L A Kuznar
Biographic Data
| ID | 2728 |
|---|---|
| NAME | L A Kuznar |
| GIVEN NAMES | L A |
| FAMILY NAME | Kuznar |
| SIGNATURE | KUZNAR L A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-7813-2853 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 24 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 108 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 24 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1991 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2021 |
| H-INDEX | 5 |
A tale of two pandemics: Evolutionary psychology, urbanism, and the biology of disease spread deepen sociopolitical divides in the U.S
The COVID-19 pandemic has spread uncertainty and social disruption, and exacerbated political divides in the United States. Most studies of the drivers of the epidemic focus on victim characteristics without consideration of drivers in the general population. This study presents statistical models that track the underlying factors in the general population associated with the spread of the pandemic and addresses how social learning mechanisms hav…
Hunting for Gray Rhinos and terrorism in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia
Statistical modelling of terrorism has advanced the understanding of its underlying drivers. However, numerous questions remain, some have not been empirically tested, and regional dynamics differ. In recent decades, the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) and Central Asia have been focal points of terrorism. An extensive review of global and regional statistical models of terrorism at the country-year level was conducted and hypotheses re-tested on …
The Stability of the Islamic State (Is) Narrative: Implications for the future
Quantitative analysis of IS thought leader discourse is used to examine the extent to which the IS narrative has changed throughout its history, and the degree to which it has been similar to the rhetoric of other extremist organizations. The IS narrative has remained remarkably stable, indicating an ideological commitment to the narrative by its propagandists. Furthermore, the narrative has worked well for IS as a recruiting and inspirational to…
Risk Sensitivity and Terrorism
One enduring question about terrorism is why individuals choose to join terrorist groups. Past studies have shown that terrorists are not always poor, and they can in fact come from more privileged groups in society. Risk sensitivity and prospect theory are approaches that can help explain some of the anomalies. They suggest that two types of group are likely to supply members for terrorist organizations in disproportionate numbers. One group con…
Rationality Wars and the War on Terror: Explaining Terrorism and Social Unrest
Terrorism is problematic at multiple levels. Social scientists debate its cause; policymakers debate what to do about it; many debate the meaning and political use of the term; and many live in fear of it. Current explanations of terrorism hinge on competing models of decision making. Anthropologists are increasingly influential in decision theory as issues of rationality, culture, and evolutionary psychology are invoked to explain patterns in hu…
Analogic Reasoning, Ethnoarchaeology, and the Impact of Canines on the Archaeological Record
Archaeologists have become aware that the ways they have used ethnographic analogy provide only limited ability to make inferences about the past. This apparent tyranny of the ethnographic record has caused a crisis for many archaeologists, as well as ethnoarchaeologists. Susan Kent remained a strong defender of analogic reason and encouraged ethnoarchaeologists to use analogy to create a better inferential structure for interpreting archaeologic…
High-Fidelity Computational Social Science in Anthropology: Prospects for Developing a Comparative Framework
Approaches to modeling social phenomena vary on a continuum from simple models, in which causality is clear and parameters few, to realistic, high-fidelity models designed to capture the most detailed system behavior possible in a specific setting. Anthropologists have produced both simple and high-fidelity models. The focus of this article is on high-fidelity modeling in anthropology and the special challenge its complexity presents for model co…
Environmental constraints and sigmoid utility: Implications for value, risk sensitivity, and social status
Penelope Z. Dransart. Earth, water, fleece and fabric: An ethnography and archaeology of Andean camelid herding. xvii+308 pages, 56 figures, 13 tables, 49 b&w photographs. 2002. London: Routledge; 0-4…
Penelope Z. Dransart. Earth, water, fleece and fabric: an ethnography and archaeology of Andean camelid herding. xvii+308 pages, 56 figures, 13 tables, 49 b&w photographs. 2002. London: Routledge; 0-415-27959-3 hardback £60. - Volume 77 Issue 297
Evolutionary applications of risk sensitivity models to socially stratified species
On Risk-Prone Peasants: Cultural Transmission or Sigmoid Utility Maximization
