David W Lawson

Welcome.

I am an evolutionary and cultural anthropologist interested in family life, gender and global health. I direct the Applied Evolutionary Anthropology Lab at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Our research aims to better understand conflicts and trade-offs in family relationships, and in turn inform related public/global health practice. To do this we conduct mixed-methods field research, mostly in Tanzania, online surveys and secondary analyses of demographic datasets.

  • Applied evolutionary anthropology is simply the application of insights from evolutionary and anthropological theory to human wellbeing. Emphasis is placed on putting behavior in a broad comparative perspective, both ultimate and proximate causation, mixed methods fieldwork, and addressing contemporary global health challenges. If you would like to know more, this article is good place to start.

    In my own research, I have applied an evolutionary and anthropological lens to topics such as gender roles, the wellbeing implications of marriage practices (e.g. polygynous marriage, ‘child marriage’), intimate partner violence, the demographic transition, children’s work, parenting, and public understanding of global health issues.