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Cooperative networks are essential features of human society. Evolutionary theory hypothesizes that networks are used differently by men and women, yet the bulk of evidence supporting this hypothesis is based on studies conducted in a limited range of contexts and on few domains of cooperation. In this paper, we compare individual-level cooperative networks from two communities in Southwest China that differ systematically in kinship norms and institutions—one matrilineal and one patrilineal—while sharing an ethnic identity. Specifically, we investigate whether network structures differ based on prevailing kinship norms and type of gendered cooperative activity, one woman-centred (preparation of community meals) and one man-centred (farm equipment lending). Our descriptive results show a mixture of ‘feminine’ and ‘masculine’ features in all four networks. The matrilineal meals network stands out in terms of high degree skew. Exponential random graph models reveal a stronger role for geographical proximity in patriliny and a limited role of affinal relatedness across all networks. Our results point to the need to consider domains of cooperative activity alongside gender and cultural context to fully understand variation in how women and men leverage social relationships toward different ends.This article is part of the theme issue ‘Cooperation among women: evolutionary and cross-cultural perspectives’.

Data, Materials, and Software Availability: All study data are included in the article and/or supporting information available online at https://www.pnas.org/lookup/doi/10.1073/pnas.2220124120#supplementary-materials . Copyright © 2023 the Author(s). To address claims of human exceptionalism, we determine where humans fit within the greater mammalian distribution of reproductive inequality. We show that humans exhibit lower reproductive skew (i.e., inequality in the number of surviving offspring) among males and smaller sex differences in reproductive skew than most other mammals, while nevertheless falling within the mammalian range. Additionally, female reproductive skew is higher in polygynous human populations than in polygynous nonhumans mammals on average. This patterning of skew can be attributed in part to the prevalence of monogamy in humans compared to the predominance of polygyny in nonhuman mammals, to the limited degree of polygyny in the human societies that practice it, and to the importance of unequally held rival resources to women’s fitness. The muted reproductive inequality observed in humans appears to be linked to several unusual characteristics of our species—including high levels of cooperation among males, high dependence on unequally held rival resources, complementarities between maternal and paternal investment, as well as social and legal institutions that enforce monogamous norms. This work was conducted as a part of the “Emergence of Hierarchy and Leadership in Mammalian Societies” group at the National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis, supported by NSF Award DBI-1300426 and the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. It was supported by NSF awards SMA-1329089 and SMA-1743019, and the Santa Fe Institute, as well as the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology and Culture. S.G. was supported by the US Army Research Office grants W911NF-14-1-0637, W911NF-17-1-0150, and the Office of Naval Research grant W911NF-18-1-0138. Additional funding for data collection was provided by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research awards: 8913 and 7970, by NSF awards: BCS-0924630, BCS-0925910, BCS-0848360, BCS-0514559, BCS-0613226, BCS-0827277, SES-9870429, and DDRIG-1357209, by the National Geographic Society awards: HJ-099R-17, 20113909, 8671-09, and 7968-06, by the Kone Foundation awards: 086809, 088423, and 088423, and by the Jacobs Foundation, the UCSB Broom Center for Demography, and the UCSB Department of Anthropology.

Increased access to defensible material wealth is hypothesised to escalate inequality. Market integration, which creates novel opportunities in cash economies, provides a means of testing this hypothesis. Using demographic data collected from 505 households among the matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo in 2017, we test whether market integration is associated with increased material wealth, whether increased material wealth is associated with wealth inequality, and whether being in a matrilineal vs. patrilineal kinship system alters the relationship between wealth and inequality. We find evidence that market integration, measured as distance to the nearest source of tourism and primary source of household income, is associated with increased household income and ‘modern’ asset value. Both village-level market integration and mean asset value were associated negatively, rather than positively, with inequality, contrary to predictions. Finally, income, modern wealth and inequality were higher in matrilineal communities that were located closer to the centre of tourism and where tourism has long provided a relatively stable source of income. However, we also observed exacerbated inequality with increasing farm animal value in patriliny. We conclude that the forces affecting wealth and inequality depend on local context and that the importance of local institutions is obscured by aggregate statistics drawn from modern nation states.

