Sarah B. Hrdy

Anthropologist

Curriculum Vitae

Curriculum Vitae [PDF] and Biographical Sketch [PDF]

Personal

Sarah Blaffer Hrdy
Department of Anthropology
University of California
Phone: (530) 752-0745 (department)
sarahhrdy@citrona.com

Born: July 11, 1946
Nationality: U.S.
Married to Daniel B. Hrdy, M.D., Ph.D., three children, born 1977; 1982; 1986.


Education

  • Radcliffe College, A.B. 1969
  • Harvard University, PhD. 1975 (Anthropology)

Honorary Degrees

  • Honorary Doctorate (Science), Harvard University, June 4, 2009.  [pdf]
  • Honorary Doctorate (Humanistics), University of Humanistics, Utrecht, January 29, 2009. [pdf]

Honors

  • Phi Beta Kappa
  • Elected California Academy of Sciences, 1985
  • Geneva Sayre Lecturer, Russell Sage College, 1985
  • Guggenheim Fellow, 1987–1988
  • Radcliffe Graduate Society Medal, 1988
  • Elected National Academy of Sciences, 1990
  • Elected Fellow, Animal Behavior Society, 1990
  • Honorary Member, Golden Key Honor Society, 1990
  • Elected Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1992
  • Alumni Association Award for Outstanding Achievement, St. John’s School, 1993
  • Spencer Lecturer, Oxford University, 1995
  • David French Lecturer in the Natural Sciences, Claremont Colleges, 1996
  • Howells Prize for Outstanding Contribution to Biological Anthropology, American
  • Anthropological Association, 2001
  • Tanner Lecturer, University of Utah, 2001
  • Panunzio Distinguished Emeriti Award, University of California, 2002–2003
  • Tenth Annual Maurice Galante Lecturer, School of Medicine, UCSF, 2005
  • Centennial Medal, Harvard GSAS, 2007

Teaching & Fellowships

  • 1967 Teaching hygiene to Spanish-speaking adults, El Paraiso, Honduras
  • 1973 Instructor in Anthropology, University of Massachusetts, Boston
  • 1975–1976 Lecturer in Biological Anthropology, Harvard University
  • 1977–1978 Postdoctoral Fellowship, Biology Department, Harvard University
  • 1978–1981 Volunteer Teacher’s Assistant, Harvard Yard Day Care Center, Cambridge, MA
  • 1979–present Associate in Biological Anthropology, Peabody Museum, Harvard University
  • 1980–1981 Senior Fellow, American Institute of Indian Studies, New Delhi, India
  • 1981–1982 Visiting Associate Professor, Rice University
  • 1984–1996 Professor of Anthropology, University of California, Davis

Books

  • 1972 The Black-man of Zinacantan: A Central American Legend. The Texas Pan American Series. Austin: University of Texas Press.
  • 1977 The Langurs of Abu: Female and Male Strategies of Reproduction. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (1980, paperback edition with new preface)
  • 1981 The Woman That Never Evolved. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. (Chosen by New York Times Book Review as a Notable Book of the Year in Science and Social Science)
    • Japanese edition (1982), Tokyo: Shisaku-sha
    • 1st French edition (1984), Des guenons et des femmes. Paris: Editions Tierce
    • 2nd French edition (1999), La femme qui n’evoluait jamais. Paris: Payot et Rivage
    • Italian edition (1985), La donna che non si e’evoluta. Rome: Franco Angeli Editore.
    • Polish edition (2005), Kobieta której nigdy nie było. Warsaw: Wydawnictwo Cis
  • 1984 Infanticide: Comparative and Evolutionary Perspectives. Hausfater, G., and S. Hrdy, eds. New York: Aldine. (Selected as a 1984–1985 Outstanding Academic Books by Choice, The Journal of the Association of College and Research Libraries). Reprinted by New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine/Transaction, 2008.
  • 1999 Mother Nature: A History of Mothers, Infants and Natural Selection. New York: Pantheon. (A BOMC Alternative Selection; selected by Publisher’s Weekly and Library Journal as one of the Best Books of 1999; chosen as a finalist for PEN USA West 2000 Literary Award for Research Nonfiction). Published in UK as Mother Nature: Natural Selection and the Female of the Species (London: Chatto and Windus). Has been or is being translated into Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Japanese, Korean, and Polish.
  • 2005 Attachment and Bonding: A New Synthesis. C. S. Carter, L. Ahnert, K. E. Grossmann, S. B. Hrdy, M. E. Lamb, S. W. Porges, and N. Sachser, eds. 92nd Dahlem Conference Report. Cambridge: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-03348-8.
  • 2009 Mothers and Others: The Evolutionary Origins of Mutual Understanding. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. Being translated into Dutch and German.