Canine Digging Behavior and Archaeological Implications
Pit features, frequently reported at archaeological sites, are usually thought be culturally produced. The numbers and forms of pits found at an archaeological site influence inferences of human activity; therefore, the inferred cultural origin of pits at archaeological sites needs to be demonstrated, rather than assumed. Ethnoarchaeological study of dog digging behavior, combined with our understanding of the long symbiotic relationship between …
Ecological Mutualism in Navajo Corrals: Implications for Navajo Environmental Perceptions and Human/plant Coevolution
A case of mutualistic plant/human/animal interaction occurs in Navajo corrals in which Navajo herders create ideal environments for the propagation of economically and ceremonially useful nondomesticated plants. This example informs current issues in ecological anthropology, including the concept of domiculture, the importance of symbiotic plants in subsistence, the role of humans in dispersing plants, and the domestication of companion crops. Fu…
Deferred Harvests: The Transition from Hunting to Animal Husbandry
We defineanimal husbandryas prey conservation. Conservation is rare among extant hunters and only likely to occur when prey are highly valued, private goods. The long-term discounted deferred returns from husbandry must also be greater than the short-term returns from hunting. We compare the returns from hunting and husbanding strategies as a function of prey body size. Returns from husbanding are estimated using a maximum sustainable yield (MSY)…
Ethnographic Mapmaking: Part 2-Practical Concerns and Triangulation
The authors introduced the importance and principles of ethnographic mapmaking in Part 1 of this series. Here, they discuss practical matters when making maps in ethnographic situations, including ethics, measurement, and scale. They also provide an example of the triangulation method
Ethnographic Mapmaking: Part 1-Principles
Ethnographers often overlook the importance of space in people's lives. When ethnographers make maps, they often lack key information on scale, orientation, and dimension that is essential for understanding what a map represents. The authors outline basic principles of mapmaking and demonstrate how easily maps can be made under field conditions. If ethnographers take the short amount of time to make decent maps of human cultural behavior, the cru…
On Risk Preferences and Curvilinear Utility Curves
Risk Sensitivity and Value among Andean Pastoralists: Measures, Models, and Empirical Tests
Application of General Utility Theory for Estimating Value in Non-Western Societies
Understanding value and being able to monitor it is crucial to many anthropological theories of economy. The author presents a method, developed in economics, of evaluating peoples' subjective values. While this method is derived from neoclassical economics, its assumptions are minimal and its use is not necessarily tied to any particular economic paradigm. Therefore, the method may be useful to anthropologists working within neoclassical, ecolog…
Rites of Passage in Contemporary Africa: Interaction between Christian and African Traditional Religions
Periphery/Core Relations in the Inca Empire Carrots and Sticks in an Andean World System
The Inca Empire exhibited labor exploitation and the rational extraction of resources from peripheral polities by a core polity. These characteristics fit the general definition of a world empire, although core/periphery relations were diverse. The nature of core/periphery relations depended on several attributes of the conquered polity including population size, political power, natural resources, and distance from the Inca core at Cuzco. A dyna…
Mutualism between Chenopodium, Herd Animals, and Herders in the South Central Andes
The ecology of human, animal, and plant mutualism is examined as it occurs in an Andean herding system. Highly favored forage species, especially species of the genus Chenopodium, exist in unusually high concentrations in corrals. Herd animals transport these forage species to pastoral campsites where the plants thrive in the organic corral soils. This creates a mutually beneficial relationship where certain plant species become camp followers of…
Ngoma: Discourses of Healing in Central and Southern Africa
Herd composition in an Aymara community of the Peruvian Altiplano: A linear programming problem
Deferred Harvests: The Transition from Hunting to Animal Husbandry
We defineanimal husbandryas prey conservation. Conservation is rare among extant hunters and only likely to occur when prey are highly valued, private goods. The long-term discounted deferred returns from husbandry must also be greater than the short-term returns from hunting. We compare the returns from hunting and husbanding strategies as a function of prey body size. Returns from husbanding are estimated using a maximum sustainable yield (MSY)…
