Doctoral Dissertation Research: Testing theories of mutualism in the context of rapid culture change

博士论文研究：在快速文化变革的背景下检验互利共生理论

• 批准号: 1918523
• 负责人: Edward Hagen
• 金额: $ 2.51万
• 依托单位: Washington State University
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2019
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2019-08-01 至 2020-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1918523&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Doctoral; Dissertation; Research; Testing; theories

Human societies everywhere deal with adverse social and environmental conditions that put livelihoods at risk, but they also tend to develop traditions and institutions that help adapt to those conditions. In the American Southwest, for example, droughts and floods can threaten cattle ranchers. In response, ranchers have developed a social institution, called "neighboring," in which ranchers help neighbors in need. What would happen to institutions like neighboring, however, when the economy changes quickly? Around the world, herding can be a high-risk livelihood, with herd sizes routinely prone to sudden fluctuations due to drought, disease, and, in some countries, raids. Herders routinely have similar stock friendships, or networks of cattle lending and sharing. Some researchers suggest that stock friendships might be an example of informal insurance systems to protect against cattle losses, whereas others claim that they might be useful for accumulating cattle wealth and political influence among households over time.Aaron Lightner, under the supervision of Dr. Edward Hagen of Washington State University, investigates Maasai pastoralists in Tanzania, who have made their living by herding cattle for centuries. Recently, however, population growth, drought, and urbanization have forced many Maasai herders to turn to agriculture and cash economies, becoming less dependent on the high-risk business of herding cattle, a sudden, fundamental change to their local economy. This research will investigate how stock friendship institutions have adapted to the changing economy, collecting data on household-level income from cattle, agriculture, and other sources; partner preferences and reputations; past activity among stock friends; and social networks among stock friends. Social network analysis will help the researchers test existing ideas about how and why people are participating in stock friendships, and to understand how these reasons might vary among people who are highly impacted vs. less impacted by economic and environmental changes at the field site. This research provides a unique opportunity to investigate not only how stock friendships buffer economic risks, but also how stock friendships are adapting to changes that are affecting herders around the world.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

各地的人类社会应对不利的社会和环境条件，使生计处于危险之中，但他们也倾向于发展有助于适应这些条件的传统和机构。例如，在美国西南部，干旱和洪水可能威胁养牛场。作为回应，牧场主开发了一个称为“邻近”的社会机构，牧场主帮助有需要的邻居。但是，当经济迅速变化时，像邻国这样的机构会发生什么？在世界范围内，放牧可能是一种高风险的生计，由于干旱，疾病以及某些国家的袭击，牛群的大小通常容易出现突然波动。牧民通常具有类似的股票友谊，或者是牛贷款和共享网络。一些研究人员认为，股票友谊可能是预防牛流失的非正式保险系统的一个例子，而其他人则声称它们可能会随着时间的流逝而在家庭中积累牛的财富和政治影响力很有用。然而，最近，人口增长，干旱和城市化迫使许多马赛牧民转向农业和现金经济体，从而减少了牛牛的高风险业务，突然，对当地经济的根本变化。这项研究将调查股票友谊机构如何适应不断变化的经济，收集有关牛，农业和其他来源的家庭水平收入的数据；合作伙伴的偏好和声誉；股票朋友的过去活动；和股票朋友之间的社交网络。社交网络分析将帮助研究人员测试有关人们如何以及为何参与股票友谊的现有想法，并了解这些原因在受到高度影响与受到现场经济和环境变化影响较小的人中的影响。这项研究提供了一个独特的机会，不仅可以调查股票友谊如何缓冲经济风险，还可以如何适应影响世界各地牧民的变化。这项奖项反映了NSF的法定任务，并被认为是通过基金会的知识分子优点和更广泛的影响审查标准来评估通过评估来支持的。