Faculty | Shenk

Mary K. Shenk

Assistant Professor
Ph.D. University of Washington, 2005
email: shenkm@missouri.edu
phone: 573-882-4731
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 1000H: General Anthropology Honors - syllabus (pdf)
• Anthropology 2030: Cultural Anthropology - syllabus (pdf)
• Anthropology 4300/7300: Social Organization - syllabus (pdf)
• Anthropology 4790/7790: Culture and Society in South Asia - syllabus (pdf)
  (cross-listed as South Asian Studies 4790/7790)
• Anthropology 4830/7830: Ethnographic Methods - syllabus (pdf)
• Anthropology 8687: Seminar in Cultural Dynamics—Human Behavioral Ecology

Selected Publications

(see c.v. for complete list)

    Journal Articles

Shenk, Mary K., M. Borgerhoff Mulder, J. Beise, G. Clark, W. Irons, D. Leonetti, B.S. Low, S. Bowles, T. Hertz, A. Bell, and P. Piraino. 2010. Intergenerational Wealth Transmission among Agriculturalists: Foundations of Agrarian Inequality. In press, Current Anthropology (special section on Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and Inequality in Pre-Modern Societies) .

Smith, E.A., M. Borgerhoff Mulder, S. Bowles, M. Gurven, T. Hertz, and Mary K. Shenk. 2010. Production Systems, Inheritance and Inequality in Pre-Modern Societies: Conclusions. In press, Current Anthropology (special section on Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and Inequality in Pre-Modern Societies).

Smith, E.A., S. Bowles, T. Hertz, M. Borgerhoff Mulder, Mary K. Shenk, and M. Gurven. 2010. Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and Inequality in Pre-Modern Societies: Reply. In press, Current Anthropology (special section on Intergenerational Wealth Transmission and Inequality in Pre-Modern Societies) .

Borgerhoff Mulder, M., S. Bowles, T. Hertz, A. Bell, J. Beise, G. Clark, I. Fazzio, M. Gurven, K. Hill, P.L. Hooper, W. Irons, H. Kaplan, D. Leonetti, B.S. Low, F. Marlowe, S. Naidu, D. Nolin, P. Piraino, R. Quinlan, R. Sear, Mary K. Shenk, E.A. Smith, and P. Wiessner. 2009. Intergenerational Transmission of Wealth and Dynamics of Inequality in Pre-Modern Societies. Science 326:682-688. [pdf]

Shenk, Mary K. 2009. Testing Three Evolutionary Models of the Demographic Transition: Patterns of Fertility and Age at Marriage in Urban South India. American Journal of Human Biology 21:501-511. [pdf]

Shenk, Mary K. 2007. Dowry and Public Policy in Contemporary India: The Behavioral Ecology of a Social ‘Evil.’ Human Nature 18(2):242-263. [pdf]

Shenk, Mary K. 2005. Kin Networks in Wage-Labor Economies: Effects on Child and Marriage Market Outcomes. Human Nature 16:81-114. [pdf]

Shenk, Mary K. 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 ). [pdf]

    Working Papers

Shenk, Mary K. 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. http://csde.washington.edu/downloads/05-07.pdf

    Book Reviews

Shenk, Mary K. 2009. Rewriting the Book on Human Female Sexuality: New Thinking on Old Questions. Journal of Evolutionary Psychology 7(2009)2, 185–189.

107 Swallow Hall | 573-882-4731 (phone) | 573-884-5450 (fax)
general inquiries: Gail Lawrence - gail@missouri.edu

Department of Anthropology | College of Arts and Science | University of Missouri
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