1
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Spake L, Hassan A, Schaffnit SB, Alam N, Amoah AS, Badjie J, Cerami C, Crampin A, Dube A, Kaye MP, Kotch R, Liew F, McLean E, Munthali-Mkandawire S, Mwalwanda L, Petersen AC, Prentice AM, Zohora FT, Watts J, Sear R, Shenk MK, Sosis R, Shaver JH. A practical guide to cross-cultural and multi-sited data collection in the biological and behavioural sciences. Proc Biol Sci 2024; 291:20231422. [PMID: 38654647 PMCID: PMC11040250 DOI: 10.1098/rspb.2023.1422] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 06/23/2023] [Accepted: 03/21/2024] [Indexed: 04/26/2024] Open
Abstract
Researchers in the biological and behavioural sciences are increasingly conducting collaborative, multi-sited projects to address how phenomena vary across ecologies. These types of projects, however, pose additional workflow challenges beyond those typically encountered in single-sited projects. Through specific attention to cross-cultural research projects, we highlight four key aspects of multi-sited projects that must be considered during the design phase to ensure success: (1) project and team management; (2) protocol and instrument development; (3) data management and documentation; and (4) equitable and collaborative practices. Our recommendations are supported by examples from our experiences collaborating on the Evolutionary Demography of Religion project, a mixed-methods project collecting data across five countries in collaboration with research partners in each host country. To existing discourse, we contribute new recommendations around team and project management, introduce practical recommendations for exploring the validity of instruments through qualitative techniques during piloting, highlight the importance of good documentation at all steps of the project, and demonstrate how data management workflows can be strengthened through open science practices. While this project was rooted in cross-cultural human behavioural ecology and evolutionary anthropology, lessons learned from this project are applicable to multi-sited research across the biological and behavioural sciences.
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Affiliation(s)
- Laure Spake
- Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, NY, USA
| | - Anushé Hassan
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | | | - Nurul Alam
- International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | - Abena S. Amoah
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
- Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit, Lilongwe, Malawi
- Leiden University Medical Center, Leiden, The Netherlands
| | - Jainaba Badjie
- Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRCG@LSHTM), Fajara, The Gambia
| | - Carla Cerami
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
- Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRCG@LSHTM), Fajara, The Gambia
| | - Amelia Crampin
- International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh
- University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK
| | - Albert Dube
- Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit, Lilongwe, Malawi
| | - Miranda P. Kaye
- Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
- University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Renee Kotch
- Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Frankie Liew
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Estelle McLean
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
- Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit, Lilongwe, Malawi
| | | | - Lusako Mwalwanda
- Malawi Epidemiology and Intervention Research Unit, Lilongwe, Malawi
| | | | - Andrew M. Prentice
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
- Medical Research Council Unit The Gambia at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (MRCG@LSHTM), Fajara, The Gambia
| | - Fatema tuz Zohora
- International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | - Joseph Watts
- University of Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
- University of Canterbury, Christchurch, New Zealand
| | - Rebecca Sear
- London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Mary K. Shenk
- Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | | | - John H. Shaver
- University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
- Baylor University, Waco, TX, USA
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2
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Page AE, Ringen EJ, Koster J, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Kramer K, Shenk MK, Stieglitz J, Starkweather K, Ziker JP, Boyette AH, Colleran H, Moya C, Du J, Mattison SM, Greaves R, Sum CY, Liu R, Lew-Levy S, Kiabiya Ntamboudila F, Prall S, Towner MC, Blumenfield T, Migliano AB, Major-Smith D, Dyble M, Salali GD, Chaudhary N, Derkx IE, Ross CT, Scelza BA, Gurven MD, Winterhalder BP, Cortez C, Pacheco-Cobos L, Schacht R, Macfarlan SJ, Leonetti D, French JC, Alam N, Zohora FT, Kaplan HS, Hooper PL, Sear R. Women's subsistence strategies predict fertility across cultures, but context matters. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2024; 121:e2318181121. [PMID: 38346210 PMCID: PMC10907265 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.2318181121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 10/19/2023] [Accepted: 12/27/2023] [Indexed: 02/15/2024] Open
Abstract
While it is commonly assumed that farmers have higher, and foragers lower, fertility compared to populations practicing other forms of subsistence, robust supportive evidence is lacking. We tested whether subsistence activities-incorporating market integration-are associated with fertility in 10,250 women from 27 small-scale societies and found considerable variation in fertility. This variation did not align with group-level subsistence typologies. Societies labeled as "farmers" did not have higher fertility than others, while "foragers" did not have lower fertility. However, at the individual level, we found strong evidence that fertility was positively associated with farming and moderate evidence of a negative relationship between foraging and fertility. Markers of market integration were strongly negatively correlated with fertility. Despite strong cross-cultural evidence, these relationships were not consistent in all populations, highlighting the importance of the socioecological context, which likely influences the diverse mechanisms driving the relationship between fertility and subsistence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Abigail E. Page
- Division of Psychology, Brunel University of London, LondonUB8 3PN, United Kingdom
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, LondonWC1E 7HT, United Kingdom
| | - Erik J. Ringen
- University of Zürich, Zürich8050, Switzerland
- Department of Comparative Language Science, University of Zürich, Zürich8050, Switzerland
- Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Language Evolution, University of Zürich, Zürich8050, Switzerland
| | - Jeremy Koster
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig04103, Germany
| | - Monique Borgerhoff Mulder
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig04103, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA95616
| | - Karen Kramer
- Department of Anthropology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT84112
| | - Mary K. Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, Penn State College of the Liberal Arts, State College, PA16801
| | - Jonathan Stieglitz
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Universite Toulouse 1 Capitole, Toulouse31080, France
| | | | - John P. Ziker
- Department of Anthropology, Boise State University, Boise, ID83725
| | - Adam H. Boyette
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig04103, Germany
| | - Heidi Colleran
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig04103, Germany
| | - Cristina Moya
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Davis, CA95616
| | - Juan Du
- State Key Laboratory of Grassland Agro-Ecosystem, College of Ecology, Lanzhou University, Lanzhou730000, China
| | - Siobhán M. Mattison
- Department of Anthropology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM87106
| | - Russell Greaves
- Maxwell Museum of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM87106
| | - Chun-Yi Sum
