Staff profile

Using methods from anthropology and psychology, I conduct research in hunter-gatherer societies to understand the cultural diversity in, and evolution of, social learning in childhood. Specifically, I use quantitative and qualitative methods to study how and from whom children learn through meaningful participation in every day activities. With Forager Child Studies, the interdisciplinary research team I co-founded and co-direct, I conduct cross-cultural reviews and secondary data analysis on the pasts, presents, and futures of forager children's learning.

Since 2016, I work with egalitarian BaYaka foragers and their farmer neighbours in the Congo Basin. My primary research uses behavioural observations to understand social learning. I have also collected biological samples, social network data, and conducted experiments for collaborative cross-cultural projects.

• child foraging
• cross-cultural research methods
• cultural evolution
• object play
• peer learning

Chapter in book

• Reckin, R., Lew-Levy, S., Lavi, N., & Ellis-Davies, K. (2020). Mobility, autonomy and learning: Could the transition from egalitarian to non-egalitarian social structures start with children?. In Social inequality before farming? Multidisciplinary approaches to the study of social organisation in prehistoric and ethnographic hunter-gatherer-fisher societies (33--50). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research
• Boyette, A. H., & Lew-Levy, S. (2019). Identifying variation in cultural models of resource sharing between hunter-gatherers and farmers: a multi-method, cognitive approach. In N. Lavi, & D. E. Friesem (Eds.), Towards a Broader View of Hunter Gatherer Sharing (171-184). McDonald Institute for Archaeological Research