Risk Sensitivity and Value among Andean Pastoralists: Measures, Models, and Empirical Tests
The Stability of the Islamic State (Is) Narrative: Implications for the future
Quantitative analysis of IS thought leader discourse is used to examine the extent to which the IS narrative has changed throughout its history, and the degree to which it has been similar to the rhetoric of other extremist organizations. The IS narrative has remained remarkably stable, indicating an ideological commitment to the narrative by its propagandists. Furthermore, the narrative has worked well for IS as a recruiting and inspirational to…
Rationality Wars and the War on Terror: Explaining Terrorism and Social Unrest
Terrorism is problematic at multiple levels. Social scientists debate its cause; policymakers debate what to do about it; many debate the meaning and political use of the term; and many live in fear of it. Current explanations of terrorism hinge on competing models of decision making. Anthropologists are increasingly influential in decision theory as issues of rationality, culture, and evolutionary psychology are invoked to explain patterns in hu…
Risk Sensitivity and Terrorism
One enduring question about terrorism is why individuals choose to join terrorist groups. Past studies have shown that terrorists are not always poor, and they can in fact come from more privileged groups in society. Risk sensitivity and prospect theory are approaches that can help explain some of the anomalies. They suggest that two types of group are likely to supply members for terrorist organizations in disproportionate numbers. One group con…
Ethnographic Mapmaking: Part 1-Principles
Ethnographers often overlook the importance of space in people's lives. When ethnographers make maps, they often lack key information on scale, orientation, and dimension that is essential for understanding what a map represents. The authors outline basic principles of mapmaking and demonstrate how easily maps can be made under field conditions. If ethnographers take the short amount of time to make decent maps of human cultural behavior, the cru…
On Risk-Prone Peasants: Cultural Transmission or Sigmoid Utility Maximization
Canine Digging Behavior and Archaeological Implications
Pit features, frequently reported at archaeological sites, are usually thought be culturally produced. The numbers and forms of pits found at an archaeological site influence inferences of human activity; therefore, the inferred cultural origin of pits at archaeological sites needs to be demonstrated, rather than assumed. Ethnoarchaeological study of dog digging behavior, combined with our understanding of the long symbiotic relationship between …
Ecological Mutualism in Navajo Corrals: Implications for Navajo Environmental Perceptions and Human/plant Coevolution
A case of mutualistic plant/human/animal interaction occurs in Navajo corrals in which Navajo herders create ideal environments for the propagation of economically and ceremonially useful nondomesticated plants. This example informs current issues in ecological anthropology, including the concept of domiculture, the importance of symbiotic plants in subsistence, the role of humans in dispersing plants, and the domestication of companion crops. Fu…
Ethnographic Mapmaking: Part 2-Practical Concerns and Triangulation
The authors introduced the importance and principles of ethnographic mapmaking in Part 1 of this series. Here, they discuss practical matters when making maps in ethnographic situations, including ethics, measurement, and scale. They also provide an example of the triangulation method
On Risk Preferences and Curvilinear Utility Curves
Periphery/Core Relations in the Inca Empire Carrots and Sticks in an Andean World System
The Inca Empire exhibited labor exploitation and the rational extraction of resources from peripheral polities by a core polity. These characteristics fit the general definition of a world empire, although core/periphery relations were diverse. The nature of core/periphery relations depended on several attributes of the conquered polity including population size, political power, natural resources, and distance from the Inca core at Cuzco. A dyna…
Analogic Reasoning, Ethnoarchaeology, and the Impact of Canines on the Archaeological Record
Archaeologists have become aware that the ways they have used ethnographic analogy provide only limited ability to make inferences about the past. This apparent tyranny of the ethnographic record has caused a crisis for many archaeologists, as well as ethnoarchaeologists. Susan Kent remained a strong defender of analogic reason and encouraged ethnoarchaeologists to use analogy to create a better inferential structure for interpreting archaeologic…
High-Fidelity Computational Social Science in Anthropology: Prospects for Developing a Comparative Framework