- Anthropology Department, Boston University, Boston, MA02215
| | - Ruizhe Liu
- Department of Anthropology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM87106
| | - Sheina Lew-Levy
- Department of Psychology, Durham University, DurhamDH1 3LE, United Kingdom
| | - Francy Kiabiya Ntamboudila
- Faculté des Lettres, Arts, et Sciences Humaines, Département d’anthropologie, Marien Ngouabi University, Brazzaville, Congo
| | - Sean Prall
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO65201
| | - Mary C. Towner
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK74078
| | - Tami Blumenfield
- Department of Anthropology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM87106
| | | | - Daniel Major-Smith
- Population Health Sciences, Bristol Medical School, University of Bristol, BristolBS8 2PS, United Kingdom
| | - Mark Dyble
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, CambridgeCB2 3DZ, United Kingdom
| | - Gul Deniz Salali
- Department of Anthropology, University College London, LondonWC1H 0BW, United Kingdom
| | - Nikhil Chaudhary
- Department of Archaeology, University of Cambridge, CambridgeCB2 3DZ, United Kingdom
| | - Inez E. Derkx
- Department of Anthropology, Universität Zürich, Zürich8050, Switzerland
| | - Cody T. Ross
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig04103, Germany
| | - Brooke A. Scelza
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles, CA90095
| | - Michael D. Gurven
- Department of Anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA93106
| | | | | | - Luis Pacheco-Cobos
- Facultad de Biología–Xalapa, Universidad Veracruzana, Zalapa-Enriquez91090, México
| | - Ryan Schacht
- Department of Anthropology, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC27858
| | | | - Donna Leonetti
- Department of Anthropology, University of Washington, Settle, WA98105
| | - Jennifer C. French
- Department of Archaeology, Classics and Egyptology, University of Liverpool, LiverpoolL69 7WZ, United Kingdom
| | - Nurul Alam
- Health Systems and Population Studies Division, International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka1213, Bangladesh
| | - Fatema tuz Zohora
- Health Systems and Population Studies Division, International Centre for Diarrheal Disease Research, Bangladesh, Dhaka1213, Bangladesh
| | - Hillard S. Kaplan
- Department of Anthropology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM87106
| | - Paul L. Hooper
- Department of Anthropology, The University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM87106
| | - Rebecca Sear
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, LondonWC1E 7HT, United Kingdom
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Lenover MB, Shenk MK. Evolutionary medicine approaches to chronic disease: The case of irritable bowel syndrome. Evol Anthropol 2024; 33:e22010. [PMID: 37909359 DOI: 10.1002/evan.22010] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/22/2022] [Revised: 10/13/2023] [Accepted: 10/16/2023] [Indexed: 11/03/2023]
Abstract
Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), a gastrointestinal disease, is a global phenomenon correlated with industrialization. We propose that an evolutionary medicine approach is useful to understand this disease from an ultimate perspective and conducted a scoping literature review to synthesize the IBS literature within this framework. Our review suggests five potential evolutionary hypotheses for the cause of IBS, including (a) a dietary mismatch accompanying a nutritional transition, (b) an early hygienic life environment leading to the immune system and microbiotic changes, (c) an outcome of decreased physical activity, (d) a response to changes in environmental light-dark cycles, and (e) an artifact of an evolved fight or flight response. We find key limitations in the available data needed to understand early life, nutritional, and socioeconomic experiences that would allow us to understand evolutionarily relevant risk factors and identify a need for further empirical research to distinguish potential causes and test evolutionary hypotheses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Makenna B Lenover
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
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4
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Mattison SM, Mattison PM, Beheim BA, Liu R, Blumenfield T, Sum CY, Shenk MK, Seabright E, Alami S. Gender disparities in material and educational resources differ by kinship system. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220299. [PMID: 37381853 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0299] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/05/2023] [Accepted: 05/14/2023] [Indexed: 06/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Contemporary inequality exists at an unprecedented scale. Social scientists have emphasized the role played by material wealth in driving its escalation. Evolutionary anthropologists understand the drive to accumulate material wealth as one that is coupled ultimately to increasing reproductive success. Owing to biological caps on reproduction for women, the efficiency of this conversion can differ by gender, with implications for understanding the evolution of gender disparities in resource accumulation. Efficiency also differs according to the type of resources used to support reproductive success. In this paper, we review evolutionary explanations of gender disparities in resources and investigate empirical evidence to support or refute those explanations among matrilineal and patrilineal subpopulations of ethnic Chinese Mosuo, who share an ethnolinguistic identity, but differ strikingly in terms of institutions and norms surrounding kinship and gender. We find that gender differentially predicts income and educational attainment. Men were more likely to report income than women; amounts earned were higher for men overall, but the difference between men and women was minimal under matriliny. Men reported higher levels of educational attainment than women, unexpectedly more so in matrilineal contexts. The results reveal nuances in how biology and cultural institutions affect gender disparities in wealth. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary ecology of inequality'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siobhán M Mattison
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Peter M Mattison
- Department of Biology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Bret A Beheim
- Human Behavior, Ecology, Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
| | - Ruizhe Liu
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Tami Blumenfield
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
- School of Ethnology and Sociology, Yunnan University, 2 Cuihu Beilu, Kunming, PRC 650091
| | - Chun-Yi Sum
- College of General Studies, Boston University, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA
| | - Edmond Seabright
- School of Collective Intelligence, Mohammed VI Polytechnique University, Ben Guerir, Morocco
| | - Sarah Alami
- School of Collective Intelligence, Mohammed VI Polytechnique University, Ben Guerir, Morocco
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5
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Medupe D, Roberts SG, Shenk MK, Glowacki L. Why did foraging, horticulture and pastoralism persist after the Neolithic transition? The oasis theory of agricultural intensification. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20220300. [PMID: 37381847 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2022.0300] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/04/2023] [Accepted: 04/19/2023] [Indexed: 06/30/2023] Open
Abstract
