This course considers the distribution and determinants of health and wellbeing in human populations, with an emphasis on low and middle-income nations and a critical stance on the actions of the global health sector. Focus is placed on cultural and social determinants of health, especially in relation to gender. This is an interdisciplinary course, intended primarily for anthropology majors, combining insights from development and population studies, economics, evolutionary and sociocultural anthropology, and beyond.

Behavioral ecology is the primary scientific paradigm devoted to explaining animal behavioral diversity. It applies the principles of evolution by natural selection to account for variation between individuals, populations, and species in terms of adaptive function and ecological contingency. In this course, we will utilize behavioral ecology as a grand theoretical framework to examine human family relationships and cultural diversity in family structure. Each week we will apply theoretical concepts such as life history theory, sexual selection, and kin selection to different aspects of family life. As the course progresses, we will also consider the limitations of behavioral ecology, whether or not its assumptions always hold when addressing human diversity, and compare it to alternative theoretical approaches.

New for Spring 2024! This course takes a scientific and evolutionary lens to cultural phenomena. We will consider the origins of culture in non-humans and humans, and how tendencies to imitate, conform, teach and uphold social norms via punishment and reward shape behavioral variation.