Doctoral Dissertation Research: Shifting co-residence, sharing, and contact networks in a transitioning hunter-gatherer society

人类群体的规模和组成在不同社会之间有很大的差异，从狩猎采集者的小群体到现代特大城市的大规模社交网络。为了了解这种极端变化的起源，这个博士论文项目将研究一个小规模的社会，这个社会目前正在从游牧狩猎和采集的生活转变为专注于定居农业的生活。合作伙伴将使用创新的传感器技术来跟踪个人的运动，以重建社交网络，并了解这些网络如何与人口统计，食物共享和居住模式相关。这项研究有望揭示与近亲生活在一起的历史重要性，以及农业的兴起如何影响人类社会互动，特别是资源和信息的交流。社交网络对健康和疾病传播也有重大影响，本研究旨在确定社交网络的结构如何减轻疾病易感性。该项目还将为实地和研究助理提供学生研究和培训机会，并将包括在所在机构和实地开展科学传播和外联活动。共同居住的模式决定了哪些人合作、竞争或分享信息和资源。本研究将调查的机制，影响共同居住的模式和个体间的互动，在一个小规模的狩猎采集社会，马来西亚的巴特克，对他们来说，合作是至关重要的生存。联合PI将收集永久定居点和森林营地的详细人口统计，共同居住和食物共享数据，并结合20世纪70年代中期收集的同一人口的丰富历史数据集分析这些数据。此外，该项目还将包括利用传感器技术监测个人之间的近距离互动，并重建社交网络。鉴于越来越多的定居的Batek，再加上向男性主导的性别关系的转变，具体的预测包括（一）增加在共同居民之间的相关性，（二）增加亲属偏见和互惠共享的互动，和（三）更广泛的，但分布不均匀的接触网络。该项目建立在最近对人类共同居住模式的综合研究的基础上，并为解释这些模式提出的新理论模型提供了第一次实证检验。该项目的研究结果将为评估久坐对基本人类互动模式的影响以及人类社会组织如何介导信息和疾病的传播提供重要的基线。

The size and composition of human groups varies widely between societies, from the small bands of hunter-gatherers to the massive social networks of modern mega-cities. To understand the origins of this extreme variation, this doctoral dissertation project will study a small-scale society that is currently shifting from a life of nomadic hunting and gathering to one focused on sedentary agriculture. The co-PI will use innovative sensor technology to track the movements of individuals in order to reconstruct social networks and understand how those networks are related to demographics, food sharing, and residence patterns. This study is expected to shed light on the historical importance of living with close relatives and how the rise of agriculture has influenced human social interactions, especially the exchange of resources and information. Social networks also have major implications for health and the spread of disease, and this research aims to identify how the structure of social networks might mitigate disease susceptibility. This project will also provide student research and training opportunities for field and research assistants, and will include science communication and outreach activities at the home institution and the field site. Patterns of co-residence determine which individuals cooperate, compete, or share information and resources. This research will investigate the mechanisms that influence co-residence patterns and inter-individual interactions in a small-scale hunter-gatherer society, the Batek of Malaysia, for whom cooperation is critical for survival. The co-PI will collect detailed demographic, co-residence, and food sharing data in permanent settlements and forest camps, and analyze these data in conjunction with a rich historical dataset collected in the mid-1970s on the same population. In addition, the project will include the use of sensor technology to monitor proximity interactions among individuals and reconstruct social networks. Given the increasing sedentarization of the Batek, coupled with a shift towards male-dominated gender relations, specific predictions include (i) an increase in relatedness among co-residents, (ii) an increase in kin-biased and reciprocal sharing interactions, and (iii) broader but less evenly distributed contact networks. This project builds on a recent synthesis of research on human co-residence patterns, and provides the first empirical test of a new theoretical model proposed to explain these patterns. Findings from this project will provide an important baseline for evaluating the effect of sedentarization on fundamental human interaction patterns and how human social organization mediates the spread of information and disease.