Despite the global spread of intensive agriculture, many populations retained foraging or mixed subsistence strategies until well into the twentieth century. Understanding why has been a longstanding puzzle. One explanation, called the marginal habitat hypothesis, is that foraging persisted because foragers tended to live in marginal habitats generally not suited to agriculture. However, recent empirical studies have not supported this view. The alternative but untested oasis hypothesis of agricultural intensification claims that intensive agriculture developed in areas with low biodiversity and a reliable water source not reliant on local rainfall. We test both the marginal habitat and oasis hypotheses using a cross-cultural sample drawn from the 'Ethnographic atlas' (Murdock 1967 Ethnology 6, 109-236). Our analyses provide support for both hypotheses. We found that intensive agriculture was unlikely in areas with high rainfall. Further, high biodiversity, including pathogens associated with high rainfall, appears to have limited the development of intensive agriculture. Our analyses of African societies show that tsetse flies, elephants and malaria are negatively associated with intensive agriculture, but only the effect of tsetse flies reached significance. Our results suggest that in certain ecologies intensive agriculture may be difficult or impossible to develop but that generally lower rainfall and biodiversity is favourable for its emergence. This article is part of the theme issue 'Evolutionary ecology of inequality'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Dithapelo Medupe
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Seán G Roberts
- School of English, Communication and Philosophy, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3EU, UK
| | - Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Luke Glowacki
- Department of Anthropology, Boston University, Boston MA 02215, USA
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Sznajder KK, Shenk MK, Alam N, Raqib R, Kumar A, Haque F, Blumenfield T, Mattison SM, Wander K. Betel quid use is associated with anemia among both men and women in Matlab, Bangladesh. PLOS Glob Public Health 2023; 3:e0001677. [PMID: 37315072 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pgph.0001677] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/13/2022] [Accepted: 03/22/2023] [Indexed: 06/16/2023]
Abstract
Anemia accounts for 8.8% of total disability burden worldwide. Betel quid use among pregnant women has been found to increase anemia risk. Betel quid is prepared by wrapping the betel (or areca) nut, with spices and other additions, in betel or tobacco leaf and it is chewed or placed in the mouth. We explored the association between betel quid use and anemia among men and non-pregnant women. We collected data from a random sample of women and their husbands in Matlab, Bangladesh. Participants reported their current betel quid use and individual characteristics. We assessed hemoglobin (a biomarker of anemia) with a hemoglobinometer and soluble transferrin receptor (a biomarker of iron deficiency) and C-reactive protein (a biomarker of inflammation) in dried blood spots via enzyme immunoassay. We estimated logistic regression models to evaluate the association between betel quid use and anemia and structural equation models (SEM) to evaluate mediating roles of iron deficiency and elevated inflammation. A total of 1133 participants (390 men and 743 non-pregnant women) were included. After controlling for important confounders, any betel quid use was positively associated with anemia among men (OR: 1.80; 95% CI: 1.12, 2.89). Among women, betel quid use was associated with anemia only among the most frequent users (OR: 1.62; 95% CI: 1.03, 2.53). SEM did not reveal indirect paths through inflammation or iron deficiency. Betel quid use may contribute to the burden of anemia among adults in Bangladesh. Our findings suggest the burden of disease attributed to betel quid use has been underestimated.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristin K Sznajder
- Department of Public Health Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | | | | | | | | | - Tami Blumenfield
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America
| | - Siobhán M Mattison
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States of America
| | - Katherine Wander
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University, State University of New York, Binghamton, New York, United States of America
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Mattison SM, MacLaren NG, Sum CY, Shenk MK, Blumenfield T, Wander K. Does gender structure social networks across domains of cooperation? An exploration of gendered networks among matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2023; 378:20210436. [PMID: 36440564 PMCID: PMC9703220 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2021.0436] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/06/2022] [Accepted: 09/21/2022] [Indexed: 11/29/2022] Open
Abstract
Cooperative networks are essential features of human society. Evolutionary theory hypothesizes that networks are used differently by men and women, yet the bulk of evidence supporting this hypothesis is based on studies conducted in a limited range of contexts and on few domains of cooperation. In this paper, we compare individual-level cooperative networks from two communities in Southwest China that differ systematically in kinship norms and institutions-one matrilineal and one patrilineal-while sharing an ethnic identity. Specifically, we investigate whether network structures differ based on prevailing kinship norms and type of gendered cooperative activity, one woman-centred (preparation of community meals) and one man-centred (farm equipment lending). Our descriptive results show a mixture of 'feminine' and 'masculine' features in all four networks. The matrilineal meals network stands out in terms of high degree skew. Exponential random graph models reveal a stronger role for geographical proximity in patriliny and a limited role of affinal relatedness across all networks. Our results point to the need to consider domains of cooperative activity alongside gender and cultural context to fully understand variation in how women and men leverage social relationships toward different ends. This article is part of the theme issue 'Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siobhán M. Mattison
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
| | - Neil G. MacLaren
- Department of Mathematics, State University of New York at Buffalo, Buffalo, NY 14260, USA
| | - Chun-Yi Sum
- College of General Studies, Boston University, Boston, MA 02215, USA
| | - Mary K. Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA 16801, USA
| | - Tami Blumenfield
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
- School of Ethnology and Sociology, Yunnan University, Kunming 650106, People's Republic of China
| | - Katherine Wander
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, NY 13902, USA
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Mattison SM, MacLaren N, Sum CY, Mattison PM, Liu R, Shenk MK, Blumenfield T, Su M, Li H, Wander K. Market integration, income inequality, and kinship system among the Mosuo of China. Evol Hum Sci 2022; 5:e4. [PMID: 37587931 PMCID: PMC10426023 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2022.52] [Citation(s) in RCA: 3] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/22/2022] [Revised: 10/28/2022] [Accepted: 11/01/2022] [Indexed: 11/22/2022] Open
Abstract
Increased access to defensible material wealth is hypothesised to escalate inequality. Market integration, which creates novel opportunities in cash economies, provides a means of testing this hypothesis. Using demographic data collected from 505 households among the matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo in 2017, we test whether market integration is associated with increased material wealth, whether increased material wealth is associated with wealth inequality, and whether being in a matrilineal vs. patrilineal kinship system alters the relationship between wealth and inequality. We find evidence that market integration, measured as distance to the nearest source of tourism and primary source of household income, is associated with increased household income and 'modern' asset value. Both village-level market integration and mean asset value were associated negatively, rather than positively, with inequality, contrary to predictions. Finally, income, modern wealth and inequality were higher in matrilineal communities that were located closer to the centre of tourism and where tourism has long provided a relatively stable source of income. However, we also observed exacerbated inequality with increasing farm animal value in patriliny. We conclude that the forces affecting wealth and inequality depend on local context and that the importance of local institutions is obscured by aggregate statistics drawn from modern nation states.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Neil MacLaren
