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.

世界各地的人类社会都面临着使生计面临风险的不利社会和环境条件，但他们也倾向于发展有助于适应这些条件的传统和制度。例如，在美国西南部，干旱和洪水会威胁到牧场主。作为回应，牧场主们发展了一种社会机构，称为“邻居”，牧场主们在其中帮助有需要的邻居。然而，当经济快速变化时，像邻国这样的机构会发生什么？在世界各地，放牧可能是一种高风险的生计，由于干旱、疾病以及在一些国家的袭击，牧群的规模经常容易突然波动。牧民们通常都有类似的牲畜友谊，或牛的出借和分享网络。一些研究人员认为，牲畜友谊可能是一种非正式的保险制度，可以防止牲畜损失，而另一些人则认为，随着时间的推移，这种友谊可能有助于积累牲畜财富，并在家庭中产生政治影响力。在华盛顿州立大学的爱德华哈根博士的指导下，亚伦·莱特纳（Aaron Lightner）调查了坦桑尼亚的马赛牧民，他们几个世纪以来一直以放牧为生。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，越来越少地依赖养牛这一高风险业务，这对当地经济来说是一个突然的、根本性的变化。这项研究将调查股票友谊机构如何适应不断变化的经济，收集数据的家庭层面的收入从牛，农业，和其他来源;合作伙伴的偏好和声誉;过去的活动之间的股票朋友;和社交网络之间的股票朋友。社交网络分析将帮助研究人员测试现有的关于人们如何以及为什么参与股票友谊的想法，并了解这些原因在现场受到经济和环境变化影响的人之间可能会有什么不同。这项研究提供了一个独特的机会，不仅可以调查牲畜友谊如何缓冲经济风险，还可以调查牲畜友谊如何适应影响世界各地牧民的变化。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。