Daniel Hruschka
Assistant Professor
Ph.D., Anthropology, Emory University
SHESC Themes: Biological, Social and Cultural Dimensions of Human Health; Human Origins, Evolution and Diversity
Field Specializations: Medical Anthropology, Biocultural Anthropology
Regional Focus: South Asia, Central Asia
Contact: Daniel Hruschka, MC 203M
Research:
Dan Hruschka studies culture change and the relationship between culture and behavior. Much of his research focuses on health issues, but he is also involved in projects on change in other cultural systems—including language, subsistence and social institutions.
Hruschka’s current research follows three threads. The first focuses on maternal and child health in Bangladesh as a way to examine how cultural beliefs, norms and values interact with economic constraints to influence care-seeking for birth complications. The second involves the development of mathematical models for the analysis of cultural variation and change. The third approaches the co-evolution of social institutions and behavior through the lens of one of humanity’s simplest social institutions—friendship.
Research Projects:
Preventing Childbirth Emergencies in Bangladesh
The South Phoenix Collaborative
Teaching:
Hruschka teaches courses at both the undergraduate and graduate level, including Culture and Health: Medical Anthropology and Health: Social and Biocultural Theories. Hruschka also serves as a committee member in the graduate program and as an Honors Faculty Advisor.
Select Publications:
Hruschka, D.J. (in press). Friendship: Development, ecology and evolution of a social relationship. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Hruschka, D.J., Christiansen, M., Blythe, R., Croft, W., Heggarty, P., Mufwene, S., Pierrehumbert, J., Poplack, S. (in press). Building social cognitive models of language change. Trends in Cognitive Sciences.
Hruschka, D.J. (2009). Culture as an explanation in population health. Annals of Human Biology, 36(3), 235-247.
Hruschka, D.J. (2009). Defining cultural competence in context: diversity in friendship norms among U.S. high school students. Ethos, 37(2), 205-224.
Sibley, L.M., Hruschka, D.J., Kalim, N., Khan, J., Paul, M., Edmonds, J.K., Koblinsky, M.A. (2009). Cultural theories of postpartum bleeding in Matlab, Bangladesh: Implications for community health intervention. Journal of Health, Population, and Nutrition, 27(3), 379-390.
Brown, R.A., Hruschka, D.J., Worthman, C.M. (2009). Cultural models and fertility timing among Cherokee and white youth in Appalachia: Beyond the mode. American Anthropologist.
Hruschka, D.J. & Hadley, C. (2008). A glossary of culture in epidemiology. Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health, 62(11), 947-951.
Hruschka, D.J., Sibley, L.M., Kalim, N., & Edmonds, J.K. (2008). When there is more than one answer key: Cultural theories of postpartum hemorrhage in Matlab, Bangladesh. Field Methods, 20(4), 315-27.
Sibley, L.M., Blum, L.S., Kalim, N., Hruschka, D.J., Edmonds, J.K., & Koblinsky, M. (2007). Women’s descriptions of postpartum health problems: Preliminary findings from Matlab, Bangladesh. Journal of Midwifery & Women’s Health, 52(4), 351-360.
Hruschka, D.J. & Henrich, J. (2006). Friendship, cliquishness, and the emergence of cooperation. Journal of Theoretical Biology, 239, 1-15.