- State University of New York at Buffalo, Department of Mathematics, Buffalo, NY, USA
| | - Chun-Yi Sum
- Boston University, Department of General Studies, Boston, MA, USA
| | - Peter M. Mattison
- University of New Mexico, Department of Biology, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Ruizhe Liu
- University of New Mexico, Department of Anthropology, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Mary K. Shenk
- Pennsylvania State University, Department of Anthropology, University Park, PA, USA
| | - Tami Blumenfield
- University of New Mexico, Department of Anthropology, Albuquerque, NM, USA
- Yunnan University, School of Ethnology and Sociology, Kunming, Yunnan, China
| | - Mingjie Su
- Fudan University, MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Shanghai, China
| | - Hui Li
- Fudan University, MOE Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, Shanghai, China
| | - Katherine Wander
- Binghamton University (SUNY), Department of Anthropology, Binghamton, NY, USA
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Mattison SM, Hare D, MacLaren NG, Reynolds AZ, Sum CY, Liu R, Shenk MK, Blumenfield T, Su M, Li H, Wander K. Context Specificity of “Market Integration” among the Matrilineal Mosuo of Southwest China. Current Anthropology 2022. [DOI: 10.1086/719266] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/03/2022]
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10
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Lankes J, Shenk MK, Towner MC, Alam N. Dowry Inflation: Perception or Reality? Popul Res Policy Rev 2022. [DOI: 10.1007/s11113-022-09705-7] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/30/2022]
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Sznajder KK, Wander K, Mattison S, Medina-Romero E, Alam N, Raqib R, Kumar A, Haque F, Blumenfield T, Shenk MK. Labor migration is associated with lower rates of underweight and higher rates of obesity among left-behind wives in rural Bangladesh: a cross-sectional study. Global Health 2021; 17:81. [PMID: 34275481 PMCID: PMC8286616 DOI: 10.1186/s12992-021-00712-5] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/19/2021] [Accepted: 05/27/2021] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
BACKGROUND Among Bangladeshi men, international labor migration has increased ten-fold since 1990 and rural to urban labor migration rates have steadily increased. Labor migration of husbands has increased household wealth and redefined women's roles, which have both positively and negatively impacted the health of wives "left behind". We examined the direct and indirect effects of husband labor migration on chronic disease indicators and outcomes among wives of labor migrants. METHODS We collected survey, anthropometric, and biomarker data from a random sample of women in Matlab, Bangladesh, in 2018. We assessed associations between husband's migration and indicators of adiposity and chronic disease. We used structural equation modeling to assess the direct effect of labor migration on chronic disease, undernutrition, and adiposity, and the mediating roles of income, food security, and proportion of food purchased from the bazaar. Qualitative interviews and participant observation were used to help provide context for the associations we found in our quantitative results. FINDINGS Among study participants, 9.0% were underweight, 50.9% were iron deficient, 48.3% were anemic, 39.6% were obese, 27.3% had a waist circumference over 35 in., 33.1% had a high whole-body fat percentage, 32.8% were diabetic, and 32.9% had hypertension. Slightly more women in the sample (55.3%) had a husband who never migrated than had a husband who had ever migrated (44.9%). Of those whose husband had ever migrated, 25.8% had a husband who was a current international migrant. Wives of migrants were less likely to be underweight, and more likely to have indicators of excess adiposity, than wives of non-migrants. Protection against undernutrition was attributable primarily to increased food security among wives of migrants, while increased adiposity was attributable primarily to purchasing a higher proportion of food from the bazaar; however, there was a separate path through income, which qualitative findings suggest may be related to reduced physical activity. CONCLUSIONS Labor migration, and particularly international labor migration, intensifies the nutrition transition in Bangladesh through increasing wealth, changing how foods are purchased, and reducing physical activity, which both decreases risk for undernutrition and increases risk for excess adiposity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristin K Sznajder
- Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine Department of Public Health Sciences, Hershey, USA.
| | - Katherine Wander
- Binghamton University State University of New York Department of Anthropology, Binghamton, USA
| | - Siobhan Mattison
- University of New Mexico Department of Anthropology, Albuquerque, USA
| | | | | | | | | | | | - Tami Blumenfield
- University of New Mexico Department of Anthropology, Albuquerque, USA
| | - Mary K Shenk
- Pennsylvania State University Department of Anthropology, State College, USA.
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12
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Shenk MK, Morse A, Mattison SM, Sear R, Alam N, Raqib R, Kumar A, Haque F, Blumenfield T, Shaver J, Sosis R, Wander K. Social support, nutrition and health among women in rural Bangladesh: complex tradeoffs in allocare, kin proximity and support network size. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2021; 376:20200027. [PMID: 33938271 PMCID: PMC8090824 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2020.0027] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 03/04/2021] [Indexed: 01/26/2023] Open
Abstract
Malnutrition among women of reproductive age is a significant public health concern in low- and middle-income countries. Of particular concern are undernutrition from underweight and iron deficiency, along with overweight and obesity, all of which have negative health consequences for mothers and children. Accumulating evidence suggests that risk for poor nutritional outcomes may be mitigated by social support, yet how social support is measured varies tremendously and its effects likely vary by age, kinship and reproductive status. We examine the effects of different measures of social support on weight and iron nutrition among 677 randomly sampled women from rural Bangladesh. While we find that total support network size mitigates risk for underweight, other results point to a potential tradeoff in the effects of kin proximity, with nearby adult children associated with both lower risk for underweight and obesity and higher risk for iron deficiency and anaemia. Social support from kin may then enhance energy balance but not diet quality. Results also suggest that a woman's network of caregivers might reflect their greater need for help, as those who received more help with childcare and housework had worse iron nutrition. Overall, although some findings support the hypothesis that social support can be protective, others emphasize that social relationships often have neutral or negative effects, illustrating the kinds of tradeoffs expected from an evolutionary perspective. The complexities of these effects deserve attention in future work, particularly within public health, where what is defined as 'social support' is often assumed to be positive. This article is part of the theme issue 'Multidisciplinary perspectives on social support and maternal-child health'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary K. Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Anne Morse
- Department of Sociology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - Siobhán M. Mattison
- Department of Anthropology, University of NewMexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1466, USA
- US National Science Foundation, Alexandria, VA, USA
| | - Rebecca Sear
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Nurul Alam
- The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | - Rubhana Raqib
- The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | - Anjan Kumar
- The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | - Farjana Haque
