Public Interest Anthropology at Penn

As a biological anthropologist, Rebecca Huss-Ashmore's primary interest has been in the biological consequences of social and cultural change. She has pursued this theme in both prehistoric and modern populations, acquiring training in anthropology, human population biology, and nutrition. In all of her projects, her aim has been to assess the ways in which access to resources influences health and biological well-being. Her future work is directed toward a more creative use of economic models. She is especially interested in looking at the intersection of economics and biology at the household level, at household and intrahousehold strategies for gaining access to and distributing resources. This should be especially important for understanding the differential success and survival of households moving into new environments, such as urban areas. The biological outcomes of different household organizations and economic strategies should be of interest not only to anthropologists, but also to demographers and public health practitioners. Her work to date has been concentrated on rural African populations, however she is increasingly interested in the concept of urban micro-environments and the biological consequences of these.