Michael Alvard
  • Associate Professor
  • Cultural Program Coordinator
Research Areas
  • Cultural Anthropology

Biography

Courses Taught:

  • ANTH 205 – Peoples and Cultures of the World
  • ANTH 201 – Introduction to Anthropology
  • ANTH  424 – Human Evolutionary Ecology: Culture and Cooperation

Research Interests

  • Culture and biology
  • Cooperation
  • Human evolutionary ecology
  • Horticulturalists
  • Hunters and gatherers
  • Local people and environmental issues
  • Adaptation to the tropics

Educational Background

  • PhD, University of New Mexico, 1993

Selected Publications

    • Alvard, M. and D. Nolin.  (2024) Cooperation. In, Human Behavioral Ecology. J. Koster, B. Scelza and M. Shenk, eds pp 104-129. Cambridge University Press

    • Alvard, M. and K. Daiy (2021). "A Naturalistic Study of Norm Conformity, Punishment, and the Veneration of the Dead at Texas A&M University, USA." Human Nature 32(3): 652-675.

    • Koster, J…. Alvard. M. et al. The Life History of Human Foraging: Cross-Cultural and Individual Variation.  Science Advances 6:eaax9070

    • Alvard, N. and D. Carlson, (2020) Identifying patch types using movement data from artisanal fishers from the Commonwealth of Dominica. Current Anthropology 61:380-387.

    • 2015 Alvard M, Carlson D, McGaffey E (2015) Using a Partial Sum Method and GPS Tracking Data to Identify Area Restricted Search by Artisanal Fishers at Moored Fish Aggregating Devices in the Commonwealth of Dominica. PLoS ONE 10(2): e0115552. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0115552

    • 2014 Alvard, M., E. McGaffey, and D. Carlson. (2014) A Method for Measuring Fishing Effort by Small-scale Fish Aggregating Device (FAD) Fishers from the Commonwealth of Dominica. Field Methods 27 issue: 3, page(s): 300-315. 1525822X14552221

    • 2012 Henrich J, Boyd R, McElreath R, Gurven M, Richerson PJ, Ensminger J, Alvard M, Barr A, Barrett C, Bolyanatz A et al. 2012. Culture does account for variation in game behavior. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 109(2):E32-E33

    • 2011 Alvard, M. Genetic and Cultural Kinship among the Lamaleran Whale Hunters. Human Nature 22(1):89-107

    • 2009 Alvard, M. Kinship and Cooperation – The Axe Fight Revisited. Human Nature, 20:1-23