- The International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Dhaka, Bangladesh
| | - Tami Blumenfield
- Department of Anthropology, University of NewMexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131-1466, USA
- Yunnan University, Kunming, Yunnan, People's Republic of China
| | - John Shaver
- Division of Humanities, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
| | - Richard Sosis
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT 06269, USA
| | - Katherine Wander
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, NY 13902-6000, USA
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13
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Starkweather KE, Shenk MK, McElreath R. Biological constraints and socioecological influences on women's pursuit of risk and the sexual division of labour. Evol Hum Sci 2020; 2:e59. [PMID: 37588367 PMCID: PMC10427445 DOI: 10.1017/ehs.2020.60] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Abstract
Evolutionary treatments of women's work and the sexual division of labour derive from sexual selection theory and focus on an observed cross-cultural trend: tasks performed by women tend to be more compatible with childcare and produce less economic risk than tasks performed by men. Evolutionary models emphasize biological sex differences and opportunity costs to understand this pattern of behaviour, yet deviations remain poorly understood. We examine variation in women's work among Shodagor fisher-traders in Bangladesh with the goal of explaining such deviations related to women's work. First, we demonstrate that women's trading produces higher variance returns than men's work - a pattern not previously quantified. Next, we test predictions from the economy of scale model to understand the socioecological circumstances associated with trading. We suggest that relaxing model assumptions around biological constraints may elucidate key circumstances under which members of one gender should systematically engage in work that is incompatible with childcare and/or produces higher levels of economic risk. Results indicate that biological sex differences are insufficient to explain gendered patterns of behaviour but removal of childcare constraints and comparative advantages related to opportunity costs can explain adherence to and deviation from trends in women's work and the division of labour.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kathrine E. Starkweather
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131, USA
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
| | - Mary K. Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA
| | - Richard McElreath
- Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
- Department of Anthropology, University of Illinois Chicago, Chicago, IL, USA
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14
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Hernandez M, Shenk MK, Perry GH. Factors influencing taxonomic unevenness in scientific research: a mixed-methods case study of non-human primate genomic sequence data generation. R Soc Open Sci 2020; 7:201206. [PMID: 33047065 PMCID: PMC7540799 DOI: 10.1098/rsos.201206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/07/2020] [Accepted: 09/07/2020] [Indexed: 05/06/2023]
Abstract
Scholars have noted major disparities in the extent of scientific research conducted among taxonomic groups. Such trends may cascade if future scientists gravitate towards study species with more data and resources already available. As new technologies emerge, do research studies employing these technologies continue these disparities? Here, using non-human primates as a case study, we identified disparities in massively parallel genomic sequencing data and conducted interviews with scientists who produced these data to learn their motivations when selecting study species. We tested whether variables including publication history and conservation status were significantly correlated with publicly available sequence data in the NCBI Sequence Read Archive (SRA). Of the 179.6 terabases (Tb) of sequence data in SRA for 519 non-human primate species, 135 Tb (approx. 75%) were from only five species: rhesus macaques, olive baboons, green monkeys, chimpanzees and crab-eating macaques. The strongest predictors of the amount of genomic data were the total number of non-medical publications (linear regression; r 2 = 0.37; p = 6.15 × 10-12) and number of medical publications (r 2 = 0.27; p = 9.27 × 10-9). In a generalized linear model, the number of non-medical publications (p = 0.00064) and closer phylogenetic distance to humans (p = 0.024) were the most predictive of the amount of genomic sequence data. We interviewed 33 authors of genomic data-producing publications and analysed their responses using grounded theory. Consistent with our quantitative results, authors mentioned their choice of species was motivated by sample accessibility, prior published work and relevance to human medicine. Our mixed-methods approach helped identify and contextualize some of the driving factors behind species-uneven patterns of scientific research, which can now be considered by funding agencies, scientific societies and research teams aiming to align their broader goals with future data generation efforts.
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Affiliation(s)
- Margarita Hernandez
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Authors for correspondence: Margarita Hernandez e-mail:
| | - Mary K. Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
| | - George H. Perry
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Department of Biology, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Huck Institutes of the Life Sciences, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA 16802, USA
- Authors for correspondence: George H. Perry e-mail:
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15
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Shaver JH, Power EA, Purzycki BG, Watts J, Sear R, Shenk MK, Sosis R, Bulbulia JA. Church attendance and alloparenting: an analysis of fertility, social support and child development among English mothers. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2020; 375:20190428. [PMID: 32594868 PMCID: PMC7423262 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0428] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Many aspects of religious rituals suggest they provide adaptive benefits. Studies across societies consistently find that investments in ritual behaviour return high levels of cooperation. Another line of research finds that alloparental support to mothers increases maternal fertility and improves child outcomes. Although plausible, whether religious cooperation extends to alloparenting and/or affects child development remains unclear. Using 10 years of data collected from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC), we test the predictions that church attendance is positively associated with social support and fertility (n = 8207 to n = 8209), and that social support is positively associated with fertility and child development (n = 1766 to n = 6561). Results show that: (i) relative to not attending, church attendance is positively related to a woman's social network support and aid from co-religionists, (ii) aid from co-religionists is associated with increased family size, while (iii) fertility declines with extra-religious social network support. Moreover, while extra-religious social network support decreased over time, co-religionist aid remained constant. These findings suggest that religious and secular networks differ in their longevity and have divergent influences on a woman's fertility. We find some suggestive evidence that support to mothers and aid from co-religionists is positively associated with a child's cognitive ability at later stages of development. Findings provide mixed support for the premise that ritual, such as church attendance, is part of a strategy that returns high levels of support, fertility and improved child outcomes. Identifying the diversity and scope of cooperative breeding strategies across global religions presents an intriguing new horizon in the evolutionary study of religious systems. This article is part of the theme issue 'Ritual renaissance: new insights into the most human of behaviours'.
