Article Dans Une Revue Current Anthropology Année : 2016

The Adaptive Nature of Culture: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Returns of Local Environmental Knowledge in Three Indigenous Societies

Victoria Reyes-García
Maximilien Guèze
  • Fonction : Auteur
Isabel Díaz-Reviriego
  • Fonction : Auteur
Romain Duda
Álvaro Fernández-Llamazares
  • Fonction : Auteur
Sandrine Gallois
Lucentezza Napitupulu
  • Fonction : Auteur
Martí Orta-Martínez
  • Fonction : Auteur
Aili Pyhälä
  • Fonction : Auteur

Résumé

Researchers have argued that the behavioral adaptations that explain the success of our species are partially cultural, i.e., cumulative and socially transmitted. Thus, understanding the adaptive nature of culture is crucial to understand human evolution. We use a cross-cultural framework and empirical data purposely collected to test whether culturally transmitted and individually appropriated knowledge provides individual returns in terms of hunting yields and health and, by extension, to nutritional status, a proxy for individual adaptive success. Data were collected in three subsistence-oriented societies: the Tsimane' (Amazon), the Baka (Congo Basin), and the Punan (Borneo). Results suggest that variations in individual levels of local environmental knowledge relate to individual hunting returns and to self-reported health, but not to nutritional status. We argue that this paradox can be explained through the prevalence of sharing: individuals achieving higher returns to their knowledge transfer them to the rest of the population, which explains the lack of association between knowledge and nutritional status. The finding is in consonance with previous research highlighting the importance of cultural traits favoring group success, but pushes it forward by elucidating the mechanisms through which individual and group level adaptive forces interact.

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Edmond Dounias, Victoria Reyes-García, Maximilien Guèze, Isabel Díaz-Reviriego, Romain Duda, et al.. The Adaptive Nature of Culture: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of the Returns of Local Environmental Knowledge in Three Indigenous Societies. Current Anthropology, 2016, 57 (6), pp.761-784. ⟨10.1086/689307⟩. ⟨hal-03123955⟩
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