Background Among Bangladeshi men, international labor migration has increased ten-fold since 1990 and rural to urban labor migration rates have steadily increased. Labor migration of husbands has increased household wealth and redefined women’s roles, which have both positively and negatively impacted the health of wives “left behind”. We examined the direct and indirect effects of husband labor migration on chronic disease indicators and outcomes among wives of labor migrants. Methods We collected survey, anthropometric, and biomarker data from a random sample of women in Matlab, Bangladesh, in 2018. We assessed associations between husband’s migration and indicators of adiposity and chronic disease. We used structural equation modeling to assess the direct effect of labor migration on chronic disease, undernutrition, and adiposity, and the mediating roles of income, food security, and proportion of food purchased from the bazaar. Qualitative interviews and participant observation were used to help provide context for the associations we found in our quantitative results. Findings Among study participants, 9.0% were underweight, 50.9% were iron deficient, 48.3% were anemic, 39.6% were obese, 27.3% had a waist circumference over 35 in., 33.1% had a high whole-body fat percentage, 32.8% were diabetic, and 32.9% had hypertension. Slightly more women in the sample (55.3%) had a husband who never migrated than had a husband who had ever migrated (44.9%). Of those whose husband had ever migrated, 25.8% had a husband who was a current international migrant. Wives of migrants were less likely to be underweight, and more likely to have indicators of excess adiposity, than wives of non-migrants. Protection against undernutrition was attributable primarily to increased food security among wives of migrants, while increased adiposity was attributable primarily to purchasing a higher proportion of food from the bazaar; however, there was a separate path through income, which qualitative findings suggest may be related to reduced physical activity. Conclusions Labor migration, and particularly international labor migration, intensifies the nutrition transition in Bangladesh through increasing wealth, changing how foods are purchased, and reducing physical activity, which both decreases risk for undernutrition and increases risk for excess adiposity.

How do non-Han populations in China navigate the paradoxical expectations to become “proper” Chinese citizens, like the majority Han, while retaining pride in cultural practices and traditions that mark their differences? This article examines how Mosuo (otherwise known as Na) people in Southwest China have constructed the moral legitimacy of their ethnic traditions and identity through redirecting the Orientalizing gaze toward their Yi neighbors, another ethnic minority in the region. This argument, which displaces the analytical focus from the majority Han and the political state in analyses of the maintenance of ethnic boundaries, delineates how prejudice against a third-party ethnic other can serve as an important pathway for establishing cultural citizenship in the People’s Republic of China. The article ends with a discussion of the methodological significance of this lens for understanding interethnic relationships, while recognizing the challenges of examining ethnic prejudice as a site for negotiating identity and citizenship.

Women experience higher morbidity than men, despite living longer. This is often attributed to biological differences between the sexes; however, the majority of societies in which these disparities are observed exhibit gender norms that favor men. We tested the hypothesis that female-biased gender norms ameliorate gender disparities in health by comparing gender differences in inflammation and hypertension among the matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo of China. Widely reported gender disparities in health were reversed among matrilineal Mosuo compared with patrilineal Mosuo, due to substantial improvements in women’s health, with no concomitant detrimental effects on men. These findings offer evidence that gender norms limiting women’s autonomy and biasing inheritance toward men adversely affect the health of women, increasing women’s risk for chronic diseases with tremendous global health impact.

Background Human populations native to high altitude exhibit numerous genetic adaptations to hypobaric hypoxia. Among Tibetan plateau peoples, these include increased vasodilation and uncoupling of erythropoiesis from hypoxia. Objective/methods We tested the hypothesis that these high-altitude adaptations reduce risk for hypertension and diabetes-associated anemia among the Mosuo, a Tibetan-descended population in the mountains of Southwest China that is experiencing rapid economic change and increased chronic disease risk. Results Hypertension was substantially less common among Mosuo than low-altitude Han populations, and models fit to the Han predicted higher probability of hypertension than models fit to the Mosuo. Diabetes was positively associated with anemia among the Han, but not the Mosuo. Conclusion The Mosuo have lower risk for hypertension and diabetes-associated anemia than the Han, supporting the hypothesis that high-altitude adaptations affecting blood and circulation intersect with chronic disease processes to lower risk for these outcomes. As chronic diseases continue to grow as global health concerns, it is important to investigate how they may be affected by local genetic adaptations.

