Loia Lamarque

I use my dual background in classical social sciences and evolutionary anthropology to explore the link between family structure and gender inequality. In my dissertation, I am interested in the specific form of female-biased family structure that is matrilineality, with a focus on the Khasi matrilineal society of India. I seek to answer the following questions: 1) Do behaviors strictly follow matrilineal norms? 2) What is the effect of matrilineality on women's health? Which of financial autonomy or closeness to relatives is more predictive of good health for women? And how does market integration mediate the relationship between matrilineality and women's health? 3) What are the evolutionary explanations for historical variations in matrilineality?

In parallel to this project, I am interested in the cognitive determinants of misogyny, i.e. the sexual biases symbolically exchanged between men and manifested in institutions, writings and rituals (Gilmore, 2001).