I am an evolutionary anthropologist with broad interests in understanding both human evolution and variation in biology and behaviour across human populations. I am also interested in understanding the causes and consequences of variation in social organisation and social behaviour across mammals more generally.
My empirical research has involved quantitative ethnographic fieldwork with Agta foraging communities in the Philippines and with fishing communities in the Brazilian Pantanal. I have also worked on the social behaviour of meerkats in the Kalahari. Specific empirical questions I have worked on include:
what is the kinship structure of hunter-gatherer bands? [LINK]
what are the health consequences of sedentism among the Agta? [LINK]
how do Agta foragers spend their time? [LINK]
what happens during meerkat inter-group interactions? [LINK]
In my theoretical work, I use computational and mathematical models to explore questions such as:
can inclusive fitness theory explain cooperation among affinal kin (in-laws)? [LINK]
do existing models of the coevolution of altruism and war in humans make realistic assumptions about population structure? [LINK]
what factors influence the relatedness structure of animal groups? [LINK]
under what conditions could natural selection favour indiscriminate altruism toward groupmates? [LINK]
