News

Spring Proseminar: Douglas J. Kennett

Climate Change and Sociopolitical Cycling in the Maya Region

DOUGLAS J. KENNETT, Professor and Department Head Department of Anthropology & Institute for Energy and the Environment, Pennsylvania State University

Climate scientists predict major changes in global temperature and precipitation in the next century and it is not yet known how our complex societies will respond. Interdisciplinary archaeological research provides a laboratory for exploring the inherent complexities of societal response in the face of climate change over long periods of time with potential relevance to present and future societies. The episodic formation, consolidation and breakdown of preindustrial states occurred in multiple contexts worldwide during the last 5,000 years and were contingent upon interacting endogenous economic, demographic and political mechanisms. In some instances, there is support for climate change stimulating integration or inducing sociopolitical fragmentation in these complex systems. Kennett will present the results of an on-going interdisciplinary project focused on the cyclical nature of societal response to climate change during the last 2,000 years in the Maya region.

Spring Proseminar: Sherry B. Ortner

Social Impact Without Social Justice: Film and Politics in the Neoliberal Landscape

SHERRY B. ORTNER, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, UCLA

Many makers and producers of film and media hope to create some kind of social or political impact with their films. As with other kinds of entities that seek to "do good" (development projects, humanitarian efforts, philanthropy), these efforts often fail to achieve their desired results, and sometimes have negative consequences. The problem is not new but is exacerbated under various conditions of the world reordered under neoliberalism. These points are developed through a study of the work of one film production company in Los Angeles.

Exploring Farming, Foraging, and Daily Life in the Moche World

Analysis of data from recent excavations reveals how shifts in ancient agricultural strategies influenced the development of political complexity in the Moche world.

Lecture by Dana Bardolph, Ph.D. Candidate, UCSB Department of Anthropology

Sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Archaeological Society

Exploring Farming, Foraging, and Daily Life in the Moche World

Analysis of data from recent excavations reveals how shifts in ancient agricultural strategies influenced the development of political complexity in the Moche world.

Lecture by Dana Bardolph, Ph.D. Candidate, UCSB Department of Anthropology

Sponsored by the Santa Barbara County Archaeological Society

Graduate Student Jonathan Malindine in Current

A UCSB scholar examines the evolution of wooden halibut hooks carved by native people of the Northwest Coast...

Professor Lynn Gamble Receives Award

Congratulations to Professor Lynn Gamble on her recent book award for her edited book, First Coastal Californians, published by School for Advanced Research (SAR). Lynn's book won first place in the New Mexico/Arizona Book Awards for Anthropology/Archaeology in 2016.

This book will also be on display and for sale at next week's World Anthropology Day Open House Event, so make sure to take a look!