Lecture August 1: Lawrence Kuznar - Anthropology of Terrorism: Modeling How Envy, Humiliation and Greed Manifest Violent Conflict in Cross-Cultural Perspective

[Stephen Guerin]

Lawrence Kuznar
Chair, Department of Anthropology
Indiana University/Purdue University
Fort Wayne, IN

"Anthropology of Terrorism: Modeling How Envy, Humiliation and Greed Manifest
Violent Conflict in Cross-Cultural Perspective"

TIME: Wednesday, August 1 @ 12:30 p.m.
LOCATION: Redfish Conference Room, 624 Agua Fria Street, Santa Fe, NM

Lunch will be available for $5 purchase

ABSTRACT:
The rise of ethnic conflict and global terrorism has produced new threats since
the end of the Cold War. These threats largely originate in local cultural
contexts colored by culturally unique practices, beliefs and organizations.
Strategic analysts and military officials have recognized the distributed,
culturally based nature of these new threats and have called to add "cultural
intelligence" and sensitivity to religious, ethnic, and cultural sensibilities
to their arsenal; they have put out a call to anthropology, but there has been
frustratingly little progress. A central dilemma researchers and policy makers
face is how to generate social theory that is general, but that can explain a
bewildering array of specific cultural manifestations. I present a theory of
risk taking that holds the promise of explaining the roots of conflict in an
extremely wide array of cultural contexts. Key to this approach is a
computational methodology that flexibly identifies key, culture-specific values,
and measures the degree to which greed or grievance motivates individuals to
take risks with respect to these values. Applications of this approach have
included coups in ancient states, political mobilization in democracies,
revolutions, the rise of nepotistic elites, tribal political dynamics, terrorist
movements in Palestine, and the internal dynamics among the 911 co-conspirators.
This method permits modeling of complex social systems, and as such, encounters
difficult issues for validation, analogous to those encountered when modeling
complex physical systems.


SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
Dr. Lawrence A. Kuznar is a professor of anthropology from Indiana University -
Purdue University, Fort Wayne whose specialties include decision theory,
theories of conflict and terrorism, computational modeling, and the ecology of
traditional pastoral societies. He has done field research among Aymara herders
in southern Peru and Navajo sheepherders and cattle ranchers. He has published
articles in journals such as American Anthropologist, Current Anthropology,
Human Ecology, Journal of Quantitative Anthropology, Social Science Computer
Review, and Journal of Anthropological Research, among others. His book
publications include Reclaiming a Scientific Anthropology (Altamira Press,
1996), Awatimarka: The Ethnoarchaeology of an Andean Community (Harcourt Brace,
1995), and two edited volumes, Studying Societies and Cultures (Pergamon Press
2006) and Ethnoarchaeology in Andean South America (International Monographs in
Prehistory 2001). His current research focuses on terrorism, computational
modeling and verification & validation issues in modeling.

[Richard Harris-2]

Hey Steve,

I was wondering. Is there is a chance to record and/or webcast this  
for those of us in the FRIAM diaspora?

Cheers,

Rich


On 16 Jul 2007, at 06:27, Stephen Guerin wrote:

> Lawrence Kuznar
> Chair, Department of Anthropology
> Indiana University/Purdue University
> Fort Wayne, IN
>
> "Anthropology of Terrorism: Modeling How Envy, Humiliation and  
> Greed Manifest
> Violent Conflict in Cross-Cultural Perspective"
>
> TIME: Wednesday, August 1 @ 12:30 p.m.
> LOCATION: Redfish Conference Room, 624 Agua Fria Street, Santa Fe, NM
>
> Lunch will be available for $5 purchase
>
> ABSTRACT:
> The rise of ethnic conflict and global terrorism has produced new  
> threats since
> the end of the Cold War. These threats largely originate in local  
> cultural
> contexts colored by culturally unique practices, beliefs and  
> organizations.
> Strategic analysts and military officials have recognized the  
> distributed,
> culturally based nature of these new threats and have called to add  
> "cultural
> intelligence" and sensitivity to religious, ethnic, and cultural  
> sensibilities
> to their arsenal; they have put out a call to anthropology, but  
> there has been
> frustratingly little progress. A central dilemma researchers and  
> policy makers
> face is how to generate social theory that is general, but that can  
> explain a
> bewildering array of specific cultural manifestations. I present a  
> theory of
> risk taking that holds the promise of explaining the roots of  
> conflict in an
> extremely wide array of cultural contexts. Key to this approach is a
> computational methodology that flexibly identifies key, culture-
> specific values,
> and measures the degree to which greed or grievance motivates  
> individuals to
> take risks with respect to these values. Applications of this  
> approach have
> included coups in ancient states, political mobilization in  
> democracies,
> revolutions, the rise of nepotistic elites, tribal political  
> dynamics, terrorist
> movements in Palestine, and the internal dynamics among the 911 co-
> conspirators.
> This method permits modeling of complex social systems, and as  
> such, encounters
> difficult issues for validation, analogous to those encountered  
> when modeling
> complex physical systems.
>
>
> SPEAKER BIOGRAPHY
> Dr. Lawrence A. Kuznar is a professor of anthropology from Indiana  
> University -
> Purdue University, Fort Wayne whose specialties include decision  
> theory,
> theories of conflict and terrorism, computational modeling, and the  
> ecology of
> traditional pastoral societies. He has done field research among  
> Aymara herders
> in southern Peru and Navajo sheepherders and cattle ranchers. He  
> has published
> articles in journals such as American Anthropologist, Current  
> Anthropology,
> Human Ecology, Journal of Quantitative Anthropology, Social Science  
> Computer
> Review, and Journal of Anthropological Research, among others. His  
> book
> publications include Reclaiming a Scientific Anthropology (Altamira  
> Press,
> 1996), Awatimarka: The Ethnoarchaeology of an Andean Community  
> (Harcourt Brace,
> 1995), and two edited volumes, Studying Societies and Cultures  
> (Pergamon Press
> 2006) and Ethnoarchaeology in Andean South America (International  
> Monographs in
> Prehistory 2001). His current research focuses on terrorism,  
> computational
> modeling and verification & validation issues in modeling.
>
>
> ============================================================
> FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
> Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
> lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org