Evolution, Cognition, and Culture Seminar Series (a.k.a. The Better Beer Hour)

What is it? Each week we will have a speaker from the University or the surrounding area whose reasearch draws from evolutionary theory, or has relevance for the core objectives of the Evolution, Cognition, and Culture program. We will also take turns provisioning beer and snacks for the group. To see when it's your turn to bring in beer/snacks, click here.

When? Every Thursday, 3:45-4:45, during the 2008 Fall semester.

Where? Anthropology Graduate Student Lounge.

Who? Any students or faculty who are interested.

Why?  It is an excellent opportunity to learn about research going on in the area.

Questions? Contact Richard Sosis at richard.sosis@uconn.edu

Dates:

August 28: Organizational meeting.

September 4: John Shaver (University of Connecticut, Department of Anthropology), "Ritual Feasting and Redistribution in Fiji: Some Preliminary Research."

September 9: Bradley Ruffle (Ben Gurion University, Department of Economics), "Which Way to Cooperate?"
Note: meets at the Anthropology Colloquium Room (404 Beach) from 3:30 - 4:45.

September 11: Howard Kress (University of Connecticut, Department of Anthropology), "Explaining the Demographic Transition in Otavalo, Ecuador: A Comparison of Three Models of the Demographic Transition."
Note: meets at the CHIP Colloquium Room (Room 14) from 3:30 - 5:00.

September 18: W. Penn Handwerker (University of Connecticut, Department of Anthropology), "The Evolution of Choice."

September 25: Darwin Lecture Series. Janet Browne (Harvard University) 4:00PM in Dodd Center. Aramont Professor of the History of Science, Harvard University. Janet Browne will be the lead-off speaker. She is the premier modern biographer of Charles Darwin, the author of the award-winning two volume biography, Charles Darwin: Voyaging (1996) and Charles Darwin: The Power of Place (2003). She also has been one of the editors of the landmark Correspondence of Charles Darwin project at Cambridge University Press, and is the author of several other books, including The Secular Ark: Studies in the History of Biogeography and Darwin's Origin of Species: A Biography (2006).

October 2: Darwin Lecture Series. Daniel C. Dennett (Tufts University) 4:00PM in Dodd Center. Austin B. Fletcher Professor of Philosophy and Co-Director, Center for Cognitive Studies, Tufts University. Daniel C. Dennett is a distinguished philosopher of science who has written widely on Charles Darwin and his influence on many fields of thought. He is the author of many books, including Darwin's Dangerous Idea (1995), Freedom Evolves (2003), and Breaking the Spell (2006).

October 16: Cancelled

October 23: Peter Turchin (University of Connecticut, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology), "Cooperation and Empire: Why do large territorial states tend to arise on steppe frontiers?"
Note: meets at the Anthropology Colloquium Room (404 Beach)

October 30: Bruce Goldman (University of Connecticut, Department of Physiology and Neurobiology), "Unusual patterns of sexual differentiation and sex behaviors associated with eusociality in African mole-rats."

November 6: Patrick Hogan (University of Connecticut, Department of English), "Why the Jaguar Left Her Husband: Understanding Love Stories."

November 13: Natalie Munro (University of Connecticut, Department of Anthropology), "An Archaeological Application of the Prey Model: Intensive Hunting on the Eve of Agriculture in the Levant."

November 20: Benjamin Purzycki (University of Connecticut, Department of Anthropology), "Does God Know if He Will Die?: God's Attributed Knowledge as Socially Strategic."

November 27: Thanksgiving

December 4: Alexia Smith (University of Connecticut, Department of Anthropology), "New Approaches to Examining Ancient Agriculture."