How do societies become resilient to extreme environments and natural disasters? This talk examines past and present responses by agriculturalists to extreme aridity and devastating floods caused by the El Niño phenomenon on the north coast of Peru. The prehispanic landscape known as the Pampa de Mocan presents an agricultural system that co-evolved with these environmental challenges. Preserved in this desert are the vestiges of innovative methods for floodwater farming, flexible technologies built to withstand natural disasters, and resource management strategies; there is also evidence of the enduring impacts and unforeseen consequences of technological choices. Together, these data point to a key to this system’s resilience: prioritizing water and the production of water over land.
This lecture by Dr. Ari Caramanica of Vanderbilt University is free and open to the public.
Co-sponsored by Wake Forest University Anthropology, Environmental and Sustainability Studies, Latin American and Latino Studies, Cultural Heritage and Preservation Studies, and the Humanities Institute via the National Endowment for the Humanities.
For more information, contact Jessica MacLellan, maclelj@wfu.edu