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Affiliation(s)
- John H Shaver
- Religion Programme, School of Social Sciences, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.,Centre for Research on Evolution, Belief and Behaviour, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand
| | - Eleanor A Power
- Department of Methodology, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK
| | - Benjamin G Purzycki
- Department of the Study of Religion, Aarhus University, Jens Chr. Skous Vej 3, Building 1451, 525, 8000 Aarhus C, Denmark
| | - Joseph Watts
- Religion Programme, School of Social Sciences, University of Otago, PO Box 56, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.,Centre for Research on Evolution, Belief and Behaviour, University of Otago, Dunedin 9054, New Zealand.,Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany
| | - Rebecca Sear
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Keppel Street, London WC1E 7HT, UK
| | - Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, 16801, USA
| | - Richard Sosis
- Department of Anthropology, University of Connecticut, U-2176, Storrs, CT 06269-2176, USA
| | - Joseph A Bulbulia
- Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History, Kahlaische Strasse 10, 07745 Jena, Germany.,Faculty of Arts, University of Auckland, Private Bag 92019, Auckland 1142, New Zealand
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16
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Wander K, Su M, Mattison PM, Sum CY, Witt CC, Shenk MK, Blumenfield T, Li H, Mattison SM. High-altitude adaptations mitigate risk for hypertension and diabetes-associated anemia. Am J Phys Anthropol 2020; 172:156-164. [PMID: 32324912 DOI: 10.1002/ajpa.24032] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2019] [Revised: 01/13/2020] [Accepted: 02/19/2020] [Indexed: 12/16/2022]
Abstract
BACKGROUND Human populations native to high altitude exhibit numerous genetic adaptations to hypobaric hypoxia. Among Tibetan plateau peoples, these include increased vasodilation and uncoupling of erythropoiesis from hypoxia. OBJECTIVE/METHODS We tested the hypothesis that these high-altitude adaptations reduce risk for hypertension and diabetes-associated anemia among the Mosuo, a Tibetan-descended population in the mountains of Southwest China that is experiencing rapid economic change and increased chronic disease risk. RESULTS Hypertension was substantially less common among Mosuo than low-altitude Han populations, and models fit to the Han predicted higher probability of hypertension than models fit to the Mosuo. Diabetes was positively associated with anemia among the Han, but not the Mosuo. CONCLUSION The Mosuo have lower risk for hypertension and diabetes-associated anemia than the Han, supporting the hypothesis that high-altitude adaptations affecting blood and circulation intersect with chronic disease processes to lower risk for these outcomes. As chronic diseases continue to grow as global health concerns, it is important to investigate how they may be affected by local genetic adaptations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Katherine Wander
- Department of Anthropology, Binghamton University (SUNY), Binghamton, New York, USA
| | - Mingjie Su
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, B&R International Joint Laboratory of Eurasian Anthropology, School of Life Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
| | - Peter M Mattison
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
| | - Chun-Yi Sum
- Department of Anthropology, University of Rochester, Rochester, New York, USA
| | - Christopher C Witt
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
| | - Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania, USA
| | - Tami Blumenfield
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA.,School of Ethnology and Sociology, Yunnan University, Kunming, China
| | - Hui Li
- Ministry of Education Key Laboratory of Contemporary Anthropology, B&R International Joint Laboratory of Eurasian Anthropology, School of Life Science, Fudan University, Shanghai, China
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17
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Scelza BA, Prall SP, Blumenfield T, Crittenden AN, Gurven M, Kline M, Koster J, Kushnick G, Mattison SM, Pillsworth E, Shenk MK, Starkweather K, Stieglitz J, Sum CY, Yamaguchi K, McElreath R. Patterns of paternal investment predict cross-cultural variation in jealous response. Nat Hum Behav 2019; 4:20-26. [PMID: 31332300 DOI: 10.1038/s41562-019-0654-y] [Citation(s) in RCA: 31] [Impact Index Per Article: 6.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/04/2018] [Accepted: 06/12/2019] [Indexed: 11/09/2022]
Abstract
Long-lasting, romantic partnerships are a universal feature of human societies, but almost as ubiquitous is the risk of instability when one partner strays. Jealous response to the threat of infidelity is well studied, but most empirical work on the topic has focused on a proposed sex difference in the type of jealousy (sexual or emotional) that men and women find most upsetting, rather than on how jealous response varies1,2. This stems in part from the predominance of studies using student samples from industrialized populations, which represent a relatively homogenous group in terms of age, life history stage and social norms3,4. To better understand variation in jealous response, we conducted a 2-part study in 11 populations (1,048 individuals). In line with previous work, we find a robust sex difference in the classic forced-choice jealousy task. However, we also show substantial variation in jealous response across populations. Using parental investment theory, we derived several predictions about what might trigger such variation. We find that greater paternal investment and lower frequency of extramarital sex are associated with more severe jealous response. Thus, partner jealousy appears to be a facultative response, reflective of the variable risks and costs of men's investment across societies.
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Affiliation(s)
| | | | | | | | | | | | | | - Geoff Kushnick
- Australian National University, Canberra, ACT, Australia
| | - Siobhán M Mattison
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | | | - Mary K Shenk
- Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, USA
| | | | | | | | | | - Richard McElreath
- Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Leipzig, Germany
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18
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Shenk MK, Begley RO, Nolin DA, Swiatek A. When does matriliny fail? The frequencies and causes of transitions to and from matriliny estimated from a de novo coding of a cross-cultural sample. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 374:20190006. [PMID: 31303165 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0006] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The question of when and why societies have transitioned away from matriliny to other types of kinship systems-and when and why they transition towards matriliny-has a long history in anthropology, one that is heavily engaged with both evolutionary theory and cross-cultural research methods. This article presents tabulations from a new coding of ethnographic documents from the Standard Cross-Cultural Sample (SCCS), tallying claims of transitions in kinship systems both away from and to matriliny using various levels of stringency. We then use our counts as the outcome variables in a set of Bayesian analyses that simultaneously estimate the probability of a transition occurring given societal covariates alongside the conditional probability of detecting a transition given the volume of ethnographic data available to code. Our goal is to estimate the cross-cultural and comparative frequency of transitions away from and to matriliny, as well as to explore potential causes underlying these patterns. We find that transitions away from matriliny have been significantly more common than 'reverse transitions' to matriliny. Our evidence suggests that both rates may be, in part, an artefact of the colonial and globalizing period during which the data comprising much of the current ethnographic record were recorded. Analyses of the correlates of transitions away from matriliny are consistent with several of the key causal arguments made by anthropologists over the past century, especially with respect to subsistence transition (to pastoralism, intensive agriculture and market economies), social complexity and colonialism, highlighting the importance of ecological factors in such transitions. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University , 410 Carpenter Building , University Park , PA 16802 USA
| | - Ryan O Begley
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University , 410 Carpenter Building , University Park , PA 16802 USA
| | - David A Nolin
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University , 410 Carpenter Building , University Park , PA 16802 USA
| | - Andrew Swiatek
- Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University , 410 Carpenter Building , University Park , PA 16802 USA
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19