Although cooperative social networks are considered key to human evolution, emphasis has usually been placed on the functions of men’s cooperative networks. What do women's networks look like? Do they resemble or differ from men's and what does this suggest about evolutionarily inherited gender differences in reproductive and social strategies? In this paper, we test the ‘universal gender differences’ hypothesis positing gender-specific network structures against the ‘gender reversal’ hypothesis that posits women's networks looking more 'masculine' under matriliny. Specifically, we ask whether men's friendship networks are always larger than women's and we investigate measures of centrality by gender and descent system. To do so, we use tools from social network analysis and data on men’s and women’s friendship ties in matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo communities. In tentative support of the gender reversal hypothesis, we find that women's friendship networks in matriliny are relatively large. Measures of centrality and generalized linear models otherwise reveal greater differences between communities than between men and women. The data and analyses we present are primarily descriptive given limitations of sample size and sampling strategy. Nonetheless, our results provide support for the flexible application of social relationships across genders and clearly challenge the predominant narrative of universal gender differences across space and time.

Although cooperative social networks are considered key to human evolution, emphasis has most often been placed on the functions of male cooperative networks. As a result, gender differences in social networks are under-studied and remain incompletely theorized. Variation in kinship systems may be leveraged to test and generate hypotheses that explain the causes and effects of variation in gendered social networks. Specifically, by linking socio-ecological drivers to variation in kinship systems, human behavioral ecology provides a framework to anticipate and explain divergent patterns in gendered social networks within different kinship ecologies. In this paper, we test the ‘universal gender differences’ hypothesis positing gender-specific network structures against the ‘gender reversal’ hypothesis that women’s social networks in matriliny will more closely resemble those of men’s in patriliny. We compare these hypotheses using tools from social network analyses and data on men’s and women’s social networks in matrilineal and patrilineal Mosuo communities. In support of the gender reversal hypothesis, we find that women’s networks in matriliny are more similar to men’s in patriliny. Specifically, women in matriliny have higher edge density than do men, and women have higher measures of degree centralization than do men in matriliny whereas patrilineal men have higher measures of centrality than do women. Additionally, we find that geographic proximity and relatedness together predict women’s friendships in patriliny whereas relatedness predominates in matriliny. Finally, we find that friendship predicts ties in other domains of cooperation and social support. These results support the idea that the socio-ecological factors that result in different kinship systems also impact the ways that men and women operate within these systems, underscoring the importance of human flexibility in family making, and challenging the predominant narrative of universal gender differences.

Long-lasting, romantic partnerships are a universal feature of human societies, but almost as ubiquitous is the risk of instability when one partner strays. Jealous response to the threat of infidelity is well studied, but most empirical work on the topic has focused on a proposed sex difference in the type of jealousy (sexual or emotional) that men and women find most upsetting, rather than on how jealous response varies(1,2). This stems in part from the predominance of studies using student samples from industrialized populations, which represent a relatively homogenous group in terms of age, life history stage and social norms(3,4). To better understand variation in jealous response, we conducted a 2-part study in 11 populations (1,048 individuals). In line with previous work, we find a robust sex difference in the classic forced-choice jealousy task. However, we also show substantial variation in jealous response across populations. Using parental investment theory, we derived several predictions about what might trigger such variation. We find that greater paternal investment and lower frequency of extramarital sex are associated with more severe jealous response. Thus, partner jealousy appears to be a facultative response, reflective of the variable risks and costs of men’s investment across societies.

Human populations native to high altitude regions (≥2500 m) exhibit numerous adaptations to hypoxic stress. On the Tibetan Plateau, these include modifications of the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) pathway to essentially uncouple erythropoiesis (red blood cell production) and blood hemoglobin (Hb) concentration—which normally increase in response to low oxygen—from hypoxia. Uncoupling of erythropoiesis and hypoxia is also observed among people with diabetes due to damage to kidney tissues. This is hypothesized to result in elevated risk for anemia among diabetics, which increases risk for cardiovascular disease and death. We tested the hypothesis that the independence of erythropoiesis from HIF among high-altitude adapted populations of the Tibetan Plateau may protect against diabetes-associated anemia. We investigated this hypothesis among the Mosuo, a population living in Yunnan Province, China (at ~2800 m altitude) that is undergoing rapid market integration and lifestyle change, with concomitant increase in risk for type 2 diabetes. We found that, although diabetes (glycated hemoglobin, HbA1c ≥6.5%) is associated with anemia (females: Hbp: 0.008), this is not the case among the Mosuo (N: 316; OR: 1.36; p: 0.532). Both pathways uncoupling hypoxia from erythropoiesis (diabetic disease and high altitude adaptation) are incompletely understood; their intersection in protecting Mosuo with diabetes from anemia may provide insight into the mechanisms underlying each. Further, these findings point to the importance of understanding how high-altitude adaptations interact with chronic disease processes, as populations like the Mosuo experience rapid market integration.

