Doctoral Dissertation Research: Parental Investment, Socioecological Variation, and Family Formation: Comparative Cases from Guyana

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University of California at Davis doctoral student, Ryan N. Schacht, supervised by Dr. Monique Borgerhoff Mulder, will undertake research on factors that affect the formation of human gender roles. The research is driven by recent theoretical and empirical work on gender that challenges conventional assumptions regarding male and female patterned behavior. Many of the assumptions about gender roles derive from research conducted primarily on Western populations. Therefore, this project focuses on a non-Western group undergoing rapid socioeconomic change. The research will be conducted in two communities of Makushi people in the Rupununi region of Guyana. Research methods will include both semi-structured and structured interviewing. Data will be collected on Makushi culture and social organization; demographics and economics; and qualities that previous researchers have have found affect mate selection and marriage viability. These data will be compared across the two communities to test hypotheses derived from evolutionary theory on how features of the social arena, specifically the sex ratio of reproductive-aged individuals in the community and the socioeconomic factors that produce the sex ratio, affect sexual behavior, mate choosiness, parental investment, and conjugal bonds. This work has broad theoretical significance because it will provide an empirical basis for arguments by gender theorists across the social sciences who call for a rejection of essentializing masculine or feminine natures as well as the focus on binary gender strategies. Additionally, the results of this research may inform policy for HIV prevention and mitigation of domestic violence. Funding this research also supports the education of a graduate student.