Luzar, Jeffrey

Luzar, Jeffrey
Organization(s): 
Stanford University, The State University of New York

Luzar is an anthropologist studying the relationships between indigenous culture, hunting and wildlife dynamics in the Guyanese Amazon. His goal is to understand the implications of integrating the two societies: indigenous and national.

"I'm particularly interested in the influence of culture -- including indigenous cosmologies and various forms of Christianity -- on hunting in vast areas of Amazonia managed by indigenous people," Luzar said.

He also has worked to develop research methods that include local people in the data collection process. The goal is to understand key processes in tropical systems and improve local communities' ability to manage the natural resources on which they depend.

Publications: 
Large-scale Environmental Monitoring by Indigenous Peoples
Shamanism, Christianity and Culture Change in Amazonia
Church Affiliation and Meat Taboos in Indigenous Communities of Guyanese Amazonia
Agent-based modeling of hunting and subsistence agriculture on indigenous lands: Understanding interactions between social and ecological systems
CHANS Projects: 
Biodiversity Dynamics and Land-Use Changes in the Amazon: Multi-Scale Interactions Between Ecological Systems and Resource-Use Decisions by Indigenous Peoples
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