Is there a connection between object diversity and aesthetic sensibility? A comparison between biological domesticates and material culture.

This paper develops the idea that humans cultivate diversity of natural and cultural objects in particular contexts and support this by investing in an aesthetic sensibility. It shows how in studies of crop and livestock management this idea is well-established, and suggests that even when diversity that supports subsistence productivity erodes, diversity of ornamentals consumed recreationally may to some extent replace it. Similar patterns and processes can be seen in other domains, such as the design features of material culture, exemplified here through Nuaulu basketry and shield-making. The final part of the paper examines how the idea of object diversity and its aestheticization plays out when looking at economic and cultural history in the West, under conditions that might be thought to reduce it.