Suter Science Seminars

Upcoming...

"War, What Is It Good For? A View from the Ancient Andes"

Dr. Elizabeth Arkush
Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Department of Anthropology
University of Virginia

“Warfare decimates societies around the globe, and it has done so for thousands of years. Anthropologists struggle to explain why people fight wars with such appalling frequency, particularly in cases where the decision to go to war rests with many or most members of society, rather than with a few leaders. Their explanations range from biology to power vacuums, from resource stress to particular cultural patterns. Here I explore the potential of multi-causal approaches for understanding warfare, using as a case study a time of widespread conflict in the pre-Columbian Andes in the centuries before the rise of the Inca Empire.”

• Date: Friday, April 11, 2008
• Time: 4 p.m.
• Location: Suter Science Center, 104
  
  

See past 2007-08 Suter Science Seminars or contact Cheryl Doss at (540) 432-4400 for more information.