The theoretical underpinning of much of my research lay in cultural models theory. This treats culture as generative phenomena that have adaptive properties. Culture is performed, shared, transmitted, flexible and robust. Following the work of cognitive, environmental and evolutionary anthropologists, cultural models theory provides a theoretical entry point to combine ethnographic observations and experimental design. It allows us to deal with emergence and structure in coherent ways that can be both explanatory and predictive, without imposing a rigid theoretical straight jacket on our understanding of the complexity of human social organisation and behaviour.
Significant publications
de Ruiter, J., Weston, G., & Lyon, S. M. (2011). Dunbar’s Number: Group Size and Brain Physiology in Humans Reexamined. American Anthropologist, 113(4), 557–568.
Fischer, M. D., Read, D., & Lyon, S. M. (2005a). Cybernetics and Systems: An International Journal: Introduction. Cybernetics and Systems, 36(8). https://doi.org/10.1080/01969720500356654
Fischer, M. D., Read, D., & Lyon, S. M. (2005b). Introduction (to Special Issue on Cultural Systems, edited by M.D. Fischer, D. Read and S.M. Lyon). Cybernetics and Systems: An International Journal, 36(8), 719–734.
Fischer, M. D., Read, D., & Lyon, S. M. (2005c). Special Issue on Cultural Systems. Cybernetics and Systems: An International Journal, 36(8). http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/title~content=g727124922~db=all
Lyon, S. M. (2002a). Local arbitration and conflict deferment in Punjab, Pakistan. Anthropologie., 40(1), 59–71.
Lyon, S. M. (2002b). Power and patronage in Pakistan [PhD in Anthropology, University of Kent]. https://dro.dur.ac.uk/183/
Lyon, S. M. (2004a). An anthropological analysis of local politics and patronage in a Pakistani village. Edwin Mellen Press. http://www.mellenpress.com/mellenpress.cfm?bookid=5732&pc=9
Lyon, S. M. (2004b). Modeling Context in Punjabi Conflict Resolution: Social Organizations as Context Agents. Cybernetics and Systems., 35(2–3), 193–210.
Lyon, S. M. (2005). Culture and Information: An Anthropological Examination of Communication in Cultura Domains in Pakistan. Cybernetics and Systems: An International Journal, 36(8), 919–932.
Lyon, S. M. (2010). Genealogy, kinship, and knowledge: A cautionary note about causation. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 33(5). https://doi.org/10.1017/S0140525X10002244
Lyon, S. M. (2019). Political Kinship in Pakistan: Descent, Marriage and Government Stability. Lexington Books. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9781498582186/Political-Kinship-in-Pakistan-Descent-Marriage-and-Government-Stability
Lyon, S. M., Jamieson, M. A., & Fischer, M. D. (2015). Persistent Cultures: Miskitu Kinship Terminological Fluidity. Structure and Dynamics: EJournal of Anthropological and Related Sciences, 8(1). http://escholarship.org/uc/item/6w65n7sf
Lyon, S. M., & Mughal, M. A. Z. (2016). Ties That Bind:Marital Networks and Politics in Punjab, Pakistan. Structure and Dynamics: EJournal of Anthropological and Related Sciences, 9(2). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/5378v2fx
Lyon, S. M., & Mughal, M. A. Z. (2017). Categories and Cultural Models of Nature in Northern Punjab, Pakistan. World Cultures, 22(2). https://escholarship.org/uc/item/77w806mp
Lyon, S. M., & Mughal, M. A. Z. (2019). Cultural Models of Nature and Divinity in a Rain Fed Farming Village of Punjab, Pakistan. In G. Bennardo (Ed.), Cultural Models of Nature Primary Food Producers and Climate Change(pp. 141–164). Routledge. https://www.routledge.com/Cultural-Models-of-Nature-Primary-Food-Producers-and-Climate-Change-1st/Bennardo/p/book/9780815356585
Stephen M. Lyon 