The phrase “hunter-gatherer” often is used to hark back to our evolutionary ancestors as a contrast with modern human behavior or to explain it. But a hunter-gatherer subsistence lifestyle is not confined to history. Several modern populations, notably the Hadza people of Tanzania, still practice hunting and gathering as an economy and as a lifestyle. Why, in an age of agriculture and modernization, do such societies continue to choose foraging? University of Utah anthropologists recently published a book examining the benefits of foraging to modern hunter-gatherer societies, including economic and social benefits. Anthropologists Brian Codding and Karen Kramer are available to discuss the series of detailed case studies in the book and how foraging can flourish in the 21st century.
Brian Codding | Phone: 801-581-8663 | Email: brian.codding@anthro.utah.edu
Karen Kramer | Email: karen.kramer@anthro.utah.edu