Associate Professor
Phone: (208) 426-4690
Email: kathryndemps@boisestate.edu
Office: Hemingway Building, Room 115
Biography
Kathryn Demps specializes in the study of the evolution of human behavior, focusing on human behavioral ecology and cultural evolution. Her work has explored how humans are flexible decision-makers, depending on social and ecological contexts to exploit their environment. This has included contexts as diverse as collecting wild honey in south India, choosing outdoor recreation patterns in southwest Idaho, and theoretical models of separating household consumption and production to participate in local marketplace exchange. She is currently accepting students interested in foraging theory, local ecological knowledge, outdoor recreation, and environmental values, and behavioral endocrinology related to these areas.
Education
Ph.D., Anthropology, University of California, Davis
M.A., Anthropology, University of California, Davis
B.Sc., Anthropology, University of California, Los Angeles
Professional Interests
- Human behavioral ecology
- Foraging Theory
- cultural evolution
- Outdoor recreation and environmental values
- Behavioral endocrinology
Courses Taught
- Introduction to Cultural Anthropology
- Introduction to Biological Anthropology
- Anthropology of Food, Cooking and Eating
- Evolution and Human Behavior
- Kinship and Social Organization
- Environmental Anthropology
- Evolution of the Human Lifecycle
- Research Methods for Social Scientists
- Research Design in Anthropology
- Economic Anthropology
