As market economies expand, the culture, lifestyle, and habitat of indigenous people changes, often in predictable and sometimes in irreversible ways
ARA 2005.
Economic development brings about occupational specialization, shifts in preferences and in type of human capital people accumulate,
and changes in social organization, health, and nutritional status. Much has been said about the boons and curses of globalization or
trade opening as it affects highly autarkic indigenous peoples, but little of what is said is rigorously quantitative and longitudinal, driven
by testable hypotheses. As often happens in academic and policy debates, rhetoric, theories, and polemics march ahead of careful empirical
work. The Tsimane’ Amazonian Panel Study (TAPS) (1999-present) tries to fill the gap. TAPS aims to assess the effects of trade
opening or market exposure on well-being and on the use of natural resources in a native Amazonian society of foragers-farmers in
Bolivia. It does so by conducting a comprehensive, multi-disciplinary, long-term program of research, training, and development.
Research draws on an eclectic mix of theories and insights from economics, evolutionary biology, and cultural anthropology.
Research reflects a sense of problem, and a respect for empirical facts. Development research and initiatives draw on long-term
understanding of the people and their needs and combines with rigorous methods for evaluating interventions. Training opportunities
extend to all students — from any nationality and disciplines — and indigenous peoples. The three areas intertwine and reinforce each other.
The panel alerts one to changes and trends worth exploring further in the research and to possible interventions;
training allows one to bring fresh blood into the panel study and deal with questions that might not have entered the radar screen
of more senior researchers. After a short introduction about the Tsimane’ and the setting, in this web address we describe TAPS’
past work and work in progress in each of the three core areas — research, development, and training — and
provide information on the team and how to contact us.
