Evening talks

Anthropology asks just one question, but it is a big one: What does it mean to be human? One way to address this question is to ask what it would mean to be a chimpanzee, a highly intelligent great ape closely related to us but different in significant ways. It is often claimed that it is not surprising that human societies are hierarchically organized, competitive and male dominated given that chimpanzees are organized along such lines. In this talk, Chris Knight will draw on exciting new research showing that some of our closest great ape relatives, known as bonobos, are matriarchically organised and in many ways ruled by infants.