippines under the Spanish. Filipinos were instructed by the decree of November 21, 1849, to take on permanent Hispanic surnames. The author of the decree was Governor (and Lieutenant General) Narciso Claveria y Zaldua, a meticulous administrator as determined to rationalize names as he had been determined to rationalize existing law, provincial boundaries, and the calendar. He had observed, as his decree states, that Filipinos generally lacked individual surnames, which might “distinguish them by families,” and that their practice of adopting baptismal names drawn from a small group of saints names resulted in great “confusion.” The remedy was the catalogo, a compendium not only of personal names but also of nouns and adjectives drawn from flora, fauna, minerals, geography, and the arts and intended to be used by the authorities in assigning permanent, inherited surnames.

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“In view of the extreme usefulness and practicality of this measure, the time has come to issue a directive for the formation of a civil register [formerly a clerical function], which may not only fulfill and ensure the said objectives, but may also serve as a basis for the statistics of the country, guarantee the collection of taxes, the regular performance of personal services, and the receipt of payment for exemptions. It likewise provides exact information of the movement of the population, thus avoiding unauthorized migrations, hiding taxpayers, and other abuses.”

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The book is a bit of a slog, with its older and more technical bureaucrat-speak, but the concepts are fascinating.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Seeing-like-State-Certain-Condition/dp/0300078153