Exit Seminar: Cody Ross "Origins, Maintenance, and Transmission of a Costly Trait: The Evolutionary Dynamics of Female Genital Modification"
Date & Time
Jun 09, 2014
from
04:10 PM to
05:00 PM
Location
273 SS&H
Description
Evolutionary Anthropology Spring Colloquium Series
Monday, June 9 @ 4:10 pm
273 SS&H (Basement Seminar Room)
Cody Ross
Department of Anthropology, UC Davis
EXIT SEMINAR: Origins, Maintenance, and Transmission of a Costly Trait: The Evolutionary Dynamics of Female Genital Modification
The analyses presented herein investigate the conditions underlying the emergence, persistence, and inter-group transmission of Female Genital Modification (FGMo). We first present a mathematical model which demonstrates the conditions under which FGMo might be expected to arise and be maintained. In particular, we model how wealth and/or status differences among social groups might select for the emergence of this potentially costly trait, and how subsequent frequency-dependent forces might keep the trait in the population, despite its costs. We then conduct two empirical analysis to test the predictions of our model: 1) we use empirical cross-cultural data from Africa to test whether status differences and social stratification are associated with the origins of FGMo, and 2) we use recently collected data on patterning of FGMo in the African Diaspora and indigenous populations of Colombia to test hypotheses concerning the cultural evolutionary drivers of FGMo attenuation and inter-group transmission.