SURCLA (Sydney University Research Community for Latin America) seminar

Climate, Conflict, and Community in Coastal and Highland Peru

Jacob Bongers (Boston University)

Thursday 11 May 2023, 5-6:30pm AEST (Sydney time)

In-person: SLC Common Room 536, Brennan MacCallum Building A18, University of Sydney
Online: Join via Zoom (ID: 87143704828)

Abstract

How have, and how can, humans respond to natural hazards and conflict? This talk outlines my current research, which will explore how communities confront climatic hazards and conflict in everyday life. We will investigate two large, fortified towns in coastal and highland Peru that date to one of the most turbulent periods in Peruvian history: the Late Intermediate Period (AD 1000–1400). This period is characterized by prolonged drought, intensified El Niño conditions, and widespread conflict that developed before the rise of the Inca Empire. Fieldwork and laboratory analyses will reconstruct how coastal and highland communities managed risks of climatic pressures and violent threats through daily practices. Such responses will be connected to contemporary risk-management strategies through community engagement. This research will produce a blueprint for bridging archaeology and community engagement to motivate analyses of how crisis impacts the lives and decision-making of communities, both past and present.

About the speaker

Dr Jacob L Bongers is a Society of Fellows Postdoctoral Scholar in the Archaeology Program at Boston University. He holds a PhD in archaeology from the Cotsen Institute of Archaeology at UCLA. Bongers employs multidisciplinary methodologies built around archaeological science and digital archaeology to investigate how Indigenous communities confront social and environmental change. His doctoral research examined how groups configured ritualized behaviors in response to imperial conquest in southern Peru. He has conducted fieldwork in Portugal, Chile, Ethiopia, Oman, and Peru.

Contact

For more information and RSVP for in-person attendance:
Dr Vek Lewis (vek.lewis@sydney.edu.au)

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