Research

John Lindo, Director

• Understanding Evolution through Research, Teaching, and Outreach.
• The Lab is located in the Department of Anthropology at Emory University.
• We utilize ancient DNA to study adaptive evolutionary events in humans and animals.

Debra Vidali, Director

We use theatrical and performance modalities as forms of anthropological theorization and engagement. We develop original theater projects, based on ethnographic and participatory research. Our primary focus is theater for social change, verbatim documentary theater, physical theater, and ensemble projects. We also apply anthropological and ethnographic approaches to understand the crafts of theater making and theater experiences, including: theatrical production, performance, staging, acting, audiences, industries, and writing. 

Elizabeth Lonsdorf and Marcela Benítez, Directors

The APE Lab is the home of Anthropological Primatology at Emory. Our two PIs, Dr. Marcela Benitez and Dr. Elizabeth Lonsdorf lead us in studies of primate social behavior, cognition, health and development. Our studies take place on capuchin monkeys at the Capuchins de Taboga field site and on chimpanzees at Gombe Stream Research Center in collaboration with the Jane Goodall Institute.

Debra Vidali, Director

We are a working group of faculty and students committed to producing knowledge in experimental and hybrid forms at the intersection of the social sciences, humanities, arts, and public scholarship.

Peter Little, Director

"Development" is a keyword of the post-World War II era whose significance has become even more important as parts of the world grow closer in time and space. The growing hunger, poverty, and human rights abuses around the globe raise important challenges for faculty and students who wish to work internationally and present Emory with both an obligation and an opportunity.  How can we understand and address growing inequality and approach development issues in a more humanistic, compassionate fashion that is respectful of cultural differences and the rights of the poor to a dignified, meaningful life?

Dietrich Stout, Director

The Paleolithic Technology Laboratory studies the behavioral, cognitive, and neural bases of toolmaking in order to understand the evolutionary history of the human mind and brain. Research focuses mainly on Oldowan, Acheulean, and Levallois technologies, using a combination of lithic analysis of archaeological specimens, experimental production of stone tools, and measurements of motor action, neural activation, and brain anatomy related to toolmaking.

Marcela Benítez, Director

The Social Cognition and Primate Behavior Lab examines how primates make important social decisions, what underlying factors impact these choices, and why these decisions are adaptive. We tackle these questions from an evolutionary and comparative perspective while utilizing a mechanistic approach, through the integration of behavioral observations and experimental paradigms on wild monkeys at our field station, Capuchins de Taboga, in Costa Rica, and the assessment and manipulation of hormones, at our endocrine lab at Emory.

Anna Grimshaw, Director

The Visual Scholarship Initiative (VSI) was started in 2006 by a small group of graduate students at Emory University. It quickly established itself on the Emory campus as a place where students from different departments could meet to share work and explore the creative possibilities of scholarly practice.