Hames to offer inside look at Amazon hunter-gatherers

Nebraska's Raymond Hames received his doctorate from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 1978. Most of his research has focused on native peoples of the Venezuelan Amazon (Yanomamö & Ye'kwana) with funding from the NSF, LSB Leakey Foundation, and Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. HIs research interests are in behavioral ecology, food and labor exchange, human ecology, marriage, and kin and parental investment. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences.

University of Nebraska–Lincoln anthropologist Raymond Hames will present the spring Nebraska Lecture from 3:30 to 5 p.m. April 14 via Zoom.

Hames, professor of anthropology in the School of Global Integrative Studies, will present “The Truth about Hunter-Gatherers.” His talk is informed by his extensive research of native peoples of the Venezuelan Amazon, including their behavioral ecology; human ecology; food and labor exchange; and marriage and parental investment.

“Many in our modern society view hunter-gatherers as natural exemplars of how we should raise our children, eat, exercise and conserve resources,” Hames said. “Hunter-gatherers are thought to have maintained equality between the sexes, lacked economic inequality and rarely resorted to deadly violence.

“My talk will sketch the diversity of hunter-gather life and qualify and/or debunk many of these utopian assumptions.”

Hames’ research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Leakey Foundation and Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation. In 2020, Hames was named a member of the National Academy of Sciences, one of the highest distinctions a U.S. scientist or engineer can earn.

His lecture and live Q&A with Chancellor Ronnie Green will be broadcast via Zoom. Viewers may submit questions via chat. Registration, available here, is required to receive the Zoom link.

The Nebraska Lectures are offered twice a year and feature high-profile presentations by distinguished Husker faculty who address topics of broad interest in an engaging, accessible format. All talks are free and open to the public. The talks are streamed online. Regular updates, as well as archived videos from each lecture, are available here. The spring Nebraska Lecture is part of Student Research Days.

The Nebraska Lectures: The Chancellor’s Distinguished Speaker Series is sponsored by the Research Council, Office of the Chancellor, Office of Research and Economic Development and Osher Lifelong Learning Institute.