Anthropology Occasional Seminar - UH Manoa

“A Millennium of Human Ecodynamics in Hawai‘i: Results of the Hawai‘i Biocomplexity Project”

Patrick V. Kirch, UC Berkeley

12:00 Noon, 17 November 2008, Center for Korean Studies Auditorium

Abstract:
Since 2001 the Hawai‘i Biocomplexity Project (HBP) has investigated the complex and dynamic coupling between human populations and the natural ecosystems of Hawai‘i, from the period of initial Polynesian settlement ca. A.D. 800-1000, up until the early post-contact period. The HBP is both multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional, and includes archaeologists, ecologists, soil scientists, quantitative modelers, demographers, paleobotanists, and other specialists. Among the topics investigated by the HBP over the past eight years have been (1) the archipelago-wide distribution of traditional agro-ecosystems and their relationship with topographic, edaphic, and hydrologic variables; (2) spatial and temporal variability in the dryland field systems of Maui and Hawai’i, and how these relate to biogeochemical gradients; (3) long-term demographic processes and their linkages with agricultural intensification; and (4) the emergence of hierarchy and sociopolitical complexity as evidenced at both micro (household) and macro (territorial) scales. This colloquium presentation reviews the goals, methods, and major findings of this project to date.

Patrick V. Kirch is the Class of 1954 Professor of Anthropology and Integrative Biology at the University of California, Berkeley. Born and raised in Honolulu, Kirch received his Ph.D. from Yale University. Prior to joining the Berkeley faculty he held positions at the Bernice P. Bishop Museum (Honolulu), the University of Hawai‘i, and the University of Washington. Kirch’s research interests include the evolution of complex societies, preindustrial agricultural systems and intensification, and the dynamic interactions between human populations and their ecosystems. Working in a diversity of Pacific island settings, Kirch uses islands as “model systems” for understanding both cultural evolution and the complex dynamics between humans and their island ecosystems. He has carried out field research in the Mussau Islands, Solomon Islands, Tonga, Samoa, Futuna, the Cook Islands, Mangareva Islands, Society Islands, and Hawaiian Islands. Kirch has published 25 books and monographs, and more than 200 articles and chapters on his research. He has been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and the American Philosophical Society.

Event Sponsor
Anthropology Dept-UH/Manoa, Manoa Campus

More Information
Marti Kerton, 956-7153, anthprog@hawaii.edu, http://www.anthropology.hawaii.edu