Journal Article

• Gettler, L. T., Samson, D. R., Kilius, E., Sarma, M. S., Miegakanda, V., Lew-Levy, S., & Boyette, A. H. (in press). Hormone physiology and sleep dynamics among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin: Gendered associations between nighttime activity, testosterone, and cortisol. Hormones and Behavior, 155, 105422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105422
• Benoit, L., Lew-Levy, S., Ouamba, Y. R., & Crittenden, A. N. (in press). A dataset of energetic value estimates of wild and domesticated food items consumed by Congolese BaYaka foragers. Journal of Ecological Anthropology, https://doi.org/10.6084/M9.FIGSHARE.19453514.V1
• Riede, F., Lew-Levy, S., Johannsen, N. N., Johannsen, N. N., Lavi, N., & Andersen, M. M. (2023). Toys as Teachers: A Cross-Cultural Analysis of Object Use and Enskillment in Hunter--Gatherer Societies. Journal of Archaeological Method and Theory, 30, 32--63. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10816-022-09593-3
• Ross, C. T., Hooper, P. L., Smith, J. E., Jaeggi, A. V., Smith, E. A., Gavrilets, S., …Mulder, M. B. (2023). Reproductive inequality in humans and other mammals. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 120(22), Article e2220124120. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2220124120
• Lew-Levy, S., Bos, W. V. D., Corriveau, K. H., Dutra, N. B., Dutra, N., Flynn, E. G., …Wood, L. (2023). Peer learning and cultural evolution. Child Development Perspectives, 17, 97-105. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12482
• Kandza, V. H., Jang, H., Ntamboudila, F. K., Lew-Levy, S., & Boyette, A. H. (2023). Intergroup Cooperation in Shotgun Hunting Among BaYaka Foragers and Yambe Farmers from the Republic of the Congo. Human Nature, 34(2), 153-176. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-023-09448-0
• Gettler, L. T., Redhead, D., Dzabatou, A., & Lew-Levy, S. (2023). BaYaka forager food sharing networks in the Congo Basin: The roles of gender homophily and kin sharing. American Journal of Biological Anthropology, 181(1), 59-69. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24688
• Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., Valchy, M., & Gettler, L. T. (2023). Associations between men's reputations for fathering and their reproductive success among BaYaka foragers in the Congo Basin. Evolution and Human Behavior, 44(2), 110-119. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2023.02.005
• Pretelli, I., Ringen, E., & Lew-Levy, S. (2022). Foraging complexity and the evolution of childhood. Science Advances, 8(41), Article eabn9889. https://doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.abn9889
• Gettler, L. T., Samson, D. R., Kilius, E., Sarma, M. S., Ouamba, Y. R., Miegakanda, V., …Lew-Levy, S. (2022). Links between household and family social dynamics with sleep profiles among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin. Social Science & Medicine, 311, Article 115345. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.socscimed.2022.115345
• Lew-Levy, S., Bombjaková, D., Milks, A., Kiabiya Ntamboudila, F., Kline, M. A., & Broesch, T. (2022). Costly teaching contributes to the acquisition of spear hunting skill among BaYaka forager adolescents. Proceedings of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 289(1974), Article 20220164. https://doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2022.0164
• Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., Jang, H., & Kandza, V. (2022). Social ties in the Congo Basin: insights into tropical forest adaptation from BaYaka and their neighbours. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 377(1849), Article 20200490. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0490
• Glowacki, L., & Lew-Levy, S. (2022). How small-scale societies achieve large-scale cooperation. Current Opinion in Psychology, 44, 44-48. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.copsyc.2021.08.026
• Sarma, M. S., Gildner, T. E., Howells, M. E., Lew-Levy, S., Trumble, B. C., & Fuentes, A. (2022). There and back again: The biosocial dynamics of returning from the field. American Journal of Human Biology, 34(S1), Article e23673. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23673
• Pope-Caldwell, S., Lew-Levy, S., Maurits, L., Boyette, A. H., Boyette, A. H., Ellis-Davies, K., …House, B. R. (2022). The social learning and development of intra-and inter-ethnic sharing norms in the Congo Basin: A registered report protocol. PLoS ONE, 17(11), e0276845. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0276845
• Broesch, T., Lew-Levy, S., Kärtner, J., Kanngiesser, P., & Kline, M. (2022). A roadmap to doing culturally grounded developmental science. Review of Philosophy and Psychology, 14(2), 587--609. https://doi.org/10.1007/s13164-022-00636-y
• Lew-Levy, S., Andersen, M. M., Lavi, N., & Riede, F. (2022). Hunter-Gatherer Children's Object Play and Tool Use: An Ethnohistorical Analysis. Frontiers in Psychology, 13, Article 824983. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2022.824983
• Lew-Levy, S., Reckin, R., Kissler, S. M., Pretelli, I., Boyette, A. H., Crittenden, A. N., …Davis, H. E. (2022). Socioecology shapes child and adolescent time allocation in twelve hunter-gatherer and mixed-subsistence forager societies. Scientific Reports, 12, Article 8054. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-022-12217-1
• Milks, A., Lew-Levy, S., Lavi, N., Friesem, D. E., & Reckin, R. (2021). Hunter-gatherer children in the past: An archaeological review. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 64, Article 101369. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2021.101369
• Lew-Levy, S., Pope, S. M., Haun, D. B., Kline, M. A., & Broesch, T. (2021). Out of the empirical box: A mixed-methods study of tool innovation among Congolese BaYaka forager and Bondongo fisher-farmer children. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 211, Article 105223. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2021.105223
• Lew-Levy, S., Milks, A., Kiabiya Ntamboudila, F., Broesch, T., & Kline, M. A. (2021). BaYaka adolescent boys nominate accessible adult men as preferred spear hunting models. Current Anthropology, 62(5), 631-640. https://doi.org/10.1086/716853
• Davis, J. T. M., Robertson, E., Lew-Levy, S., Neldner, K., Kapitany, R., Nielsen, M., & Hines, M. (2021). Cultural Components of Sex Differences in Color Preference. Child Development, 92(4), 1574-1589. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13528
• Ellis-Davies, K., Lew-Levy, S., Fleming, E., Boyette, A., & Baguley, T. (2021). Demonstrating the utility of Egocentric Relational Event Modelling using focal follow data from Congolese BaYaka children and adolescents engaging in work and play. Field Methods, 33(3), 287-304. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X20987073
