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Meredith F. Small, professor of anthropology at Cornell University, will present “The Natural History of Babies” 4:10 p.m. Monday, June 11 in Kirby Auditorium.
The event is organized by John E. Meier, professor of mathematics and director of research services, as the 2007 Summer EXCEL Lecture. It is free and open to the public. For more information, contact Meier at x5570 or email.
Small will discuss what babies want and why their desires are interesting to everyone, even those who are not parents. She presents the case that infants are interactive humans designed by evolution to be entwined with an adult member of the species. She also will explain why babies are born helpless and why adults sometimes feel helpless as well. Small will compare parenting across cultures and demonstrate how society and culture influence parenting styles.
Small was trained as a primate behaviorist and spent many years observing various species of macaque monkeys in captivity and the wild. Her interests are now in how the intersection of biology and culture influence human behavior.
In addition to numerous publications in academic journals, she is a regular contributor to Discover, Natural History, Scientific American, and New Scientist and for National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered.”
She is author of five books, including Female Choices: Sexual Behavior of Female Primates; What’s Love Got To Do With It: The Evolution of Human Mating; Our Babies, Ourselves: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Parent; Kids: How Biology and Culture Shape the Way We Raise Our Children; and The Culture of Our Discontent: Beyond the Medical Model of Mental Illness.
Small was the recipient of the 2005 Anthropology in Media Award from the American Anthropology Association for “the successful communication of anthropology to the general public through the media” and for her “broad and sustained public impact at local, national and international levels.”
Joining the Cornell faculty in 1988, she has won the Russell Award and Stephen H. Weiss Presidential Fellowship for excellence in teaching. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Davis.