Approaches to modeling social phenomena vary on a continuum from simple models, in which causality is clear and parameters few, to realistic, high-fidelity models designed to capture the most detailed system behavior possible in a specific setting. Anthropologists have produced both simple and high-fidelity models. The focus of this article is on high-fidelity modeling in anthropology and the special challenge its complexity presents for model co…
Application of General Utility Theory for Estimating Value in Non-Western Societies
Understanding value and being able to monitor it is crucial to many anthropological theories of economy. The author presents a method, developed in economics, of evaluating peoples' subjective values. While this method is derived from neoclassical economics, its assumptions are minimal and its use is not necessarily tied to any particular economic paradigm. Therefore, the method may be useful to anthropologists working within neoclassical, ecolog…
Herd composition in an Aymara community of the Peruvian Altiplano: A linear programming problem
Mutualism between Chenopodium, Herd Animals, and Herders in the South Central Andes
The ecology of human, animal, and plant mutualism is examined as it occurs in an Andean herding system. Highly favored forage species, especially species of the genus Chenopodium, exist in unusually high concentrations in corrals. Herd animals transport these forage species to pastoral campsites where the plants thrive in the organic corral soils. This creates a mutually beneficial relationship where certain plant species become camp followers of…
Ngoma: Discourses of Healing in Central and Southern Africa
Periphery/Core Relations in the Inca Empire Carrots and Sticks in an Andean World System
The Inca Empire exhibited labor exploitation and the rational extraction of resources from peripheral polities by a core polity. These characteristics fit the general definition of a world empire, although core/periphery relations were diverse. The nature of core/periphery relations depended on several attributes of the conquered polity including population size, political power, natural resources, and distance from the Inca core at Cuzco. A dyna…
Rites of Passage in Contemporary Africa: Interaction between Christian and African Traditional Religions
Application of General Utility Theory for Estimating Value in Non-Western Societies
Understanding value and being able to monitor it is crucial to many anthropological theories of economy. The author presents a method, developed in economics, of evaluating peoples' subjective values. While this method is derived from neoclassical economics, its assumptions are minimal and its use is not necessarily tied to any particular economic paradigm. Therefore, the method may be useful to anthropologists working within neoclassical, ecolog…
Canine Digging Behavior and Archaeological Implications
Pit features, frequently reported at archaeological sites, are usually thought be culturally produced. The numbers and forms of pits found at an archaeological site influence inferences of human activity; therefore, the inferred cultural origin of pits at archaeological sites needs to be demonstrated, rather than assumed. Ethnoarchaeological study of dog digging behavior, combined with our understanding of the long symbiotic relationship between …
Ecological Mutualism in Navajo Corrals: Implications for Navajo Environmental Perceptions and Human/plant Coevolution
A case of mutualistic plant/human/animal interaction occurs in Navajo corrals in which Navajo herders create ideal environments for the propagation of economically and ceremonially useful nondomesticated plants. This example informs current issues in ecological anthropology, including the concept of domiculture, the importance of symbiotic plants in subsistence, the role of humans in dispersing plants, and the domestication of companion crops. Fu…
Deferred Harvests: The Transition from Hunting to Animal Husbandry
We defineanimal husbandryas prey conservation. Conservation is rare among extant hunters and only likely to occur when prey are highly valued, private goods. The long-term discounted deferred returns from husbandry must also be greater than the short-term returns from hunting. We compare the returns from hunting and husbanding strategies as a function of prey body size. Returns from husbanding are estimated using a maximum sustainable yield (MSY)…
Ethnographic Mapmaking: Part 2-Practical Concerns and Triangulation
The authors introduced the importance and principles of ethnographic mapmaking in Part 1 of this series. Here, they discuss practical matters when making maps in ethnographic situations, including ethics, measurement, and scale. They also provide an example of the triangulation method
Ethnographic Mapmaking: Part 1-Principles
Ethnographers often overlook the importance of space in people's lives. When ethnographers make maps, they often lack key information on scale, orientation, and dimension that is essential for understanding what a map represents. The authors outline basic principles of mapmaking and demonstrate how easily maps can be made under field conditions. If ethnographers take the short amount of time to make decent maps of human cultural behavior, the cru…
