2009–2010 Membership Lectures

Pirates, Primates, and Prosperity: New Insights on Wealth

Inspired by the global economic crisis, we have invited top-notch scholars to explore notions of value and wealth from an anthropological perspective.

Download the 2009–2010 Membership Lecture Calendar (full spread) (1 MB)

	Lecture Thursday, October 15, 2009, 6:30–7:30 pm X Marks the Spot…Or Does It? Fact and Fiction in the Study of Piracy Russell Skowronek (University of Texas–Pan American) … popular, romanticized ideas of pirates and piracy are compared to evidence uncovered by archaeologists.
	Lecture Thursday, November 5, 2009, 6:30–7:30 pm Turquoise, Trumpets, and Tchamahias: The Wealth of Chaco Canyon John Kantner (School for Advanced Research) … what we know about Chacoan notions of wealth and value and how these concepts changed over time.
	Lecture Thursday, February 18, 2010, 6:30–7:30 pm The Circulation of Wealth in Bronze Age China Lothar von Falkenhausen (University of California–Los Angeles) … archaeological evidence offers the best hope for understanding the rise of imperial states in China and Central Eurasia during the late first millennium B.C.
	Lecture Thursday, March 18, 2010, 6:30–7:30 pm Buddhist Economics: An Oxymoron? Donald Swearer (Harvard University) …Buddhism is as concerned with worldly pursuits and aspirations as with otherworldly mysticism.
	Lecture Thursday, April 29, 2010, 6:30–7:30 pm The Evolution of Monetary Irrationality Laurie Santos (Yale University) Monkeys make “human” economic errors, and some human financial errors are evolutionarily ancient.

Sponsored by SAR President’s Council and Thornburg Investment Management.