Departmental News

Posted:  May 02, 2023 - 12:00pm

Md. Khaled Bin Oli Bhuiyan has received an NSF Research Experience for Graduate Student Grant to investigate the effects of markets on the timing of life history events among ni-Vanuatu. He will be joining Profs. Mattison and Wallace in Vanuatu this summer to engage in research linking variation in socio-ecologies to household demography and individual health and well-being. 

Abstract

There is significant debate in evolutionary anthropology regarding the extent to which people’s life histories adjust to socio-ecological variation. Certain evolutionary hypotheses suggest that risk and uncertainty lead to shifts toward earlier reproduction, whereas many scholars are skeptical of the extent to which life history traits group together to form “early” or “fast” life histories. This research project uses life history theory to investigate relationships between biological and behavioral life history variation in Vanuatu, a Melanesian island nation experiencing rapid market integration and correspondingly variable pressures to adjust life histories to new socio-economic contexts. Results will inform important debates in evolutionary demography and public health.