Oral Presentation Session

Reviewed by: Evolutionary Anthropology Society

Of interest to: Practicing and Applied Anthropologists, Teachers of Anthropology in Community Colleges, Students, Those Involved in Mentoring Activities

Primary Theme: Resilience

Secondary Theme: Evolution

(4-0500) Social Capital in the Face of Uncertainty

For humans, social resources are as vital as food, water and shelter, and in fact, the latter are rarely accessible without the former. We rely on social learning for our subsistence, social support networks for buffering against misfortune, coalitions for pursuing collective endeavors, and kinship structures for raising children and passing on wealth and traditions across generations. Evolutionary anthropology provides tools for researchers to measure and test how we interact with our social environment and understand how sociality affects our wealth, health, and well-being. In this session, we will hear a diverse range of talks, all focused on understanding how humans utilize social capital to face environmental unpredictability and resource scarcity. The aim of our session, in an age of increasing concerns about global socio-economic and health inequality, is to clarify and refine the insights that a biocultural approach can bring to the understanding of human sociality. The talks will cover a variety of topics, including the impact of social networks on wealth inequality; the role of leadership structures in organizing collective action; investment in new social partnerships in times of resource scarcity; the effect of personal perception and trust of healthcare professionals versus access in determining treatment-seeking behavior; and finally, variation in partner preference according to resource availability.

Organizer(s)

• Brooke Scelza

  Associate Professor
  University of California, Los Angeles

Presenter(s)

• Edmond Seabright

  University of New Mexico

• Anne Pisor

  Assistant professor
  Washington State University

• Sean Prall

  Postdoc
  University of California, Los Angeles

• Kathrine Starkweather

  Postdoctoral Research Fellow
  Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology

Chair(s)

• Sarah Alami Gouraftei

  University of California, Santa Barbara

Presenter(s)

• Sarah Alami Gouraftei

  University of California, Santa Barbara

• Adam Reynolds

  Ph.D. Student
  University of New Mexico

Presentations:

• 10:15 AM - 10:30 AM

  Formal Leadership and Collective Action in Two Horticulturalist Populations in Bolivia
  Edmond Seabright – University of New Mexico
• 10:30 AM - 10:45 AM

  Interest in extra-community relationships is a function of both resource needs and existing relationships in the Bolivian Amazon
  Anne C. Pisor – Washington State University
• 10:45 AM - 11:00 AM

  Effects of Resource Scarcity and Food Security on Partner Preference
  Sean Prall – University of California, Los Angeles
• 11:00 AM - 11:15 AM

  Why Risk It? The social and biological benefits for Shodagor women of opting for a higher-risk subsistence strategy
  Kathrine E. Starkweather – Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology
• 11:15 AM - 11:30 AM

  The effects of personal perception and trust in healthcare professionals versus access in determining treatment uptake among the Tsimane
  Sarah Alami Gouraftei – University of California, Santa Barbara
• 11:30 AM - 11:45 AM

  Social Networks and Redistribution of Wealth in a Matrilineal Mosuo Community
  Adam Z. Reynolds – University of New Mexico