Biocultural Evolution

Catalog description

Are we "stuck" with prehistoric genes in a rapidly changing ecological and cultural environment? What does our evolutionary history really tell us about human nature, health, and well-being? To answer these questions, we must explore the complex interplay between human biology and culture in shaping the human species throughout our evolutionary history - our biocultural evolution. This course is about how we shape our biology, perhaps just as much as it shapes us. Each week, we will explore key topics in human evolution from a biocultural perspective. Through this lens, we will learn how human evolutionary biology shapes our diet, physical activity, reproduction, diseases, and our capacity for culture. In turn, we also examine how our culture has shaped our biological capacities and limitations. Through these explorations, students will critically examine the processes and outcomes of biocultural evolution, including feedbacks between our biology and culture, and the timescales at which evolution occurs.