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Borgerhoff Mulder M, Towner MC, Baldini R, Beheim BA, Bowles S, Colleran H, Gurven M, Kramer KL, Mattison SM, Nolin DA, Scelza BA, Schniter E, Sear R, Shenk MK, Voland E, Ziker J. Differences between sons and daughters in the intergenerational transmission of wealth. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 374:20180076. [PMID: 31303159 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2018.0076] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Persistent interest lies in gender inequality, especially with regard to the favouring of sons over daughters. Economists are concerned with how privilege is transmitted across generations, and anthropologists have long studied sex-biased inheritance norms. There has, however, been no focused cross-cultural investigation of how parent-offspring correlations in wealth vary by offspring sex. We estimate these correlations for 38 wealth measures, including somatic and relational wealth, from 15 populations ranging from hunter-gatherers to small-scale farmers. Although small sample sizes limit our statistical power, we find no evidence of ubiquitous male bias, at least as inferred from comparing parent-son and parent-daughter correlations. Rather we find wide variation in signatures of sex bias, with evidence of both son and daughter-biased transmission. Further, we introduce a model that helps pinpoint the conditions under which simple mid-point parent-offspring wealth correlations can reveal information about sex-biased parental investment. Our findings are relevant to the study of female-biased kinship by revealing just how little normative descriptors of kinship systems, such as patrilineal inheritance, capture intergenerational correlations in wealth, and how variable parent-son and parent-daughter correlations can be. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals'.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Mary C Towner
- 3 Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University Stillwater , Stillwater, OK , USA
| | - Ryan Baldini
- 2 Graduate Group in Ecology, University of California Davis , Davis, CA , USA
| | - Bret A Beheim
- 4 Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology , Leipzig, Sachsen , Germany
| | | | - Heidi Colleran
- 6 Department of Linguistic and Cultural Evolution, Max Planck Institute for the Science of Human History , Jena, Thüringen , Germany
| | - Michael Gurven
- 7 Department of Anthropology, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, CA , USA
| | - Karen L Kramer
- 8 Department of Anthropology, University of Utah , Salt Lake City, UT , USA
| | - Siobhán M Mattison
- 9 Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico , Albuquerque, NM , USA
| | - David A Nolin
- 10 Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA , USA
| | - Brooke A Scelza
- 11 Department of Anthropology, University of California Los Angeles , Los Angeles, CA , USA
| | - Eric Schniter
- 12 Economic Science Institute Chapman University , CA 92866
| | - Rebecca Sear
- 13 Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine , London , UK
| | - Mary K Shenk
- 10 Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA , USA
| | - Eckart Voland
- 14 Institut fur Philosophie, Justus Liebig Universitat Giessen , Giessen, Hessen , Germany
| | - John Ziker
- 15 Department of Anthropology, Boise State University , Boise, ID , USA
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20
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Mattison SM, Shenk MK, Thompson ME, Borgerhoff Mulder M, Fortunato L. The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2019; 374:20190007. [PMID: 31303170 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2019.0007] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/17/2022] Open
Abstract
Female-biased kinship (FBK) arises in numerous species and in diverse human cultures, suggesting deep evolutionary roots to female-oriented social structures. The significance of FBK has been debated for centuries in human studies, where it has often been described as difficult to explain. At the same time, studies of FBK in non-human animals point to its apparent benefits for longevity, social complexity and reproduction. Are female-biased social systems evolutionarily stable and under what circumstances? What are the causes and consequences of FBK? The purpose of this theme issue is to consolidate efforts towards understanding the evolutionary significance and stability of FBK in humans and other mammals. The issue includes broad theoretical and empirical reviews as well as specific case studies addressing the social and ecological correlates of FBK across taxa, time and space. It leverages a comparative approach to test existing hypotheses and presents novel arguments that aim to expand our understanding of how males and females negotiate kinship across diverse contexts in ways that lead to the expression of female biases in kinship behaviour and social structure. This article is part of the theme issue 'The evolution of female-biased kinship in humans and other mammals'.
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Affiliation(s)
- Siobhán M Mattison
- 1 Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM 87131 , USA
| | - Mary K Shenk
- 2 Department of Anthropology, Pennsylvania State University , University Park, PA 16802 , USA
| | | | | | - Laura Fortunato
- 4 Department of Anthropology, Magdalen College, University of Oxford , Oxford, OX1 4AU , UK.,5 Santa Fe Institute , Santa Fe, NM 87501 , USA
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21
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Arsdale AP, Shenk MK. Biological and Evolutionary Perspectives in
American Anthropologist
: An Editorial Provocation. American Anthropologist 2019. [DOI: 10.1111/aman.13206] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/01/2022]
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22
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Chagnon NA, Lynch RF, Shenk MK, Hames R, Flinn MV. Cross-cousin marriage among the Yanomamö shows evidence of parent-offspring conflict and mate competition between brothers. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2017; 114:E2590-E2607. [PMID: 28289230 PMCID: PMC5380100 DOI: 10.1073/pnas.1618655114] [Citation(s) in RCA: 16] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Marriage in many traditional societies often concerns the institutionalized exchange of reproductive partners among groups of kin. Such exchanges most often involve cross-cousins-marriage with the child of a parent's opposite-sex sibling-but it is unclear who benefits from these exchanges. Here we analyze the fitness consequences of marrying relatives among the Yanomamö from the Amazon. When individuals marry close kin, we find that (i) both husbands and wives have slightly lower fertility; (ii) offspring suffer from inbreeding depression; (iii) parents have more grandchildren; and (iv) siblings, especially brothers, benefit when their opposite-sex siblings marry relatives but not when their same-sex siblings do. Therefore, individuals seem to benefit when their children or opposite-sex siblings marry relatives but suffer costs when they, their parents, or same-sex siblings do. These asymmetric fitness outcomes suggest conflicts between parents and offspring and among siblings over optimal mating strategies. Parental control of marriages is reinforced by cultural norms prescribing cross-cousin marriage. We posit that local mate competition combined with parental control over marriages may escalate conflict between same-sex siblings who compete over mates, while simultaneously forging alliances between opposite-sex siblings. If these relationships are carried forward to subsequent generations, they may drive bilateral cross-cousin marriage rules. This study provides insights into the evolutionary importance of how kinship and reciprocity underlie conflicts over who controls mate choice and the origins of cross-cousin marriage prescriptions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Napoleon A Chagnon
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-1440;
| | - Robert F Lynch
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-1440
| | - Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-1440
| | - Raymond Hames
- Department of Anthropology, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, NE 68588-0368
| | - Mark V Flinn
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211-1440
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Abstract
Understanding how systems of political and economic inequality evolved from relatively egalitarian origins has long been a focus of anthropological inquiry. Many hypotheses have been suggested to link socio-ecological features with the rise and spread of inequality, and empirical tests of these hypotheses in prehistoric and extant societies are increasing. In this review, we synthesize several streams of theory relevant to understanding the evolutionary origins, spread, and adaptive significance of inequality. We argue that while inequality may be produced by a variety of localized processes, its evolution is fundamentally dependent on the economic defensibility and transmissibility of wealth. Furthermore, these properties of wealth could become persistent drivers of inequality only following a shift to a more stable climate in the Holocene. We conclude by noting several key areas for future empirical research, emphasizing the need for more analyses of contemporary shifts toward institutionalized inequality as well as prehistoric cases.