The Chinese state uses cultural heritage as a source of power by linking it to political and economic goals, but heritage discourse has at the same time encouraged new actors to appropriate the discourse to protect their own traditions. This book focuses on that contested nature of heritage, especially through the lens of individuals, local communities, religious groups, and heritage experts. It examines the effect of the internet on heritage-isation, as well as how that process affects different groups of people.

The matrilineal Mosuo of Southwest China have been described as the only human society that lacks fathers and husbands. These claims are based on ethnographic descriptions of normative practices and have typically not employed rigorous tests of quantitative behavioral or demographic data to verify actual practices. Here we challenge these claims, providing quantitative evidence of paternal investment among contemporary Mosuo fathers. We show that co-residence with one's biological father is associated with increased education and lower age at first reproduction, suggesting that incentives to provide paternal care exist among the Mosuo. We examine men's self-reports of fathering activity and women's reports of their partners’ fathering activities, including measures of both direct care and monetary investment in their children. Every participant (N = 140) reported paternal involvement in childcare, but factor analysis of fathers’ responses revealed that men specialized in either monetary or direct care. We speculate as to what may lie behind differences in caring patterns and conclude by emphasizing that while paternal investment is facultative, it is unlikely to be completely absent even in societies like the Mosuo.

Blumenfield Tami. Resilience in Mountainous Southwest China: Adopting a Socio-Ecological Approach to Community Change. In: Cahiers d'Extrême-Asie, vol. 23, 2014. Des mondes en devenir. Interethnicité et production de la différence en Chine du Sud-Ouest. pp. 281-300.

This introductory chapter explores how cultural heritage, in the guise of tourism, museums, ethnic identity, and historical spaces, has become key to the Chinese state’s developmental and global strategy. With an eye toward asserting cultural power globally, the UNESCO World Heritage Site inscription is highly sought. Nonetheless, contradictions and complications in designating, protecting, and sometimes destroying heritage abound, revealing frictions arising from deploying heritage as a revenue source when agreement about value is not universal. The chapter provides a backdrop to polyvocal accounts of defining, listing, preserving, and narrating heritage in China presented by contributors to this volume.

PART I: INTRODUCTION 1. Cultural Heritage Politics in China: An Introduction Helaine Silverman and Tami Blumenfield 2. Does the Institution of Property Rights Matter to Heritage Preservation? Evidence from China TANG Zijun PART II: Local, Regional, National and International Interests in a World Heritage Era 3. Chinese Cosmopolitanism (tianxia he shijie zhuyi) in China's Heritage Tourism Margaret Byrne Swain 4. Groping for Stones to Cross the River: Governing Heritage in Emei Yujie ZHU and Na LI 5. Local versus National Interests in the Promotion and Management of a Heritage Site. A Case Study from Zhejiang Province, China Wei ZHAO 6. Tourism, Migration and the Politics of Built Heritage in Lijiang, China Xiaobo SU 7. Dancing in the Market: Reconfiguring Commerce and Heritage in Lijiang Heather Peters PART III: CULTURAL HERITAGE AND TOURISM IN UNDESIGNATED SITES 8. Good Fences Make Good Neighbors: Claiming Heritage in the Longji Terraced Fields Scenic Area Jenny T. CHIO 9. Re-constructing Cultural Heritage and Imagining Wa Primitiveness in the China/Myanmar Borderlands LIU Tzu-kai PART IV: THE POLITICS OF MUSEUMS AND COLLECTIONS 10. Beijing's Museums in the Context of the 2008 Olympics Curtis Ashton 11. Community Empowerment at the Periphery? Participatory Approaches to Heritage Protection in Guizhou, China William Nitzky PART V: ROUTES AS HERITAGE - BRANDING SPACE IN A GLOBAL[IZED] CHINA 12. The Ancient Tea Horse Road and the Politics of Heritage in Southwest China: Regional Identity in the Context of a Rising China Gary Sigley 13. Branding Tengchong: Globalization, Road Building and Spatial Reconfigurations in Yunnan, Southwest China ZHOU Yongming 14. The Role of Underwater Archaeology in Framing and Facilitating the Chinese National Strategic Agenda Jeff Adams PART VI. AFTERWORD 15. China's Tangled Web of Heritage Stevan Harrell

It gives us great pleasure to publish our first issue of ASIANetwork Exchange: A Journal of Asian Studies for the Liberal Arts as a part of the Open Library of the Humanities (OLH)!