Submitted by Barry Hewlett on July 25, 2008 - 10:57am
Area 1: Statistical phylogenetics and cultural transmission
Hewlett is interested in the evolutionary nature of culture, biocultural nature of human response to emerging diseases, and hunter-gatherer transmission and acquisition of culture. Future projects will include a study of hunter-gatherer play, human responses to Ebola outbreaks in Central Africa and the biocultural evolution of menopause. This project and Lupo's (Area 2) provide a platform for students to design and execute their own research. The projects have field locations at Bagandou, Grima and Ndele in the Central African Republic that are ideal for developing research involving foragers and farmers. Grima and Ndele in the Ngotto Forest Reserve can also be used as staging locales for student projects involving animal populations, including endangered primates such as chimpanzees and gorilla. Lupo and Hewlett are planning a field school to enable American and Central African undergraduates to share education, cultural, and research experience. It will be a collaborative effort involving faculty and students from CURDHACA, a research and curatorial unit of the University of Bangui. Serving as both supervisors and mentors, our IPEM Fellows can share their research ideas and results with these undergraduates, and incorporate them into their research.
