anthropology

#1240 Roy Richard Grinker - Nobody's Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness

Apr 13, 2026

Dr. Roy Richard Grinker is Professor of Anthropology and International Affairs at the George Washington University. Dr. Grinker is a cultural anthropologist specializing in ethnicity, nationalism, and psychological anthropology, with topical expertise in autism, Korea, and sub-Saharan Africa. He is also the director of GW's Institute for Ethnographic Research. He is the author of Nobody's Normal: How Culture Created the Stigma of Mental Illness. More»
#1231 Michael Gurven - Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live Longer

Mar 23, 2026

Dr. Michael Gurven is a Professor at the Department of Anthropology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, chair of the Integrative Anthropological Sciences Unit, and also head of the Evolutionary Anthropology and Biodemography Research Group. He is an evolutionary anthropologist aiming to explain behavior and physiological systems as adaptive solutions to competing demands of limited resource allocation. He is the author of Seven Decades: How We Evolved to Live Longer. More»
#1218 Edward Hagen: Is Sex Binary?

Feb 20, 2026

Dr. Edward Hagen is Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology at Washington State University. His research takes an evolutionary approach to non-infectious diseases, with a focus on mental health. More»
#1208 Eleanor Scerri: Homo sapiens in Saudi Arabia, Africa, and Malta

Jan 29, 2026

Dr. Eleanor Scerri is Professor at the Max Planck Institute of Geoanthropology, where she is the Head of the independent Max Planck Human Palaeosystems Research Group. She is an archaeological scientist interested in exploring the articulation between material culture, genetics, and biogeography to further theoretical, methodological and scientific advances in the field of human evolution. Her group is exploring the pan-African evolution of our species, Homo sapiens through a number of diverse projects. More»
#1200 Vicky Oelze: The Anthropology of the Atlantic and Transatlantic Slave Trade

Jan 9, 2026

Dr. Vicky Oelze is an Associate Professor in the Anthropology Department and Director of the Primate Ecology & Molecular Anthropology Lab at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Her research interests include mobility and dietary adaptations in archaeological human populations; African strontium isoscapes and isotopic investigations of the Atlantic and transatlantic slave trade; the dietary ecology of extant African great apes; great ape breastfeeding and weaning; and chimpanzee tool use and termite-chimpanzee interactions. More»
#1163 Herman Pontzer: How to Understand Human Biological Variation: "Race", Height, Gender, and More

Oct 16, 2025

Dr. Herman Pontzer is Professor of Evolutionary Anthropology and Global Health at the Global Health Institute at Duke University. Dr. Pontzer investigates the physiology of humans and other primates to understand how ecology, lifestyle, diet, and evolutionary history affect metabolism and health. He is particularly interested in cardiometabolic disease and the lifestyle factors that protect against obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and other noncommunicable diseases that are common among industrialized populations but rare or absent in non-industrialized societies. His latest book is Adaptable: How Your Unique Body Really Works and Why Our Biology Unites Us. More»
#1144 Nikhil Chaudhary: Cooperation, Social Learning, Breeding Systems, and Evolutionary Psychiatry

Aug 31, 2025

Dr. Nikhil Chaudhary is Lecturer in Human Evolutionary and Behavioral Ecology in the Department of Archaeology at the University of Cambridge. He is an evolutionary anthropologist interested in applying evolutionary theory to explain diversity in behavior and cognition across the entire spectrum of human societies. Currently, He is particularly focused on developing the field of evolutionary psychiatry. He is thinking about how evolutionary perspectives can advance our understanding of the etiology of mental illness. More»
#1142 Gül Salali: Social Dynamics, Culture, Mental Health and Physical Health in Hunter-Gatherers

Aug 28, 2025

Dr. Gül Salali is Assistant Professor in Evolutionary Anthropology at University College London. Her research focuses on human behavior and health using evolutionary approaches. Since 2013, she has been conducting fieldwork in the Congo rainforest studying Mbendjele BaYaka hunter-gatherers. Some of her most recent research projects include: social learning and cultural evolution; evolutionary approaches to health-related behavior and mental health; and hunter-gatherer diet, health and physical activity. More»
#1139 Kristen Ghodsee: Real-Life Utopian Societies

Aug 21, 2025

Dr. Kristen Ghodsee is an award-winning author and professor and chair of Russian and East European Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. She also serves as a member on the graduate groups of Anthropology and Comparative Literature. Dr. Ghodsee’s articles and essays have been translated into over twenty-five languages and have appeared in publications such as Dissent, Foreign Affairs, Jacobin, The Baffler, The New Republic, Quartz, NBC Think, The Lancet, Project Syndicate, Le Monde Diplomatique, Die Tageszeitung, The Washington Post, and the New York Times. She is the author of 12 books, including Everyday Utopia: What 2,000 Years of Wild Experiments Can Teach Us About the Good Life. More»
#1125 Daniel Fessler: Physical Formidability, Male Muscularity, Pathogen-Avoidance & More

Jul 18, 2025

Dr. Daniel Fessler is a Professor of Biological Anthropology at the University of California, Los Angeles. He is an evolutionary anthropologist whose principal focus is contemporary humans. His research currently focuses on a number of domains, including: emotions; disease avoidance; morality; prosociality and cooperation; conflict, aggression, and risk-taking; cultural transmission; food and eating; and sex and reproduction. More»