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2020 | Buch

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Resilience and Human History

Multidisciplinary Approaches and Challenges for a Sustainable Future

herausgegeben von: Prof. Yumiko Nara, Prof. Tetsuya Inamura

Verlag: Springer Singapore

Buchreihe : Translational Systems Sciences

Enthalten in: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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Über dieses Buch

This unique book provides a platform for resilience research, combining knowledge from various domains, such as genetics, primatology, archeology, geography, physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, medicine, ecology, psychology, risk management and systems science, in order to examine specific concepts.

The term "resilience" was originally used in psychology, but in current-day usage, it mainly refers to the "ability to recover from disaster"; however, the concept of resilience is still ambiguous. This book challenges readers to reconsider the concept of resilience comprehensively from diverse perspectives and to re-conceptualize it as an important framework applicable in various research fields.

The book explores resilience by expanding the time and space scales to the maximum. On the time axis, it traces back to our human ancestors (and even to anthropoid apes) and follows the evolution of humans, the origin of agriculture, the rise and fall of ancient civilizations, and the present day. On the space axis, it discusses levels ranging from genetic; bacterial flora; individual, indigenous communities; and modern societies; to the global level. As such it expands the base for considering the problems facing modern society and selecting a future direction.

In the long history of evolution, we Homo sapiens have faced, and overcome, various kinds of risks. By acquiring resilience, we have surpassed other animals and become apparent rulers of the earth; but, at the same time, we are also facing more serious risks than ever before. This book provides insights into addressing the challenges of a sustainable future.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

Frontmatter

Chapter 1. Resilient Features Which Humans Inherited from Common Ancestors with Great Apes and Strengthened

Abstract

Human beings have spread their habitat more vastly than any other primates out of 450 species. Rainforests being their origin, how were human beings able to widely distribute themselves to such diverse environments? The answer to this question lies in the history of evolution – the ability to adapt to new environments by evolving the features inherited from primate ancestors. This chapter with unveil the characteristics that human beings have inherited from the apes and analyze the background and processes of transformation. What must be highlighted is the development of human beings’ sympathetic emotion and the formation of a multilayered society of family and community, an evolution of across 7 million years. This is how the biological basis of human resilience becomes to be understood.

Juichi Yamagiwa

Chapter 2. Using Genetics to Understanding the Evolution of Human Resilience

Abstract

By conducting behavioral observations and genetic research in primates, my research group has been furthering the understanding of the relationship between temporally stable patterns of behavior (personality) and genes. To these ends, we have been focusing on neurotransmission-related genes that are associated with individual differences in personality, social behavior, and happiness in apes and humans and to differences in how the societies of different primate species are organized. Ultimately, these pursuits will enable us to learn how these genes are related to emotional resilience in humans.

Miho Murayama

Chapter 3. Individual Differences in Psychological Resilience

Abstract

Psychological resilience is invisible and a very complicated concept. Various resilience factors have been identified in previous studies. An individual’s resiliency was quantified by questionnaire scale, and many studies reported correlation with personality and changes with age and life events. Furthermore, many programs were developed aimed to expand resiliency through intervention and human interaction. On the other hand, we must be careful not to overlook the diversity of resilience. However, the impact of these factors in inducing resiliency varies from person to person. Even if the same stressful situation occurs, the kind of recovery that is to be aimed at varies from person to person; although the resilience may be externally invisible, it shows the possibility that the person has adopted a resilience process. In addition, the labeling of a level as adversity or adaptation depends on culture, environment, and context. While psychological resilience can be considered as a personal ability and personality, it is also necessary to consider it as a desirable characteristic in the society in which an individual lives.

Mari Hirano

Chapter 4. Human Evolution and the Implication of Resilience for the Future

Abstract

The first human ancestors appeared about 7 million years ago (Mya) in Africa and finally evolved into Homo sapiens, developing human uniqueness. This includes bipedal walking, using various tools, and was accompanied by brain expansion that led to sophisticated cognitive abilities. Previously, such uniqueness acted as resilience to survive in harsh environments and finally permitted humans to invent agriculture, civilization, and the industrial revolution, which meant that we can now enjoy comfortable lives. However, recently, civilization has become a monstrous “desire-satisfaction system” and has begun to squeeze various resources from present and past environments. This means that we are carelessly spending almost all our resources without leaving any to our descendants. We all know that we have to minimize our economies and conserve our natural environments, but the “desire-satisfaction system” is so attractive that we cannot yet escape it. Thus, we should reconsider the true implication of our resilience. Namely, at present, the most necessary resilience is rational prevision and the courageous sympathy to do something altruistic for the future, before a crisis occurs.

