Ecological modelling

An ecological model relates interactions within and between people and other life forms in an ecosystem context. Anthropologists use ecological modelling to address issues such as sustainability of cultural practices, population structures responding to policies, or ecological impacts of human activities. In Anthropology ecological modelling initially arose in response to Cultural Ecology as developed by Julian Steward and Leslie White, but eventually positioned agency and cultural processes as the principle drivers in ecosystems. Ecological models tend towards explanatory rather than descriptive accounts, with detail often specified at the level of individual interactions. Ecological modelling makes possible research that might otherwise be unethical or impractical

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 dynamic picture of core/periphery relations emerges as the outcome of Inca demands for labor and raw materials, and peripheral peoples' desire for control over their autonomy while seeking benefits from the Inca state

Collective Violence in Darfur: An Agent-based Model of Pastoral Nomad/Sedentary Peasant Interaction

The genocide in Darfur, Sudan is the first major humanitarian crisis of the 21st century. Over 2 million people have been displaced and tens of thousands have been killed. Popular explanations of the conflict root it in racism and prejudice orchestrated by the Sudanese government and abetted by the world community’s negligence. While the complicity of the Sudanese government is evident, a closer analysis of the sequence of events suggests that the crisis is rooted in local conflicts over material resources brought about by an ecological crisis. Standard social theory has proven inadequate for analyzing the grass roots nature of the Darfur crisis. We have developed a flexible agent-based computer simulation of pastoral nomad/sedentary peasant interaction (NOMAD) that can be adapted to particular environmental and social settings. Our focus on how environmental and material factors condition individual agent response allows us to model how collective behaviors (mass raiding, genocide) can emerge from individual motives and needs. Many factors influence the conflict in Darfur (ethnicity, global politics, Sudanese politics). However, our simulations reinforce the analyses of some social scientists that argue the Darfur crisis is the inevitable result of the breakdown of land use in the face of growing populations, marginal habitats, and an unprecedented ecological crisis