Michael A. Little, R. Brooke Thomas, Ralph M. Garruto
{"title":"History and Legacy of Andean Research in Nuñoa, Peru","authors":"Michael A. Little, R. Brooke Thomas, Ralph M. Garruto","doi":"10.1002/ajhb.70059","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p>The high-altitude town and associated political district of Nuñoa, Peru, has served as an anthropological field research site for more than 60 years. The earliest studies were initiated by Paul T. Baker and his students from Penn State University in 1962. He supervised and guided research for over a decade, with a focus on the adaptation of the resident Quechua Natives to high-altitude hypoxia and cold. These studies included physiological research on exercise capacity and temperature regulation, surveys of nutrition and child growth, and a variety of other studies. Data collected during this period served as a baseline for many later studies. This Andean site, at 4000 m above sea level, continued to be a center of research in the 1980s under the direction of Brooke Thomas and his students from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. During this period, the theoretical perspectives shifted from one of environmental adaptation to altitude stresses to a combined environmental adaptation and political economy framework. At that time, an emphasis was placed on behavioral and cultural coping responses to the health of Indigenous families and the socioeconomic inequalities that had been built into the Nuñoa society. In the years that followed, a variety of studies were conducted by students and faculty from at least eight universities. This Nuñoa research served as a model for long-term field studies in human biology, contributed to the first overseas field experiences of many students, and led to the completion of more than 25 PhDs in high-altitude research.</p>","PeriodicalId":50809,"journal":{"name":"American Journal of Human Biology","volume":"37 6","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6000,"publicationDate":"2025-05-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/ajhb.70059","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"American Journal of Human Biology","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/ajhb.70059","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"","PubModel":"","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"ANTHROPOLOGY","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
The high-altitude town and associated political district of Nuñoa, Peru, has served as an anthropological field research site for more than 60 years. The earliest studies were initiated by Paul T. Baker and his students from Penn State University in 1962. He supervised and guided research for over a decade, with a focus on the adaptation of the resident Quechua Natives to high-altitude hypoxia and cold. These studies included physiological research on exercise capacity and temperature regulation, surveys of nutrition and child growth, and a variety of other studies. Data collected during this period served as a baseline for many later studies. This Andean site, at 4000 m above sea level, continued to be a center of research in the 1980s under the direction of Brooke Thomas and his students from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. During this period, the theoretical perspectives shifted from one of environmental adaptation to altitude stresses to a combined environmental adaptation and political economy framework. At that time, an emphasis was placed on behavioral and cultural coping responses to the health of Indigenous families and the socioeconomic inequalities that had been built into the Nuñoa society. In the years that followed, a variety of studies were conducted by students and faculty from at least eight universities. This Nuñoa research served as a model for long-term field studies in human biology, contributed to the first overseas field experiences of many students, and led to the completion of more than 25 PhDs in high-altitude research.
期刊介绍:
The American Journal of Human Biology is the Official Journal of the Human Biology Association.
The American Journal of Human Biology is a bimonthly, peer-reviewed, internationally circulated journal that publishes reports of original research, theoretical articles and timely reviews, and brief communications in the interdisciplinary field of human biology. As the official journal of the Human Biology Association, the Journal also publishes abstracts of research presented at its annual scientific meeting and book reviews relevant to the field.
The Journal seeks scholarly manuscripts that address all aspects of human biology, health, and disease, particularly those that stress comparative, developmental, ecological, or evolutionary perspectives. The transdisciplinary areas covered in the Journal include, but are not limited to, epidemiology, genetic variation, population biology and demography, physiology, anatomy, nutrition, growth and aging, physical performance, physical activity and fitness, ecology, and evolution, along with their interactions. The Journal publishes basic, applied, and methodologically oriented research from all areas, including measurement, analytical techniques and strategies, and computer applications in human biology.
Like many other biologically oriented disciplines, the field of human biology has undergone considerable growth and diversification in recent years, and the expansion of the aims and scope of the Journal is a reflection of this growth and membership diversification.
The Journal is committed to prompt review, and priority publication is given to manuscripts with novel or timely findings, and to manuscripts of unusual interest.