Articles/Chapters

  • 1974 Male-male competition and infanticide among the langurs (Presbytis entellus) of Abu. Folia Primatologica 22:19–58.
  • 1976a The care and exploitation of nonhuman primate infants by conspecifics other than the mother. In J. S. Rosenblatt, R. Hinde, E. Shaw, C. Beer (eds.), Advances in the Study of Behavior 6, pp. 101–58. New York: Academic Press.
  • 1976b Hierarchical relations among female Hanuman langurs (Primates: Colobinae, Presbytis entellus), by S. Hrdy and D. Hrdy. Science 193:913–15.
  • 1977 Infanticide as a primate reproductive strategy. American Scientist 65(1):40–49. Reprinted in Paul Sherman and John Alcock (eds.), Exploring Animal Behavior: Readings from the American Scientist. Sunderland, MA: Sinauer Associates, 1993, 1998, 2001, 2005.
  • 1978 Allomaternal care and abuse of infants among Hanuman langurs. In D. J. Chivers and J. Herbert (eds.), Recent Advances in Primatology, pp. 00-00. New York: Academic Press.
  • 1979 Infanticide among animals: A review, classification, and examination of the implications for the reproductive strategies of females. Ethology and Sociobiology 1:13–40.
  • 1981a Measures of human disturbance in the habitats of South Asian monkeys, by N. Bishop, S. Hrdy, J. Teas, and J. Moore. International Journal of Primatology 2:153–67.
  • 1981b “Nepotists” and “Altruists”: The behavior of senescent females in macaques and langur monkeys. In P. Amoss and S. Harrell (eds.), Other Ways of Growing Old, pp. 59–76. Palo Alto: Stanford University Press.
  • 1982a Positivist thinking encounters field primatology resulting in agonistic behavior. Social Science Information 21(2):245–50.
  • 1982b Why human secondary sex ratios are so conservative: A distant reply from ninth century France, by S. Hrdy and Emily R. Coleman. Offprint circulated for Wenner Gren Symposium 88, Infanticide in Animals and Man, Cornell University, August 16–22.
  • 1983a Behavioral biology and the double standard by S. Hrdy and G. C. Williams. In S. Wasser (ed.), Social Behavior of Female Vertebrates, pp. 3–17. New York: Academic Press.
  • 1983b Adaptive and nonadaptive classes of infanticide. In P. K. Seth (ed.), Perspective in Primate Biology, pp. 11–17. New Delhi: Today and Tomorrow.
  • 1983c Sexually selected infanticide among female birds: A comment. Ethology and Sociobiology 4:111.
  • 1984a Introduction: Female reproductive strategies. In M. Small (ed.), Female Primates: Studies by Women Primatologists, pp. 103–9. New York: Alan Liss.
  • 1984b Assumptions and evidence regarding the sexual selection hypothesis: A reply to Boggess. In G. Hausfater and S. Hrdy (eds.), Comparative and Evolutionary Perspectives on Infanticide, pp. 00-00. New York: Aldine.
  • 1984c Comparative and evolutionary perspectives on infanticide: An introduction and overview, by S. Hrdy and G. Hausfater. In G. Hausfater and S. Hrdy (eds.), Comparative and Evolutionary Perspectives on Infanticide, pp. 00-00. New York: Aldine.
  • 1986a Secondary sex ratios by maternal age, parity and rank in captive rhesus macaques, by M. Small and S. Hrdy. American Journal of Primatology 11:359–65.
  • 1986b Empathy, polyandry and the myth of the coy female. In Ruth Bleier (ed.), Feminist Approaches to Science, pp. 119–46. New York: Pergamon. Reprinted in Janet A. Kourany (ed.), The Gender of Science, pp. 171–91. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education/Prentice-Hall, 2002; reprinted in Elliott Sober (ed.), Conceptual Issues in Evolutionary Biology, pp. 131–59. Cambridge: Bradford Books of MIT Press, 2006.
  • 1986c Sources of variance in the reproductive success of female primates. In Proceedings of the International Meeting on Variability and Behavioral Evolution. Rome: Academia Nazionale dei Lincei.
