Towards an antifragility framework in past human–environment dynamics

Yitzchak Jaffe (), Ari Caramanica () and Max D. Price ()
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Yitzchak Jaffe: University of Haifa
Ari Caramanica: Vanderbilt University
Max D. Price: Durham University

Palgrave Communications, 2023, vol. 10, issue 1, 1-12

Abstract: 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.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1057/s41599-023-02413-3

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