Dr. Frederic K. Lehman will undertake High Risk Research in Anthropology (HRRA) to complete a long-term study of trade networks and ethnic relations among Chinese, Burmese, and Shan in the highland border regions of Asia. Through archival and ethnographic research, Lehman will gather information on cultural and linguistic variability, and the formation of ethnic identity over time. In addition to descriptive documentation, the project will produce a formal cognitive model of cultural transmission and its encoding in cognitive matrices.
One purpose of HRRA awards is to use small grants to fill an urgent need. In the current case, the region where the research will be carried out is not well-documented in the ethnographic literature. Furthermore, culture change and the death of elderly informants means that there is little time to fill this gap. In addition, the long history of interethnic relations in this region provides a unique opportunity for further development of understanding of human social cognition. Because the research will be carried out in cooperation with Chinese researchers, it also will contribute to international collaboration and capacity building.