  • 1987a The patterning of sexual activity among primates, by S. Hrdy and P. Whitten. In B. Smuts, D. Cheney, R. Seyfarth, B. Smuts, R. Wrangham, and T. Struhsaker (eds.), Primate Societies, pp. 370–84. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
  • 1987b Sex-biased parental investment among primates and other mammals. In J. Lancaster and R. Gelles (eds.), Child Abuse and Neglect: A Biosocial Perspective, pp. 97–147. New York: Aldine.
  • 1988a Levels of complexity in the study of “adaptive” sex ratios. In Gary Greenberg and Ethel Tobach (eds.). Evolution of Social Behavior and Integrative Levels 3, pp. 147–63. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
  • 1988b Commentary on “Huxley’s evolution and ethics in sociobiological perspective.” Zygon: Journal of Science and Religion 23(4):437-411.
  • 1990 Sex bias in nature and in history: A late 1980s re-examination of the “biological origins” argument. Yearbook of Physical Anthropology 33:25–37.
  • 1991a Intensity of local resource competition shapes the relationship between maternal rank and sex ratios at birth in Cercopithecine primates, by Carel van Schaik and S. Hrdy. American Naturalist 138(6):1555–62.
  • 1991b Infanticide as a reproductive strategy. Current Contents 40 (Oct. 7):8. Institute for Science Information. Available as PDF.
  • 1992a Fitness tradeoffs in the history and evolution of delegated mothering with special reference to wet-nursing. Ethology and Sociobiology 13(5/6):409–42. Also published in Stefano Parmigiani and Frederick Vom Saal (eds.), Infanticide and Parental Care, pp. 3–42. London: Harwood Academic, 1994. Reprinted in Laura Betzig (ed.), Human Nature: A Critical Reader, pp. 402–22. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1997.
  • 1992b Allocation of accumulated resources among close kin: Inheritance in Sacramento, California, 1890–1984, by Debra S. Judge and S. B. Hrdy. Ethology and Sociobiology 13(5/6):495–522.
  • 1993a Darwin and the puzzle of primogeniture: An essay on biases in parental investment after death, by S. B. Hrdy and Debra S. Judge. Human Nature 4(1):1–45.
  • 1993b Geschlechtliche Ungleichheit in Natur and Geschichte. In Evolution und Anpassung. Christian Vogel zum 60, Geburtstag. Stuttgart: S. Hirzel Verlag. (Adapted from Hrdy 1990).
  • 1995a Infanticide: Let’s not throw out the baby with the bath water, by S. B. Hrdy, Charles Janson, and Carel van Schaik. Evolutionary Anthropology 3(5):151–54.
  • 1995b The primate origins of female sexuality, and their implications for the role of nonconceptive sex in the reproductive strategies of women. Human Evolution 10(2):131–44.
  • 1996 Infanticide. In D. Levenson and M. Ember (eds.), Encyclopedia of Cultural Anthropology 2:645–48. New York: Henry Holt.
  • 1997a Mainstreaming Medea. Preface to reprinted chapter on “Fitness tradeoffs in the history and evolution of delegated mothering.” In Laura Betzig (ed.), Human Nature: A Critical Reader, pp. 423–26. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • 1997b Raising Darwin’s consciousness: Female sexuality and the prehominid origins of patriarchy. Human Nature 8(1):1-49.
  • 2000a The optimal number of fathers: Evolution, demography, and history in the shaping of female mate preferences. Annals of New York Academy of Sciences 907 (April):75–96. Reprinted in 2003 in Steven Scher and Frederick Rauscher (eds.), Evolutionary Psychology: Alternative Approaches, pp. 111–29. Boston: Klewer Academic.
