Chaos

For those who are familiar with anthropology, the themes of chaos and complexity might seem intuitively related to the field. Immersion in unfamiliar cultures is understood to produce disorientation, confusion, and perceptions of the foreign culture as “chaotic.” Consequently, the relevance of chaos theory and complexity theory to anthropology might not require a detailed justification.

Chaos theory describes the motion of certain dynamical, nonlinear systems under specific conditions. Chaotic motion is not the same as random motion. It is especially likely to emerge in systems that are described by at least three nonlinear equations, though it may also arise in other settings under specific conditions. All of these systems are