Kristen Hawkes is an American anthropologist, currently a professor at

University of Utah The University of Utah (U of U, UofU, or simply The U) is a public research university in Salt Lake City, Utah. It is the flagship institution of the Utah System of Higher Education. The university was established in 1850 as the University of De ...

. In 2021 she was elected to the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS), founded in 1743 in Philadelphia, is a scholarly organization that promotes knowledge in the sciences and humanities through research, professional meetings, publications, library resources, and communit ...

Education

Hawkes received a bachelor's degree in

Sociology Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...

and

Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...

from

Iowa State University Iowa State University of Science and Technology (Iowa State University, Iowa State, or ISU) is a public land-grant research university in Ames, Iowa. Founded in 1858 as the Iowa Agricultural College and Model Farm, Iowa State became one of the n ...

and a Masters in Anthropology from the

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

. She was awarded a PhD in Anthropology for her research into kinship and cooperation among the Binumarien a highland community in

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

Research

Hawkes, an expert in human evolution and sociobiology, is the author of several studies on the “

grandmother hypothesis The grandmother hypothesis is a hypothesis to explain the existence of menopause in human life history by identifying the adaptive value of extended kin networking. It builds on the previously postulated " mother hypothesis" which states that as m ...

,” which asserts that many of the characteristics that distinguish us from our ape ancestors are thanks to the thoughtful care of our mothers' mothers. Her research is based on ethnographic observation studies of hunter-gatherer communities such as the

Aché The Aché ( ) are an indigenous peoples of the Americas, indigenous people of Paraguay. They are hunter-gatherers living in eastern Paraguay. From the earliest Jesuit accounts of the Aché in the 17th century until their peaceful outside contac ...

and Hadza. She has also developed mathematical models to model evolution over time and trace the influence of grandmothers on human lifespan. Combining mathematical modelling and observational studies she also researches the effects of fire on ancient hunter-gatherers.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hawkes, Kristen Year of birth missing (living people) Living people University of Utah faculty 21st-century American anthropologists Members of the United States National Academy of Sciences Members of the American Philosophical Society Behavioral ecology

Education

Research

See also

References