  • 2000b Raising Darwin’s consciousness: Sexual selection and the prehominid origins of patriarchy. In Susan Iverson and Colin Blakemore (eds.), Gender and Society, pp. 143–99. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • 2001 Preface. In Carel van Schaik and Charles Janson (eds.), Infanticide by Males and Its Implications, pp. vi–xiv. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
  • 2002a The past, the present and the future of the human family. In Grethe Peterson (ed.), The Tanner Lectures on Human Values 23, pp. 57–110. Salt Lake City: University of Utah Press. [PDF]
  • 2002b Motherhood. In Mark Pagel (ed.), Encyclopedia of Evolution, pp. e55–65. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
  • 2003 Maternal sentiments: How strong are they? Comment in Reply to Arthur Wolf. Current Anthropology 44 (Supplement):s41–42.
  • 2005a Cooperative breeders with an ace in the hole. In Eckart Voland, Athanasios Chasiotis, and Wulf Schiefenhovel (eds.), Grandmotherhood: The Evolutionary Significance of the Second half of the Female Life, pp. 295–317. Piscataway, NJ: Rutgers University Press/Transaction.
  • 2005b On why it takes a village: Cooperative breeders, infant needs and the future (excerpted and reprinted from Hrdy 2002a). In Robert Burgess and Kevin MacDonald (eds.), Evolutionary Perspectives on Human Development, pp. 167–88. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications.
  • 2005c Comes the child before the man: Cooperative breeding and the evolution of prolonged post-weaning dependence. In B. Hewlett and M. Lamb (eds.), Hunter-Gatherer Childhoods: Evolutionary, Developmental and Cultural Perspectives, pp. 65–91. New Brunswick, NJ: Aldine/Transaction. [PDF]
  • 2005d Evolutionary context of human development: The cooperative breeding hypothesis. In C. S. Carter, L. Ahnert, K. E. Grossmann, S. B. Hrdy, M. E. Lamb, S. W. Porges, and N. Sachser (eds.), Attachment and Bonding: A New Synthesis, pp. 00-00. Dahlem Workshop 92. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-03348-8. Slightly revised version reprinted in 2008 in C. Salmon and T. Shackelford (eds.), The Evolutionary Psychology of the Family, pp. 39–68. Oxford: Oxford University Press.[PDF]
  • 2005e Group report: Biobehavioral processes in attachment and bonding, with J. F. Leckman, C. S. Carter, M. Hennessey, E. B. Keverne, G. Klann-Delius, C. Schradin, D. Todt, and D. Van Holst. In C. S. Carter, L. Ahnert, K. E. Grossmann, S. B. Hrdy, M. E. Lamb, S. W. Porges, and N. Sachser (eds.), Attachment and Bonding: A New Synthesis, pp. 300–347. Dahlem Workshop 92. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. ISBN 0-262-03348-8.
  • 2008a Cooperative breeding and the paradox of facultative fathering. In Robert Bridges (ed.), The Neurobiology of Parental Care, pp. 405–14. New York: Academic Press. [PDF]
  • 2008b Is sex destiny? (excerpt from Mother Nature). In Jeremy Adelman et al., Worlds Together, Worlds Apart: From the Beginnings of Humankind to the Present (second ed.), p. 44. New York: W.W. Norton.
  • 2009a Myths, monkeys and motherhood: An intellectual autobiography. In Lee Drickamer and Donald Dewsbury (eds.), Leaders in Animal Behavior: The Next Generation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, in press.
  • 2009b Prologue: Allomothers across species, across cultures, and through time. In Gillian Bentley and Ruth Mace (eds.), Substitute Parents: Biological and Social Perspectives on Alloparenting across Human Societies. Studies of the Biosocial Society. Oxford: Bergahn Books, in press.
  • in press What’s wrong with this picture? Guest Feature. In Tamás Székely, Allen J. Moore, and Jan Komdeur (eds.), Social Behaviour: Genes, Ecology and Evolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Writing for general audiences

