Mhairi A Gibson

Biographic Data

ID3639666
NAMEMhairi A Gibson
GIVEN NAMESMhairi A
FAMILY NAMEGibson
SIGNATUREGIBSON M A
AFFILIATIONSUniversity of Bristol
VERIFIEDNo
TOTAL WORKS17
TOTAL CITATIONS28
AUTHOR COUNT16
EDITOR COUNT1
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2002
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX3

  • Applying Anthropology to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting

    Open AccessHannelore Van Bavel, Margaret A Gibson et al.ARTICLEAmerican Anthropologist2026References: 78

    In this article, we review how anthropologies from various subdisciplines, from social to evolutionary anthropology, are contributing to our understanding of female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM/C). We focus on four key questions: What are the origins of FGM/C? What functions and meanings are linked to FGM/C? How does FGM/C persist and/or change? And how can anthropology inform policy and practice? We identify how anthropological research has c…

  • Is there a link between paternity concern and female genital cutting in West Africa?

    Open AccessJanet Howard, Margaret A Gibson et al.ARTICLEEvolution and Human Behavior2019

  • Does Kin-Selection Theory Help to Explain Support Networks among Farmers in South-Central Ethiopia

    Open AccessLucie Clech, Ashley Hazel et al.ARTICLEHuman Nature2019References: 49

  • Are wives and daughters disadvantaged in polygynous households? A case study of the Arsi Oromo of Ethiopia

    Open AccessC Uggla, Eshetu Gurmu et al.ARTICLEEvolution and Human Behavior2018

    Whether polygyny is harmful for women and their children is a long-standing question in anthropology. Few studies, however, have explored whether the effect of polygyny varies for women of different wife order, and whether there are different outcomes for their sons and daughters. Because males have higher reproductive variance, especially when they are allowed to take multiple wives, parents may have higher fitness returns from investing in sons…

  • Population Issues in Development

    Open AccessMargaret A Gibson, Mhairi A Gibson et al.OTHERThe International Encyclopedia of…2018

    Population issues have an impact on many features of society, from where we live and work to the partnerships we form and how many children we raise. Understanding why population characteristics vary and how population change influences human behavior and wellbeing is central to development planning and policy making. Major areas of interest include population dynamics, such as fertility trends, aging, and migration, and interactions between popu…

  • Polygynous marriage and child health in sub-Saharan Africa

    Open AccessD W Lawson, David Lawson et al.ARTICLEDemographic Research2018

    Researchers from a variety of disciplines have presented data indicating that polygynous marriage is damaging to child health. This work has been used to support the classification of polygyny as a â harmful cultural practiceâ and to advocate for marital re

  • "Understanding "Harmful Cultural Practices

    Open AccessD W Lawson, Margaret A Gibson et al.ARTICLEAnthropology News2018

  • Applying evolutionary anthropology

    Open AccessMargaret A Gibson, Mhairi A Gibson et al.ARTICLEEvolutionary Anthropology Issues…2015

    Evolutionary anthropology provides a powerful theoretical framework for understanding how both current environments and legacies of past selection shape human behavioral diversity. This integrative and pluralistic field, combining ethnographic, demographic, and sociological methods, has provided new insights into the ultimate forces and proximate pathways that guide human adaptation and variation. Here, we present the argument that evolutionary a…

  • Applied Evolutionary Anthropology

    Open AccessMargaret A Gibson, Mhairi A Gibson et al.BOOKApplied evolutionary anthropology2014

  • Beyond Bushmeat

    Open AccessSarah B Paige, Simon D W Frost et al.ARTICLEEcoHealth2014

  • Human behavioral ecology

    D Nettle, Margaret A Gibson et al.ARTICLEBehavioral Ecology2013

    Human behavioral ecology (HBE) is the study of human behavior from an adaptive perspective. It focuses in particular on how human behavior varies with ecological context. Although HBE is a thriving research area, there has not been a major review published in a journal for over a decade, and much has changed in that time. Here, we describe the main features of HBE as a paradigm and review HBE research published since the millennium. We find that …

  • “Modernization” increases parental investment and sibling resource competition

    Open AccessMargaret A Gibson, Mhairi A Gibson et al.ARTICLEEvolution and Human Behavior2011

  • Does Wealth Increase Parental Investment Biases in Child Education

    Margaret A Gibson, Mhairi A Gibson et al.ARTICLECurrent Anthropology2010Cited by: 13References: 47

    Why fertility declines is still a matter of intense debate. One theory proposes that fertility decline may be partly driven by shifts in parental investment strategies: couples reduce family size as demographic and economic changes cause investment in the quality of children to become more important than investment in the quantity of children. A key driver for this change is a shift from a subsistence-based to a skills-based economy, in which edu…

  • Does Investment in the Sexes Differ When Fathers Are Absent

    Open AccessMargaret A Gibson, Mhairi A GibsonARTICLEHuman Nature2008Cited by: 6References: 49

  • Polygyny, Reproductive Success and Child Health in Rural Ethiopia

    Open AccessMargaret A Gibson, Mhairi A Gibson et al.ARTICLEJournal of Biosocial Science2007

    This study examines the reproductive success of men and women in rural Ethiopia as a function of their marital status, specifically by comparing polygamously and monogamously married individuals. In line with predictions from evolutionary theory, polygamy is beneficial to male reproductive success (i.e. producing larger numbers of surviving offspring). The success of polygamously married females depends on wife rank: the first wives of polygamous…

  • Helpful grandmothers in rural Ethiopia

    Open AccessMargaret A Gibson, Mhairi A Gibson et al.ARTICLEEvolution and Human Behavior2005

  • Labor-Saving Technology and Fertility Increase in Rural Africa

    Margaret A Gibson, Mhairi A Gibson et al.ARTICLECurrent Anthropology2002Cited by: 9References: 12

    Across the developing world, labor-saving technologies have been designed and implemented to introduce savings in the time and energy that women allocate to work. In rural Arsi, southern Ethiopia, a recent water-supply scheme has reduced long arduous trips to obtain water and is associated with considerable improvements in women's energy budgets. Assuming that the time and energy saved is not diverted to other energetically costly activities and …