grazing because of overuse early in its history. Much of the farmland in Great
Britain was worked as common land before the enclosure movement of the 18th
century, and some historians argue that enclosure was partly motivated by poor
land management practices. The taking of millions of seals in Antarctica
(a “common” land in that it was unregulated and unguarded) for fur and meat in
the 19th century resulted in such a decimation of the animalpopulationthat the
commercial sealing industry essentially collapsed by the early 20th century, and
a similar over-exploitation of animals for fur occurred in Siberia during the 18th
century. Indeed, much of the world today is still held in the form of “global
commons,” most notably theoceansand seabed beyond the territorial claims of
countries, and theatmosphereoutside the airspace claimed by sovereign states.
Even outer space, at least in the zone near theEarth, may be considered an emerg-
ing “commons.” A common space may be degraded not only through exploitation
of the resources it contains, but also simply by transit—pollution of the
international oceans and atmosphere by ships and aircraft is an example.
Hardin suggests that simply relying on individuals to preserve the commons and
manage such areas wisely is unrealistic, because many users are selfish and are
“free riders.” In response to this dilemma, two schools of thought offer solutions
to the “tragedy” that Hardin presents. One camp suggests that placing common re-
sources into private hands presents the best method of conserving and maintaining
the resource. Private ownership compels the user to manage the resource effi-
ciently, because an economic cost is introduced with private control—poor use
of the resource results in its degradation and loss of value. The second view postu-
lates that control of common resources should be the responsibility of some larger
authority, typically a local or nationalgovernment, or in the case of the global
commons, international regulatory agencies. These authorities also add value to
the common areas and their resources through the levying of user fees, licenses,
and taxes, or they may impose limits or quotas on how much a user may take from
the commons. Examples of such regulation are international commercial fishing
and whaling limits, entrance fees to national parks, and controls on the emission
of air pollutants from automobiles in urban areas.Transculturation
A concept that holds that thecultural identityof subjugated peoples during the
era ofimperialismwas transformed, with the indigenous culture absorbing and
modifying characteristics of the imposed European identity. In other words, colon-
ized peoples or minorities construct cultural histories for themselves that at least346 Transculturation