@haneuljang.bsky.social
Anthropologist studying motherhood, cooperative foraging & childcare, and knowledge transmission among BaYaka foragers in the Congolese rainforest Research scientist @ird-fr.bsky.social https://sites.google.com/view/haneuljang
Thanks to the many co-authors on this piece (shout-outs below) and to a number of colleagues for critical feedback. We looking forward to further constructive engagement on this topic.
One historical contingency that has led to much confusion was Sherwood Washburn's decision to call the famous conference Man the Hunter. This was against the pleading of Richard Lee and others.
The conference was progressive in many ways, but the title is stuck in the past.
One common error is to equate Washburn and Lancaster's chapter (The Evolution of Hunting) at the Man the Hunter conference with the entire volume.
We show this is a mistake: there was tremendous viewpoint diversity at the conference, and their chapter was not presented at the conference.
We show that this doesn't exist in any unified sense. The history is messy and diverse. Let's get specific on the exact models we're critiquing.
So how should we talk about Man the Hunter? Our primary suggestion is this: Let's avoid critiquing a 'general' Man the Hunter paradigm.
We also review how the study of contemporary hunter-gatherers have added to our knowledge of human evolution. Briefly, HGs have been a critical source of information when considered with care and skepticism.
Some great plots here made by @edhagen.net
The scientific study of hunter-gatherers has long been at odds with the vision presented by Dart and Ardrey. There was mutual disdain between these thinkers. Thus, we should not casually conflate them.
There is no basis for equating Dart and Ardrey and the Killer Ape Theory with the Man the Hunter conference of 1966, or with human behavioral ecology, as has been common in the recent literature.
In this paper, we tackle the intellectual history of this concept and its various meanings.
We distinguish between popular versions of this idea (Dart and Ardrey and the Killer Ape) and more scientific ones, showing that there was little intellectual interaction between these strands of thought.
I’m happy to announce that our paper "The Meanings and Dividends of Man the Hunter" has now been published in Evolution and Human Behavior.
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
"Man the Hunter" is often conflated with Dart's "killer ape theory"; A pity because, though imperfect, the MTH conference was a departure from previous Hobbesian colonial Hunter-Gatherer narratives.
In this new Target Article we map out some of that intellectual history.
✨New Perspective out w/ Wenning Deng and @fearbrain.bsky.social in @cp-iscience.bsky.social ! We argue that social foraging gives us a unifying, and ecologically grounded way to study how decisions unfold across levels — from individuals and dyads to collectives.
www.cell.com/iscience/ful...
🚨 Job Alert: Professorship in Evolutionary Anthropology / Primatology at University of Zurich, focused on understanding evolutionary and cultural evolutionary foundations of gender-based inequality and violence, with research in non-human primates.
jobs.uzh.ch/job-vacancie...
Transmission of MPXV: from a squirrel to a mangaby - long-term observations and genetic analysis allow to find the transmission path in retrospect. Another good reason to invest into long-term field research.
www.nature.com/articles/s41...
Looking forward to work with @fierycushman.bsky.social and @rebeccasaxe.bsky.social on the moral psychology of authority!
A position with prospects! We offer excellent researchers again the possibility to apply for a position as a Leader of a Lise Meitner Research Group in all areas of #science. Applications are possible between February 11th and April 15th, 2026. www.mpg.de/lise-meitner... #lisemeitnergroups
A new podcast interview by @ilarimakela.bsky.social with Richard B. Lee about Man the Hunter! Should be fascinating.
onhumans.substack.com/p/the-origin...
📢 New Paper 🚨
Hadza food-sharing is egalitarian, yet offers in giving games have never matched the equitable redistribution seen in real life.
In this study, we allowed people to give *or* take. Lifelike equitable distributions only appeared when people took from peers in surplus.
bit.ly/4kvLOwA
Thrilled to share our latest paper, out now in Science Advances! We explored the development of cooperative behaviors — fairness, trustworthiness, forgiveness, & honesty — across five societies, culturally contextualizing them & seeing how they correlate. (1/5) www.science.org/doi/full/10....
🚨WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT🚨
EHBEA wants to congratulate @nicolewalasek.bsky.social on earning the EHBEA Award of New Investigator👏
🚨WINNER ANNOUNCEMENT🚨
EHBEA wants to congratulate @tvpollet.bsky.social
on earning the EHBEA Award on Services to the Community 👏
🚨WINNER ANNOUNCEMET🚨
EHBEA wants to congratulate @drboothroyd.bsky.social and @sheinalew.bsky.social on earning the 2026 EHBEA Award in Excellence in Public Communication and Outreach👏
@durhampsych.bsky.social
@durham.ac.uk
🚨 New Paper Alert!
We investigated the developmental trajectories of intra-ethnic and inter-ethnic social norm acquisition among BaYaka and Bandongo in northern Rep. Congo, a community where inter-ethnic cooperation is common. We found that...
journals.plos.org/plosone/arti...
Very happy to see our ice-fishing paper on the cover of @science.org this week! 🎣🎉
We tracked large groups of Finnish competitive ice-fishers to study how social foragers use social information when searching for resources. 🐟
Link: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/... (contact me for open access)
Great to read Vivek's interview with Bob - lots of interesting things here. And not just the insights into Binford's data collection 😱. Thanks to both Vivek and Bob for the publication!
I was surprised by children's large contribution to family food production in my hunter-gatherer family simulation. Of course, they're eating most of this food, too! From this paper linking the evolution of menopause to family energy balance: menopause-preprint.wisp.place 🧪 #BioAnth
Please help spread the word on this, especially to those who may be feeling cold winds towards their research.
We’ve opened the call for our International Fellowships, enabling early career researchers to work for two years at a UK research institution
www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/sche...
New article in Hunter Gatherer Research!
Foraging societies practice consensus-based politics. We conduct a xc review and argue that it helps to boost collective intelligence.
Consensus, cooperation and collective intelligence in foraging societies
liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/10.3828/...
Latest crop of early online papers at HGR includes some bangers - if I do say so myself. Not just this report on BaYaka Women's autonomy and my own article about cage traps, but also Sterelny on quasi-darwinian mechanisms in cultural evolution.
www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3...
Our new paper in Hunter-Gatherer Research!
We explored women’s decision-making power within households in two subsistence communities with different gender norms (BaYaka foragers & Bandongo fisher-farmers) in the Congolese rainforest ✨
www.liverpooluniversitypress.co.uk/doi/abs/10.3...