Challenging Academic Narratives on Human Nature and War

Doug Fry has written extensively on aggression, conflict, and conflict resolution. He believes that anthropology holds important current-day lessons: “The macroscopic perspective of anthropology, with its expansive time frame and culturally comparative orientation, provides unique insights into the nature of war and holds some concrete lessons for how to develop a more safe and peaceful world.” 

Fry’s most recent edited book is titled War, Peace and Human Nature (Oxford, 2013)and contains 27 chapters by leaders in the fields of biology, primatology, forager studies, peace studies, psychology, and social cultural anthropology. His previous book, Beyond War: The Human Potential for Peace, is a fantastic introduction to this material for non-specialist readers.

 

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