Mary K. Shenk
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of Washington, 2005

Contact: shenkm@missouri.edu

c.v. (pdf)

Areas of Specialization

Human behavioral ecology; anthropological demography; human marriage and family systems; parental investment, fertility; inheritance and property transfers; South Asia (especially India and Bangladesh).

Teaching

• Anthropology 2030: Cultural Anthropology - syllabus (pdf)
• Athropology 4600/7600: Ethnographic Studies of Selected Cultures—Cultures of South Asia - syllabus (pdf)
• Anthropology 4830: Ethnographic Methods
• Anthropology 8687: Seminar in Cultural Dynamics—Human Behavioral Ecology

Selected Publications (see c.v. for complete list)

• Shenk, Mary. 2007. “Dowry and Public Policy in Contemporary India: The Behavioral Ecology of a Social ‘Evil.’” Human Nature 18(2):242-263.
• Shenk, Mary. 2005. “Kin Networks in Wage-Labor Economies: Effects on Child and Marriage Market Outcomes.” Human Nature 16:81-114.
• Shenk, Mary. 2005. “How Much Gold Will You Put on Your Daughter? A Behavioral Ecology Perspective on Dowry Marriage.” University of Washington Center for Studies in Demography and Ecology (CSDE) Working Paper Series, Publication 2005-07.
• Shenk, Mary. 2004. “Embodied Capital and Heritable Wealth in Complex Cultures: A Class-Based Analysis of Parental Investment in Urban South India.” Research in Economic Anthropology 23:307-333 (special issue on Socioeconomic Aspects of Human Behavioral Ecology).