Towards an antifragility framework in past human–environment dynamics

Jaffe, Yitzchak; Caramanica, Ari; Price, Max D.

Abstract

Scholarship on human–environment interactions tends to fall under two headings: collapse or resilience. While both offer valid explanatory frameworks for human–environment dynamics, both view stress as a net negative that, if unchecked, disrupts systems in equilibrium. Societies either succumb to stress (and collapse) or overcome stress and persist (demonstrate resilience). We re-evaluate the role of stress and advocate for a non-equilibrium approach to the study of past human–environment interactions. We draw inspiration from Nasim Taleb’s concept of ‘antifragility’, which posits a positive role of stress for increasingly complex systems. We apply antifragility as an explanatory framework to pre-Hispanic coastal Peru, where indigenous farmers adapted to the stresses of highly variable El Niño events through a variety of water management systems. Finally, we note that an antifragility approach highlights the beneficial role of stressors, and that avoiding stress altogether makes a system more fragile.

Citation

Jaffe, Y., Caramanica, A., & Price, M. D. (2023). Towards an antifragility framework in past human–environment dynamics. Humanities and Social Sciences Communications, 10(1), Article 915. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02413-3

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Nov 16, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Dec 7, 2023
• Publication Date: 2023
• Deposit Date: Dec 20, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Dec 20, 2023
• Journal: Humanities and Social Sciences Communications
• Electronic ISSN: 2662-9992
• Publisher: Springer Nature
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 10
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 915
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/s41599-023-02413-3
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1987698