Response to Shocks and Hazards Associated with Climate (2022-2025)
It is widely acknowledged that shocks—particularly those affecting food supplies, livelihoods and lives—pose threats to any social group. Given increased severity, frequency and even unpredictability of climate-related hazards around the world, it becomes vital to understand how groups establish practices that enhance resilience to shocks. We will examine the cultural features associated with resilience in around 150 societies during the past two centuries. We will characterize the dimensions of shocks faced by society (i.e., quick vs. slow onset, frequency, predictability, severity) and assess societies for absorptive, adaptive and transformative resilience based on wellbeing. Findings on the cultural consequences of shocks along with related resilience will be further explored through mathematical models plus through in-depth case studies of how societies have dealt with the different dimensions of shocks. Award notification
Publications and Presentations
Presentations
Carol R. Ember. 2022. Cultural adaptations to natural hazards and resource stress. Presented at the Evolution of Social Complexity Colloquium, Arizona State University, November 30, 2022.
Carol R. Ember, Anj Droe, Danielle Russell, Benjamin Gonzalez and Daniel McCloskey. 2022. The evolutionary implications of kinship tightness. (Presented at the annual meeting of the American Anthropological Association, Seattle, WA, November 9-13, 2022.
Carol R. Ember, Abbe McCarter, Erik Ringen. 2023. Uniformity of Dress. Presented at the Society for Cross-Cultural Research annual conference, San Juan PR, February 24, 2023.
Eric Jones, Carol Ember, Sergey Gavrilets, and Michele Gelfand. 2023. Response to shock and hazards associated with climate. Presented at Minerva Meeting and Program Review, May 2-3, 2023. Arlington, VA.