Robert L. Carneiro

RESEARCH

Dr. Carneiro's fields of interest in anthropology are threefold: South American ethnology, cultural evolution, and political evolution.

Dr. Carneiro has done field projects on three indigenous tribes inhabiting the Amazon basin: the Kuikuru Indians of central Brazil, the Amahuaca of eastern Peru, and the Yanoramo of southern Venezuela. He has written articles dealing with various aspects of native Amazonian culture, especially ecology and subsistence. Currently he is preparing for publication a monograph on the Kuikuru.

Dr. Carneiro also is writing an historical anthology of cultural evolutionism. The book traces the ups and downs of this approach among anthropologists since 1900. At the same time, he is compiling an anthology of his previously published articles on cultural evolutionism, to be published by Westview Press.

Dr. Carneiro studies the ways in which societies have evolved from simple, autonomous Neolithic villages into ever-larger and more complex polities, passing through various stages of chiefdoms, and culminating in the formation of pre-industrial states and empires. In tracing the course of this evolution, Dr. Carneiro is particularly interested in ascertaining the factors that best account for it.

Recent Significant Publications

Carneiro, R.L. 2007. Foreword. In M. Ostrovsky (editor), Y=Arctg X; The Hyperbola of the World Order. Lanham, Md., University Press of America, Inc.

Carneiro, R.L. 2007. Cannibalism, a palatable/unpalatable reality of Amazonia. South American Explorer 84: 8, 10-13, 41-44.

Carneiro, R.L. 2007. The mystery of the cotton Tipití. Tipití 3: 29-33.

Carneiro, R.L. 2007. What role does population pressure play in the evolutionary dynamics of Marvin Harris? In L.A. Kuznar and S.K. Sanderson (editors), Studying Societies and Cultures: Marvin Harris's Cultural Materialism and Its Legacy: 230- 237. Boulder, Colo., Paradigm Publishers.

Carneiro, R.L. 2006. Devletin Kökeni Üzerine Bir Teori. University of Maltepe Law Faculty Quarterly (Istambul): 251-262.

Carniero, R.L. 2006. A theory of the origin of the state. Reprinted in L. Grinin, D. Bondarenko, N. Kradin, and A. Korotayev (editors), The Early State, Its Alternatives and Analogues: 55-70. Volgograd, Russia, Uchitel Publishing House.

Carneiro, R. L. 2006. Godzilla meets new age Anthropology: facing the postmodernist challenge to a science of culture. Reprinted in R.L. Welsch and K.M. Endicott (editors) Taking Sides: Clashing Views in Cultural Anthropology, 2nd ed.: 14-22. Dubuque, Iowa, McGraw-Hill Contemporary Learning Series.

Carneiro, R.L., and J. Marcus. 2006. Obituary of Craig Morris. Anthropology News 47: 29

Carneiro, R. L. 2005. Review of Leslie A. White: evolution and revolution in Anthropology, by William J. Peace. Journal of the Anthropological Institute 11: 628-629.

Carneiro, R. L. 2005. From autonomous villages to the state: an irresistible trend in the grand sweep of human history. General Semantics Bulletin 72: 15-19.

Carneiro, R. L. 2005. The influence of Herbert Spencer on the world of letters. In R. Darnell and F.W.Gleach (editors), Histories of Anthropology Annual 1: 246-270. Lincoln, University of Nebraska Press.

Carneiro, R. L. 2005. Stellar evolution and social evolution: a study in parallel processes. Social Evolution & History (Moscow) 4: 136-159.

Professional Affiliations

• American Anthropological Association
• Society for American Archaeology
• American Ethnological Society
• American Association for the Advancement of Science

Other Honors

• Elected to the National Academy of Sciences
• Monks Medal, Institute for Humane Studies
• Listed in Who's Who in America

Adjunct Appointments

• Adjunct Professor of Anthropology, Columbia University