Hisao Baba

Chapter 5. Pastoral Nomadization in the Neolithic Near East: Review from the Viewpoint of Social Resilience

Abstract

It is well-known that the Neolithization in the Near East, namely, the far-reaching sociocultural reorganization based on the domestication of plant and animal resources, proceeded within the Fertile Crescent during the ninth to eighth millennium calBC. Though less clearly traced, it is also commonly accepted that the pastoral nomadization followed with a few millennia gap in between. The question is the intermediate stage between the two. Our recent investigation in the al-Jafr Basin, southern Jordan, has produced archaeological evidence for pastoral transhumance bridging the two. What is important is that this new lifestyle started during the early stage of the Neolithization, more than one millennium earlier than the 8.2 ka cold/dry event that is supposed to have triggered the pastoral nomadization. This fact suggests the possibility that the early Holocene penetration into the arid margin had an aspect of social resilience against a potential crisis of the emerging Neolithic society rather than an adaptation to the climatic fluctuation. If so, the subsequent pastoral nomadization could be understood as its extension. This paper reviews the research outcomes in the al-Jafr Basin and discusses the initial process of pastoral nomadization in southern Jordan from the viewpoint of social resilience.

Sumio Fujii

Chapter 6. Infectious Diseases: Conquest or Coexistence?

Abstract

The twenty-first century is considered to be one in which the development of medical science and a science of infectious diseases based on “coexistence” is being sought. However, coexistence will incur costs. We do not have a prescription for coping with the problem at hand. However, I am certain without question that “coexistence” is the direction to which we should be advancing. As there is no such thing as complete adaptation and as we learn from history that a complete adaptation does not go beyond raising the curtain for the next tragedy, coexistence may possibly be something that must be sought as an act of compromise, which “cannot be said to be comfortable.”

Taro Yamamoto

Chapter 7. Resilience in the Andes: Ancient Civilisation and Indigenous Society

Abstract

In this chapter, we look at changes in the lives and societies of the people in the Andes region through the lens of resilience. Specifically, we will study the following historical events to understand how various aspects of resilience develop, change, and endure in a specific region: disaster resilience in the ancient Andean civilisation; redistribution system as a form of social resilience supporting the prosperity of the Inca Empire; the destruction of the Inca Empire following its encounter with the Europeans; and the Spanish colonisation and its effects on the indigenous people.

Tetsuya Inamura

Chapter 8. Resilience Among Nomads and Urban Residents in Mongolia’s Transition to a Market Economy

Abstract

Since 1990, Mongolia has been transitioning from socialism and a controlled economy to democracy and a market economy accompanied by dramatic changes throughout society. This paper focuses on nomads’ responses and urban residents’ adaptations to these changes to clarify the essence of Mongolians’ inherent resilience. Historically, the traditional nomadic lifestyle in Mongolia emphasizes resilience. Nomads flexibly respond to changes in nature and social situations, cope well with natural disasters, and cooperate within families and communities. Their lives are filled with an understanding of resilience that continues even after they immigrate to cities and become urban residents. Resilience comprises mobility, commonage of place, flexibility, and mutualism cultivated throughout their nomadic history.

Shoko Ishii

Chapter 9. Dynamic Resilience of Ayta Community: Creative Rehabilitation After Mt. Pinatubo’s Eruption, 1991

