The sexual division of labour regarding house construction shows a very consistent pattern cross-culturally: women usually construct the shelters in nomadic societies, while in sedentary societies men do it.
Sexual Permissiveness in Polynesia: Was Margaret Mead Right? traditionsofconflict.substack.com/p/sexual-per...
Ritualized treatment of the umbilical cord after birth is common across hunter-gatherer societies traditionsofconflict.substack.com/p/cutting-th...
Higher rates of polygyny are associated with stricter arranged marriages and larger age gaps at first marriage across the hunter-gatherer societies in the Binford and Apostolou datasets. From my talk at HBES
Evolutionary psychologists have claimed that "humans evolved heightened sensitivity to harm directed at women." This excellent (albeit at times gruesome) post makes the point that the ethnographic evidence does not really support this narrative.
Had a good time presenting some of my work on black magic at the cultural evolution society conference
Uses of musical instruments in hunter-gatherer societies traditionsofconflict.substack.com/p/some-uses-...
In many societies, after a child is born, the father is under a variety of restrictions, such as food and work taboos, under the belief that if he undertakes certain kinds of labor or consumes certain foods it would harm the child via sympathetic magic traditionsofconflict.substack.com/p/couvade
“The idea that humans evolved to be protective & sensitive to harm directed towards women appears increasingly popular in evolutionary psych [but] ethnographic evidence conflict with this perspective, [which seems] rooted in contemporary WEIRD values rather than an evolved psychological mechanism”
While I've seen both men and women building Hadza huts, much more often it is women (pictured). The sexual division of labour lit has zeroed in on hunting-vs-gathering; but much less is said about women's differential contributions to water-fetching, food-preparation, cooking, and house-building.
The sexual division of labour regarding house construction shows a very consistent pattern cross-culturally: women usually construct the shelters in nomadic societies, while in sedentary societies men do it.
