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

• Lew-Levy, S., & Amir, D. (in press). Children as agents of cultural adaptation. Behavioral and Brain Sciences,
• Hays, J., Ninkova, V., Lavi, N., Lew-Levy, S., da Silva Macedo, S. L., Davis, H., & Ali, A. (online). Autonomous hunter-gatherer children in hierarchical schools: a review of the literature from the global South. Hunter Gatherer Research, 1-8. https://doi.org/10.3828/hgr.2024.10
• Lew‐Levy, S., & Boyette, A. H. (online). Learning to walk in the forest. Ethos, https://doi.org/10.1111/etho.12441
• Ninkova, V., Hays, J., Lavi, N., Ali, A., Lopes da Silva Macedo, S., Davis, H. E., & Lew-Levy, S. (online). Hunter-Gatherer Children at School: A View From the Global South. Review of Educational Research, https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543241255614
• Hewlett, B. S., Boyette, A. H., Lew-Levy, S., Gallois, S., & Dira, S. J. (in press). Cultural transmission among hunter-gatherers. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(48), Article e2322883121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2322883121
• Visine, A. E. S., Boyette, A. H., Ouamba, Y. R., Lew-Levy, S., Sarma, M. S., & Jang, H. (2024). BaYaka mothers balance childcare and subsistence tasks during collaborative foraging in Congo Basin. Scientific Reports, 14(1), Article 24893. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-024-75467-1
• Rawlings, B. S., Davis, H. E., Anum, A., Burger, O., Chen, L., Morales, J. C. C., Dutra, N., Dzabatou, A., Dzokoto, V., Erut, A., Fong, F. T., Ghelardi, S., Goldwater, M., Ingram, G., Messer, E., Kingsford, J., Lew‐Levy, S., Mendez, K., Newhouse, M., Nielsen, M., …Legare, C. H. (2024). Quantifying quality: The impact of measures of school quality on children's academic achievement across diverse societies. Developmental Science, 27(5), Article e13434. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13434
• Venkataraman, V. V., Hoffman, J., Farquharson, K., Davis, H. E., Hagen, E. H., Hames, R. B., Hewlett, B. S., Glowacki, L., Jang, H., Kelly, R., Kramer, K., Lew-Levy, S., Starkweather, K., Syme, K., & Stibbard-Hawkes, D. N. (2024). Female foragers sometimes hunt, yet gendered divisions of labor are real: a comment on Anderson et al. (2023) The Myth of Man the Hunter. Evolution and Human Behavior, 45(4), 106586. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.evolhumbehav.2024.04.014
• Friesem, D. E., Lavi, N., Lew-Levy, S., & Boyette, A. H. (2024). Mobility, site maintenance and archaeological formation processes: An ethnoarchaeological perspective. Journal of Anthropological Archaeology, 74, 101588. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jaa.2024.101588
• Pretelli, I., Crittenden, A. N., Dounias, E., Friant, S., Koster, J., Kramer, K. L., Mangola, S. M., Saez, A. M., & Lew-Levy, S. (2024). Child and adolescent foraging: New directions in evolutionary research. Evolutionary Anthropology, 33(2), Article e22020. https://doi.org/10.1002/evan.22020
• Page, A. E., Ringen, E. J., Koster, J., Borgerhoff Mulder, M., Kramer, K., Shenk, M. K., Stieglitz, J., Starkweather, K., Ziker, J. P., Boyette, A. H., Colleran, H., Moya, C., Du, J., Mattison, S. M., Greaves, R., Sum, C.-Y., Liu, R., Lew-Levy, S., Kiabiya Ntamboudila, F., Prall, S., …Sear, R. (2024). Women’s subsistence strategies predict fertility across cultures, but context matters. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 121(9), Article e2318181121. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2318181121
• Benoit, L., Lew-Levy, S., Ouamba, Y. R., & Crittenden, A. N. (2024). Energetic Value Estimates of Wild and Domesticated Food Items Consumed by Congolese BaYaka Foragers. Journal of Ecological Anthropology, 24(1 (2022/2023)),
• Kandza, V. H., Jang, H., Kiabiya Ntamboudila, F., Lew-Levy, S., & Boyette, A. H. (2024). Dyadic inter-group cooperation in shotgun hunting activities in a Congo Basin village. Evolutionary Human Sciences, 6, Article e22. https://doi.org/10.1017/ehs.2024.14
• Gettler, L. T., Samson, D. R., Kilius, E., Sarma, M. S., Miegakanda, V., Lew-Levy, S., & Boyette, A. H. (2023). Hormone physiology and sleep dynamics among BaYaka foragers of the Congo Basin: Gendered associations between nighttime activity, testosterone, and cortisol. Hormones and Behavior, 155, Article 105422. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.yhbeh.2023.105422
• 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
• 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., Zohora, F. T., Ziker, J., Xygalatas, D., Wroblewski, E. E., Wood, B., Winterhalder, B., Willführ, K. P., Willard, A. K., Walker, K., Rueden, C. V., Voland, E., Valeggia, C., Vaitla, B., Urlacher, 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., O'Sullivan, E., Pope-Caldwell, S., Rawlings, B., Smolla, M., Xu, J., & Wood, L. (2023). Peer learning and cultural evolution. Child Development Perspectives, 17, 97-105. https://doi.org/10.1111/cdep.12482
• Gettler, L. T., Samson, D. R., Kilius, E., Sarma, M. S., Ouamba, Y. R., Miegakanda, V., Boyette, A. H., & 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
• 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
• 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
• 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., Reckin, R., Kissler, S. M., Pretelli, I., Boyette, A. H., Crittenden, A. N., Hagen, R. V., Haas, R., Kramer, K. L., Koster, J., O'Brien, M. J., Sonoda, K., Surovell, T. A., Stieglitz, J., Tucker, B., Lavi, N., Ellis-Davies, K., & 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
• Pope-Caldwell, S., Lew-Levy, S., Maurits, L., Boyette, A. H., Boyette, A. H., Ellis-Davies, K., Haun, D., Over, H., House, B. R., & 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
• 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
• 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. H., & Baguley, T. (2021). Demonstrating the Utility of Egocentric Relational Event Modeling 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., Miegakanda, V., Gettler, L. T., & 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., MacIsaac, J. L., Ramadori, K. E., Kobor, M. S., & 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
• 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
• 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
• 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., Erut, A., Lew-Levy, S., Sebastian-Enesco, C., Smith, A. M., Yilmaz, S., & 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
• 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
• 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
• 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
• 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., & 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
• 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