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Shenk MK, Kaplan HS, Hooper PL. Status competition, inequality, and fertility: implications for the demographic transition. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150150. [PMID: 27022077 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0150] [Citation(s) in RCA: 32] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/08/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The role that social status plays in small-scale societies suggests that status may be important for understanding the evolution of human fertility decisions, and for understanding how such decisions play out in modern contexts. This paper explores whether modelling competition for status--in the sense of relative rank within a society--can help shed light on fertility decline and the demographic transition. We develop a model of how levels of inequality and status competition affect optimal investment by parents in the embodied capital (health, strength, and skills) and social status of offspring, focusing on feedbacks between individual decisions and socio-ecological conditions. We find that conditions similar to those in demographic transition societies yield increased investment in both embodied capital and social status, generating substantial decreases in fertility, particularly under conditions of high inequality and intense status competition. We suggest that a complete explanation for both fertility variation in small-scale societies and modern fertility decline will take into account the effects of status competition and inequality.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, 107 Swallow Hall, Columbia, MIMO, USA
| | - Hillard S Kaplan
- Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA
| | - Paul L Hooper
- Department of Anthropology, Emory University, 1557 Dickey Drive, Atlanta, GA, USA
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25
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Snopkowski K, Towner MC, Shenk MK, Colleran H. Pathways from education to fertility decline: a multi-site comparative study. Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150156. [PMID: 27022083 PMCID: PMC4822436 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0156] [Citation(s) in RCA: 25] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/06/2016] [Indexed: 11/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Women's education has emerged as a central predictor of fertility decline, but the many ways that education affects fertility have not been subject to detailed comparative investigation. Taking an evolutionary biosocial approach, we use structural equation modelling to examine potential pathways between education and fertility including: infant/child mortality, women's participation in the labour market, husband's education, social network influences, and contraceptive use or knowledge across three very different contexts: Matlab, Bangladesh; San Borja, Bolivia; and rural Poland. Using a comparable set of variables, we show that the pathways by which education affects fertility differ in important ways, yet also show key similarities. For example, we find that across all three contexts, education is associated with delayed age at first birth via increasing women's labour-force participation, but this pathway only influences fertility in rural Poland. In Matlab and San Borja, education is associated with lower local childhood mortality, which influences fertility, but this pathway is not important in rural Poland. Similarities across sites suggest that there are common elements in how education drives demographic transitions cross-culturally, but the differences suggest that local socioecologies also play an important role in the relationship between education and fertility decline.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kristin Snopkowski
- Department of Anthropology, Boise State University, 1910 University Drive, Boise, ID 83725, USA
| | - Mary C Towner
- Department of Integrative Biology, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, OK 74078, USA
| | - Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211, USA
| | - Heidi Colleran
- Institute for Advanced Study in Toulouse, Toulouse School of Economics, Toulouse 31015, France
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Sear R, Lawson DW, Kaplan H, Shenk MK. Understanding variation in human fertility: what can we learn from evolutionary demography? Philos Trans R Soc Lond B Biol Sci 2016; 371:20150144. [PMID: 27022071 PMCID: PMC4822424 DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2015.0144] [Citation(s) in RCA: 46] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.8] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 02/18/2016] [Indexed: 01/09/2023] Open
Abstract
Decades of research on human fertility has presented a clear picture of how fertility varies, including its dramatic decline over the last two centuries in most parts of the world. Why fertility varies, both between and within populations, is not nearly so well understood. Fertility is a complex phenomenon, partly physiologically and partly behaviourally determined, thus an interdisciplinary approach is required to understand it. Evolutionary demographers have focused on human fertility since the 1980s. The first wave of evolutionary demographic research made major theoretical and empirical advances, investigating variation in fertility primarily in terms of fitness maximization. Research focused particularly on variation within high-fertility populations and small-scale subsistence societies and also yielded a number of hypotheses for why fitness maximization seems to break down as fertility declines during the demographic transition. A second wave of evolutionary demography research on fertility is now underway, paying much more attention to the cultural and psychological mechanisms underpinning fertility. It is also engaging with the complex, multi-causal nature of fertility variation, and with understanding fertility in complex modern and transitioning societies. Here, we summarize the history of evolutionary demographic work on human fertility, describe the current state of the field, and suggest future directions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Rebecca Sear
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - David W Lawson
- Department of Population Health, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK
| | - Hillard Kaplan
- Department of Anthropology, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque, NM, USA
| | - Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology and Life Sciences & Society Program, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
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Ellsworth RM, Shenk MK, Bailey DH, Walker RS. Comparative study of reproductive skew and pair-bond stability using genealogies from 80 small-scale human societies. Am J Hum Biol 2015; 28:335-42. [DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.22785] [Citation(s) in RCA: 4] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.4] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/22/2015] [Revised: 07/27/2015] [Accepted: 08/13/2015] [Indexed: 11/06/2022] Open
Affiliation(s)
- Ryan M. Ellsworth
- Department of Anthropology and Sociology; Webster University; St. Louis Missouri 63119
| | - Mary K. Shenk
- Department of Anthropology; University of Missouri; Columbia Missouri 65211
| | - Drew H. Bailey
- School of Education; University of California, Irvine; Irvine California 92697
| | - Robert S. Walker
- Department of Anthropology; University of Missouri; Columbia Missouri 65211
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Abstract
Kinship was one of the key areas of research interest among anthropologists in the nineteenth century, one of the most hotly debated areas of theory in the early and mid-twentieth century, and yet an area of waning interest by the end of the twentieth century. Since then, the study of kinship has experienced a revitalization, with concomitant disputes over how best to proceed. This special issue brings together recent studies of kinship by scientific anthropologists employing evolutionary theory and quantitative methods. We argue that the melding of the evolutionary theoretical perspective with quantitative and ethnographic methodologies has strengthened and reinvigorated the study of kinship by synthesizing and extending existing research via rigorous analyses of evidence.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, 107 Swallow Hall, Columbia, MO 65211-1440, USA.
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Shenk MK. Testing three evolutionary models of the demographic transition: Patterns of fertility and age at marriage in urban South India. Am J Hum Biol 2009; 21:501-11. [PMID: 19408251 DOI: 10.1002/ajhb.20943] [Citation(s) in RCA: 24] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/10/2022] Open
Abstract
Over the last three decades many authors have addressed the demographic transition from the perspective of evolutionary theory. Some authors have emphasized parental investment factors such as the costs of raising children, others have emphasized the effects of mortality and other forms of risk, and others have emphasized the biased transmission of cultural norms from people of high status. Yet the literature says little about the relative strengths of each of these types of motivations or about which ones are more likely to serve as the primary impetus for large-scale demographic change. In this paper, I examine how each of these factors has influenced the demographic transition in urban South India during the course of the 20th century using two measures of fertility transition: number of surviving children and age at marriage. I find that investment-related, risk-related, and cultural transmission predictors all have significant individual effects on the outcome variables, which persist when they are entered in combination. When the three types of predictors are compared, however, investment-related models appear to provide more robust explanations for patterns in both fertility and age of marriage.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mary K Shenk
- Department of Anthropology, University of Missouri, Columbia, 65211-1440, USA.
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