  • 1976 Affen morden ihre Kinder. Bild der Wissenschaft 13(7):34–43.
  • 1978 George Edwards: Depicter of nondescripts. Natural History LXXVII (5):72–81.
  • 1979 The fig connection, by S. Hrdy and W. Bennett. Harvard Magazine (Sept.–Oct.):24–30.
  • 1981 Lucy’s husband: What did he stand for? by S. Hrdy and W. Bennett. Harvard Magazine (July-Aug.): 7–9, 46. Reprinted in Alfred Rosenberger (ed.), The Science of Paleoanthropology: Notes and Readings.
  • 1983a Heat loss. Science 834(8):72–76. Reprinted in Japanese (Quark) and Italian (Scienza 83).
  • 1983b The human element in the study of human nature. Reprint of Commencement Address given at Reed College, Portland, Oregon, May 22, 1983. St. Timothy’s Alumnae Bulletin.
  • 1984a When the bough breaks. The Sciences 24(2):44–50. (To be reprinted by the Ransom Fellowship)
  • 1984b Infanticide: Male takeovers in Hanuman langur troops. In D. MacDonald (ed.), The Encyclopedia of Mammals, pp.410–11. Oxford: Equinox.
  • 1988a Daughters or Sons? Natural History (April):63–83. Reprinted in Russell L. Ciochon (ed.), Primate Behavior.
    1988b The primate origins of human sexuality. In Robert Bellig and George Stevens (eds.), The Evolution of Sex, pp. 100–36. Nobel Conference XXIII. New York: Harper and Row.
  • 1988c Raising Darwin’s consciousness. In Robert Bellig and George Stevens (eds.), The Evolution of Sex, pp. 159–69. Nobel Conference XXIII. New York: Harper and Row. Reprinted in 1990 in Zygon 25(2):129–37.
  • 1988d Sons vs. daughters: How they fare in different human and animal societies (excerpts from lecture delivered at Radcliffe Graduate Society Awards Dinner, May 5, 1988). Radcliffe Quarterly (September):11–12.
  • 1989 Dossier: Les animaux choisissents-ils le sexe de leurs petits? Terre Sauvage (Juillet-Aout) 31:78–93. (Adapted from Hrdy 1988a).
  • 1990 Gestes d’amour: La tendresse et les rites amoureux chex les primates. Terre Sauvage (special issue no. 5). (Adapted from Hrdy 1988b).
  • 1992 National Institutes of the Environment. News comment. Evolutionary Anthropology 1(3):84–85.
  • 1994 Tradimenti senza estro. Sfera (special edition on “Eros and Ethos”) 38:18–23.
  • 1995a Rethinking mothers’ nature. Natural History 104(12):4.
  • 1995b Natural-born mothers. Natural History 104(12):30–42. Reprinted or excerpted in Physical Anthropology 97–98, pp. 78–85, Duskin/Brown and Benchmark; in Annual Editions Biopsychology 97/98, Biopsychology 98/99, pp, 100–6, Duskin/McGraw-Hill; also in The Lanahan Readings in the Psychology of Women and in 1998 Human Development, by Allen Keniston, Course Wise.
  • 1995c Hormonal cocktails for two, with Sue Carter. Natural History 104(12):34
  • 1995d Liquid Assets: A brief history of wet-nursing. Natural History 104(12):40. Available on “Sound Clips” from Personal Audio.
  • 1999 Body fat and birth control. Natural History 108(8):88. Reprinted in Annual Editions: Anthropology, Spring 2001.
  • 2001 Mothers and others. Natural History (May):50–63. Reprinted in 2002 Annual Editions: Anthropology, Guilford, CN: McGraw Hill/Duskin; in Matt Ridley (ed.), Best American Science Writing, 2002, New York: Ecco/HarperCollins; in Natalie Angier (ed.), Best American Science and Nature Writing, Boston: Houghton-Mifflin, 2002; in Applying Cultural Anthropology, seventh edition, Mayfield Publishing, 2002.
  • 2007 Daddy dearest: What science tells about fatherhood, with Mary Batten. Time Magazine (June 18):60–61.
  • 2008 Darwinism, Social Darwinism and the Supreme Function of Mothers
    AnthroNotes 29(2):10-14.
  • 2009 Meet the alloparents. Natural History (April):24-29.
  • in prep. With Noel Rowe, Stacey Tecot and Pat Wright. To be available online at www.Alltheworldsprimates.com.