On Risk Preferences and Curvilinear Utility Curves
Risk Sensitivity and Value among Andean Pastoralists: Measures, Models, and Empirical Tests
Evolutionary applications of risk sensitivity models to socially stratified species
On Risk-Prone Peasants: Cultural Transmission or Sigmoid Utility Maximization
Environmental constraints and sigmoid utility: Implications for value, risk sensitivity, and social status
Penelope Z. Dransart. Earth, water, fleece and fabric: An ethnography and archaeology of Andean camelid herding. xvii+308 pages, 56 figures, 13 tables, 49 b&w photographs. 2002. London: Routledge; 0-4…
Penelope Z. Dransart. Earth, water, fleece and fabric: an ethnography and archaeology of Andean camelid herding. xvii+308 pages, 56 figures, 13 tables, 49 b&w photographs. 2002. London: Routledge; 0-415-27959-3 hardback £60. - Volume 77 Issue 297
High-Fidelity Computational Social Science in Anthropology: Prospects for Developing a Comparative Framework
Approaches to modeling social phenomena vary on a continuum from simple models, in which causality is clear and parameters few, to realistic, high-fidelity models designed to capture the most detailed system behavior possible in a specific setting. Anthropologists have produced both simple and high-fidelity models. The focus of this article is on high-fidelity modeling in anthropology and the special challenge its complexity presents for model co…
Analogic Reasoning, Ethnoarchaeology, and the Impact of Canines on the Archaeological Record
Archaeologists have become aware that the ways they have used ethnographic analogy provide only limited ability to make inferences about the past. This apparent tyranny of the ethnographic record has caused a crisis for many archaeologists, as well as ethnoarchaeologists. Susan Kent remained a strong defender of analogic reason and encouraged ethnoarchaeologists to use analogy to create a better inferential structure for interpreting archaeologic…
Risk Sensitivity and Terrorism
One enduring question about terrorism is why individuals choose to join terrorist groups. Past studies have shown that terrorists are not always poor, and they can in fact come from more privileged groups in society. Risk sensitivity and prospect theory are approaches that can help explain some of the anomalies. They suggest that two types of group are likely to supply members for terrorist organizations in disproportionate numbers. One group con…
Rationality Wars and the War on Terror: Explaining Terrorism and Social Unrest
Terrorism is problematic at multiple levels. Social scientists debate its cause; policymakers debate what to do about it; many debate the meaning and political use of the term; and many live in fear of it. Current explanations of terrorism hinge on competing models of decision making. Anthropologists are increasingly influential in decision theory as issues of rationality, culture, and evolutionary psychology are invoked to explain patterns in hu…
The Stability of the Islamic State (Is) Narrative: Implications for the future
Quantitative analysis of IS thought leader discourse is used to examine the extent to which the IS narrative has changed throughout its history, and the degree to which it has been similar to the rhetoric of other extremist organizations. The IS narrative has remained remarkably stable, indicating an ideological commitment to the narrative by its propagandists. Furthermore, the narrative has worked well for IS as a recruiting and inspirational to…
A tale of two pandemics: Evolutionary psychology, urbanism, and the biology of disease spread deepen sociopolitical divides in the U.S
The COVID-19 pandemic has spread uncertainty and social disruption, and exacerbated political divides in the United States. Most studies of the drivers of the epidemic focus on victim characteristics without consideration of drivers in the general population. This study presents statistical models that track the underlying factors in the general population associated with the spread of the pandemic and addresses how social learning mechanisms hav…
Hunting for Gray Rhinos and terrorism in the Middle East, North Africa, and Central Asia
Statistical modelling of terrorism has advanced the understanding of its underlying drivers. However, numerous questions remain, some have not been empirically tested, and regional dynamics differ. In recent decades, the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) and Central Asia have been focal points of terrorism. An extensive review of global and regional statistical models of terrorism at the country-year level was conducted and hypotheses re-tested on …
Sociology (14 works) · Geography (12 works) · Political science (10 works) · Economics (9 works) · Computer Science (7 works) · Philosophy (7 works) · Epistemology (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Politics (6 works) · Biology (5 works)