Salt Lake Oasis Sunday Gathering

Come be part of a community of individuals and families who value people more than beliefs. Some have said it's like going to a Ted talk with live music every Sunday. We meet at 11 AM Mountain Time in the Parker Theatre Studio at 3601 State Street, South Salt Lake. We would love to have you join us for some great topics and socializing!

Dr. Kristin Hawkes' research builds on investigations of foraging strategies and life history evolution in two extended field projects studying the behavioral ecology of hunter-gatherers, first in eastern Paraguay and then in northern Tanzania. Findings add to evidence inconsistent with the Hunting Hypothesis which proposes human life histories evolved as ancient climate change drew ancestral males to target large prey for the support of mates and offspring, forming nuclear families as units of common interest. Ethnographic observations combined with theory and modeling aimed to explain broader mammalian life history variation prompted a Grandmother Hypothesis to account for evolution of the long postmenopausal lifespans, slower maturation, yet earlier weaning that distinguish us from our living great ape cousins. Her subsequent work links those features to our pair bonding habits, persistent patriarchy, bigger brains, and helpless yet socially precocious infancies that begin the lifelong priorities to social relationships and reputations that shape our cultural lives. Those social priorities readily escalate to the “us versus them” antagonisms which make us dangerous to each other and the planet. The same priorities can also explain the joy we find in mutual understanding and common purpose, including the pleasure of continuing collaborations to test and correct these hypotheses.

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