Interviews

  • 1979 Understanding sociobiology, by Georgia Litwack. New England Magazine, Boston Globe, (April 8):6ff.
  • 1984 Nos ancêtres les guenons. L’Express (Dec. 28):24–25.
  • 1984 New view of female primates assails stereotypes, by Erik Eckholm. Science Times, New York Times (September 18).
  • 1988 Interview: Sarah Hrdy, by Thomas Bass. Omni (June):90ff.
  • 1989a Meurtres dans un jardin indien. Interview by Elena Adam. Terre Sauvage (Decembre) 35:86–95.
  • 1989b Sarah Blaffer Hrdy: Investment strategies for the evolving portfolio of female primates. In Donna Haraway, Primate Visions, pp. 349–67. Routledge.
  • 1994 Sarah Hrdy. In Thomas Bass, Reinventing the Future: Conversations with the World’s Leading Scientists, pp. 6–25. Reading, MA: Addison Wesley. (adapted from 1988 interview in Omni)
  • 1995 Primate suspect, by Lucy Hodges. The Times Higher Education Supplement (September 2):18–19.
  • 1996 Sarah Hrdy. In Sian Griffiths, ed., Beyond the Glass Ceiling: Forty Women Whose Ideas Shape the Modern World, pp. 37–144. Manchester: Manchester University Press:
    1999 Cooperative breeders – they really pay dividends, by Anne Sebba. The Times Higher Education (November).
  • 1999 Opinion interviews: Inhuman futures, with David Conkar. New Scientist (December 14).
  • 2000 Primate expert explores motherhood’s brutal side, by Natalie Angier. Science Times, New York Times (March 8).
  • 2000 Tough love: Anthropologist Sarah Hrdy has a startling new take on motherhood, by Sally Lehrman. San Francisco Magazine (March):30–35.
  • 2000 Hrdy, Sarah Blaffer. Current Biography (June):14–18.
  • 2002 Sex, murder and motherhood, by Ralph Brave. UC Davis Magazine (Spring):26–30.
  • 2002 The fifty most important women in science, by Kathy A. Svitil. Discover Magazine (November):52–57.
  • 2003 The hardy Sarah Blaffer Hrdy, by Claudia Dowling. Discover Magazine (March):40–45.
  • 2003 Promiskuität ist Mütterlich. Geowissen 32:36–137. www.geo.de.
  • 2003 The Bookshelf Talks with Sarah Hrdy. Scientists’ Nightstand. American Scientist Online (Nov. 25).
  • 2009 High Five with Sarah Hrdy (Paleolithic Art). Forbes.com, edited by Hana R. Alberts.
  • 2009 Book of the week: Mothers and Others, by Camilla Power. The Times Higher Education (May).

Fieldwork

  • 1966–67 Medical technician. Amigos de las Americas, in cooperation with Education for Action, Radcliffe College, Honduras and Guatemala.
  • 1966–69 Ethnographic research in Maya-speaking communities in the Yucatan and Chiapas, Mexico, under the direction of Evon Vogt.
  • 1970 Research Assistant to Dr. Neil Chalmers. Tigoni Primate Center, under the direction of L. S. B. Leakey.
  • 1971–75 Dissertation research on langur monkeys, Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India, under the supervision of Irven DeVore, R. L. Trivers, and E. O. Wilson.
  • 1976 Field Survey of prosimians, Madagascar.
  • 1976-1978 Follow-up visits to Mount Abu.
  • 1979–80 Field observations on langur monkeys at Ranthambore and Mount Abu, Rajasthan, India. Sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution and the National Science Foundation.
  • 1986–96 Archival research involving probate records of Sacramento (1860–1980) and Yolo (1890) counties, CA, and Suffolk County, MA (1690–1890).