Longitudinal monitoring of economic activities in rural Morocco

We conduct regular surveys with a battery of demographic and economic questions to monitor the economic development of villages north of Tinghir in the High Atlas Mountains.

We aim to understand the impact of increasing market integration and a shift away from traditional modes of subsistence on the social fabric of these communities, including: - traditional sharing networks - marriage practices - education, literacy, and language diversity - religion - political organization and collective decision making

Studying the transition from nomadic pastoralism to sedentary mixed economies

The High Atlas Mountains are home to many nomadic and transhumant pastoralists whose traditional lifestyle herding of sheep and goats has existed for centuries. Increasingly, many of them are settling down, often selling their entire herds to do so.

We wish to learn more about the reasons that drive these families to settle, and the immediate effect that settling has on their wellbeing, traditions, and culture.

Exploring the norms and institutions underpinning cooperation, sharing, and leadership

Small-scale communities are ideal settings for exploring how humans develop norms and institutions to govern cooperation and conflict in the absence of the state.

In Morocco and Bolivia we explore the role of leadership, reciprocity, status, turn-taking, kinship, and religion in mobilising collective action and reducing conflict in small-scale communities

Representing North Africa in cross-cultural ethnographic research projects

We collaborate with a number of cross-cultural research projects, such as ENDOW, to collect data comparing cultures and institutions of primarily rural or traditional populations around the world.