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The Cycles of Social and Environmental Complexity in Lowland Latin America, Co-chaired by George J. Gumerman, Interim President, School for Advanced Research and J. Stephen Lansing, Research Professor, Santa Fe Institute, March 29-30, 2005

Participants

Rob Axtel
Senior Fellow, Center on Social and Economic Dynamics, The Brookings Institution

Paulo Antonio Dantas De Blasis
Professor, Museo de Arqueologia, São Paulo, Brasil

Suzanne Fish
Curator, Arizona State Museum

Maria Dulce Gaspar
Professor, Department of Anthropology, Universidade Federal Do Rio De Janeiro

George J. Gumerman (co-chair)
Interim President, School for Advanced Research

Michael Heckenberger
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Florida

J. Stephen Lansing (co-chair)
Research Professor, Santa Fe Institute

Shannon Larsen
Director, International Program Director, Santa Fe Institute

Vernon Scarborough
Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Cincinnati

Joseph Tainter
Project Leader, Cultural Heritage Research, USDA Forest Service

Geoff West
Distinguished Research Professor, Santa Fe Institute

Left to Right: Maria Dulce Gaspar, Michael Heckenberger, Robert Axtel, Vernon Scarborough, Suzanne Fish, J. Stephen Lansing, Paulo Antonio Dantas De Blasis, Joseph Tainter, and George Gumerman

Summary

The Cycles of Social and Environmental Complexity in Lowland Latin America

As part of an ongoing institutional collaboration, SAR interim president George Gumerman co-chaired a March planning seminar for “The Cycles of Social and Environmental Complexity in Lowland Latin America” with Santa Fe Institute (SFI) research professor J. Stephen Lansing. “A critical question is whether there are constraints within lowland environments in the region that cause societies to develop in such a way that the collapse and dissolution of systems is common or inevitable,” Dr. Gumerman explains. The group was preparing for an intensive SFI workshop on the topic that took place in Brazil in May.