Abstract

The 1991 Eruption of Mt. Pinatubo (1745 m) in western Luzon was the biggest in size in the twentieth century. Damages caused by the volcanic explosions and ash falls, as well as by rampaging lahar flows (landslide flood of wet volcanic debris) during successive rainy seasons, reached an astronomic figure, spreading over five provinces in central Luzon. Eighty thousand houses were damaged and eight thousand more were totally destroyed. Far more than 1 million people suffered from the damage of loss of their properties (Mercado and Pineda, Socioeconomic impacts of the Mount Pinatubo eruption. In: Newhall C, Punongbayan R (eds) Fire and mud: eruption and Lahars of Mout Pinatubo Philippines, Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology, Quezon City, 1996). Over one hundred thousand people were forced to live in evacuation centers or tent cities temporarily, and many of them eventually moved to settle down in 20 resettlement sites (11 for lowland Christians and 9 for highland Aytas) provided by the government and some others to voluntarily arranged sites by NGOs or by themselves. For detailed information on Aytas lifeways before and after the eruption, please see Shimizu (Pinatubo Aytas: continuity and change. Ateneo de Manila University Press, Quezon City, 1989; Past, present and future of the Pinatubo Ayta. In: Hiromu S (ed) After the eruption: Pinatubo Aytas at the crisis of their survival. Foundation for Human Rights in Asia, Tokyo, 1992; The orphans of Pinatubo: the Ayta struggle for existence. Solidaridad Publishing House, Manila, 2001).

Hiromu Shimizu

Chapter 10. Resilience of Life (Livelihood) and Natural Disasters

Abstract

Natural disasters impact immense external forces on people’s lives. Disasters consume one’s life immediately after the occurrence, lingering for a long time and changing livelihoods over time. This chapter will consider the resilience of life against natural disasters from the perspective of risk management. It will examine the significance and practice of the peoples’ resilience against disasters before and after its occurrence.

Yumiko Nara

Chapter 11. The Essence of Resilience Against Disaster: Requirements for Geographic Education

Abstract

The importance of “resilience” has been emphasized in recent international discussions on disaster risk reduction. In order to create a resilient society, it is essential to enhance citizens’ resilience; therefore, it is necessary to improve disaster risk reduction education (DRRE). This paper discusses the essential elements of disaster resilience and the requisites for DRRE. For enhancing disaster resilience, we must strengthen our ability to (1) carefully observe the changing environment through an understanding of geography; (2) actively participate in society and take on individual responsibility to reduce disaster risks; and (3) have courage and make reasonable changes to society. The organization of DRRE is broken down into short-term and long-term goals and consists of “Practical DRRE” and “Basic DRRE.” The former DRRE is directly connected to specific, effective damage mitigation, while the latter raises disaster awareness and supports the motives of the former. Both parts should be implemented in a balanced manner in the new school curriculum in Japan.

Yasuhiro Suzuki

Chapter 12. Common Features of Business Resilience in Japanese Companies

Abstract

This chapter explores and focuses on aspects to consider when companies face risk and crisis (i.e., natural disaster and many kinds of business risk), particularly how they manage risk, how they grasp the situation, and how they overcome it. Upon analyzing such companies, this research aims to understand the thinking and methods behind these concepts to make useful guidelines regarding employee satisfaction, spiritual growth, corporate life, and corporate management that ultimately fosters business resilience.

Kazuo Ueda

Chapter 13. Resilience of Earth System

Abstract

This chapter explores how we as humanity can improve the resilience of the Earth system. To meet this need, we must realize that humanity has entered a new geological epoch, the Anthropocene, in which the sum of individual everyday lives has caused irreversible changes on Earth. Indeed, the Earth system has transgressed some of the scientifically-established planetary boundary thresholds, including climate change.

Meanwhile, our everyday lives have become more fragile due to unforeseeable risks. Probable underlying causes for this include the development of a complex and sophisticated society that has distorted regional interdependence.

In such an era, a link between global thinking and local action is necessary. Though not easy, it is not an impossible task. The key is to establish bundles of small, yet numerous, region-to-region and society-to-society relationships.

Ken-ichi Abe

Chapter 14. Human History and Aspects of Resilience

Abstract

Thus far, the authors have discussed the different aspects of resilience from the viewpoints of their specialty, and each examined an extremely interesting and important theme. The critical task remains to correlate and summarize these arguments, and thus, this chapter will review the themes from the viewpoint of resilience in the human timeline and then will attempt to conclude them collectively.

Tetsuya Inamura

Backmatter

Titel: Resilience and Human History
herausgegeben von: Prof. Yumiko Nara
Prof. Tetsuya Inamura
Verlag: Springer Singapore
Electronic ISBN: 978-981-15-4091-2
Print ISBN: 978-981-15-4090-5
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4091-2