• Gettler, L. T., Lew-Levy, S., Sarma, M. S., Miegakanda, V., Doxsey, M., Meyer, J. S., & Boyette, A. H. (2021). Children's fingernail cortisol among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin: associations with fathers' roles. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 376(1827), Article 20200031. https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2020.0031
• Lew-Levy, S., Ringen, E. J., Crittenden, A. N., Mabulla, I. A., Broesch, T., & Kline, M. A. (2021). The Life History of Learning Subsistence Skills among Hadza and BaYaka Foragers from Tanzania and the Republic of Congo. Human Nature, 32(1), 16-47. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-021-09386-9
• Kilius, E., Samson, D. R., Lew-Levy, S., Sarma, M. S., Patel, U. A., Ouamba, Y. R., …Boyette, A. H. (2021). Gender differences in BaYaka forager sleep-wake patterns in forest and village contexts. Scientific Reports, 11, Article 13658. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-021-92816-6
• Boyette, A. H., & Lew-Levy, S. (2020). Socialization, Autonomy, and Cooperation: Insights from Task Assignment Among the Egalitarian BaYaka. Ethos, 48(3), 400-418. https://doi.org/10.1111/etho.12284
• Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., Sarma, M. S., Valchy, M., & Gettler, L. T. (2020). Fatherhood, egalitarianism, and child health in two small-scale societies in the Republic of the Congo. American Journal of Human Biology, 32(4), Article e23342. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23342
• Lew-Levy, S., Boyette, A. H., Crittenden, A. N., Hewlett, B. S., & Lamb, M. (2020). Gender-Typed and Gender-Segregated Play Among Tanzanian Hadza and Congolese BaYaka Hunter-Gatherer Children and Adolescents. Child Development, 91(4), 1284-1301. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdev.13306
• Sarma, M. S., Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., Miegakanda, V., Kilius, E., Samson, D. R., & Gettler, L. T. (2020). Sex differences in daily activity intensity and energy expenditure and their relationship to cortisol among BaYaka foragers from the Congo Basin. American journal of physical anthropology, 172(3), 423-437. https://doi.org/10.1002/ajpa.24075
• Gettler, L. T., Lin, D. T. S., Miegakanda, V., Lew-Levy, S., Eick, G. N., Snodgrass, J. J., …Boyette, A. H. (2020). Epigenetic aging in children from a small-scale farming society in The Congo Basin: Associations with child growth and family conflict. Developmental Psychobiology, 62(2), 138-153. https://doi.org/10.1002/dev.21935
• Pope, S. M., Fagot, J., Meguerditchian, A., Watzek, J., Lew-Levy, S., Autrey, M. M., & Hopkins, W. D. (2020). Optional-switch cognitive flexibility in primates: Chimpanzees' (Pan troglodytes) intermediate susceptibility to cognitive set. Journal of Comparative Psychology, 134(1), 98-109. https://doi.org/10.1037/com0000194
• Gettler, L. T., Lew-Levy, S., Sarma, M. S., Miegakanda, V., & Boyette, A. H. (2020). Sharing and caring: Testosterone, fathering, and generosity among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin. Scientific Reports, 10, Article 15422. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-020-70958-3
• Bombjaková, D., Lew-Levy, S., Duda, R., Loubelo, G., & Lewis, J. (2020). BaYaka education: From the forest to the ORA (Observer, Réflechir, Agir) classroom. Hunter Gatherer Research, 6(1-2), 87-114. https://doi.org/10.3828/hgr.2023.3
• Lew-Levy, S., Milks, A., Lavi, N., Pope, S. M., & Friesem, D. E. (2020). Where innovations flourish: an ethnographic and archaeological overview of hunter–gatherer learning contexts. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 2, Article e31. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2020.35
• House, B. R., Kanngiesser, P., Barrett, H. C., Broesch, T., Cebioglu, S., Crittenden, A. N., …Silk, J. B. (2020). Universal norm psychology leads to societal diversity in prosocial behaviour and development. Nature Human Behaviour, 4, 36-44. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41562-019-0734-z
• Lew-Levy, S., Kissler, S. M., Boyette, A. H., Crittenden, A. N., Mabulla, I. A., & Hewlett, B. S. (2020). Who teaches children to forage? Exploring the primacy of child-to-child teaching among Hadza and BaYaka Hunter-Gatherers of Tanzania and Congo. Evolution and Human Behavior, 40(1), 12-22. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2019.07.003
• Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., Sarma, M. S., & Gettler, L. T. (2019). Testosterone, fathers as providers and caregivers, and child health: Evidence from fisher-farmers in the Republic of the Congo. Hormones and Behavior, 107, 35-45. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2018.09.006
• Gettler, L. T., Sarma, M. S., Lew-Levy, S., Bond, A., Trumble, B. C., & Boyette, A. H. (2019). Mothers' and fathers' joint profiles for testosterone and oxytocin in a small-scale fishing-farming community: Variation based on marital conflict and paternal contributions. Brain and Behavior, 9, https://doi.org/10.1002/brb3.1367
• Froehle, A. W., Wells, G. K., Pollom, T. R., Mabulla, A. Z. P., Lew-Levy, S., & Crittenden, A. N. (2019). Physical activity and time budgets of Hadza forager children: Implications for self-provisioning and the ontogeny of the sexual division of labor. American Journal of Human Biology, 31, https://doi.org/10.1002/ajhb.23209
• Lew-Levy, S., Crittenden, A. N., Boyette, A. H., Mabulla, I. A., Hewlett, B. S., & Lamb, M. E. (2019). Inter-and intra-cultural variation in learning-through-participation among Hadza and BaYaka forager children and adolescents from Tanzania and Congo. Journal of Psychology in Africa, 29(4), 309-318. https://doi.org/10.1080/14330237.2019.1647957
• Lew-Levy, S., & Boyette, A. H. (2018). Evidence for the Adaptive Learning Function of Work and Work-Themed Play among Aka Forager and Ngandu Farmer Children from the Congo Basin. Human Nature, 29, 157--185. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-018-9314-6
• Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., & Gettler, L. T. (2018). Dimensions of Fatherhood in a Congo Basin Village: A Multimethod Analysis of Intracultural Variation in Men's Parenting and Its Relevance for Child Health. Current Anthropology, 59, 839--847. https://doi.org/10.1086/700717
• Lew-Levy, S., Lavi, N., Reckin, R., Cristόbal-Azkarate, J., & Ellis-Davies, K. (2018). How Do Hunter-Gatherer Children Learn Social and Gender Norms? A Meta-Ethnographic Review. Cross-Cultural Research, 52, 213--255. https://doi.org/10.1177/1069397117723552
• Lew-Levy, S., Reckin, R., Lavi, N., Cristόbal-Azkarate, J., & Ellis-Davies, K. (2017). How Do Hunter-Gatherer Children Learn Subsistence Skills? A meta-ethnographic review. Human Nature, 28, 367--394. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12110-017-9302-2
• Timler, K., & Lew-Levy, S. (2016). Growing Under an Acacia Tree: An Open Letter on How to Raise an Anthropologist. Teaching Anthropology, 6, https://doi.org/10.22582/ta.v6i0.430
• Lew-Levy, S. (2013). Paths of least resistance: Food, abundance, and politics of indistinction in a foraging household. Fields | Terrains, 3, 30--37