Male reproductive success in small-scale societies (Hadza and Datoga of Tanzania)
The seminar of ILSCR took place on 21st June. The theme was “Male reproductive success in small-scale societies (Hadza and Datoga of Tanzania)”, the lecturer was
Marina Butovskaya, world-wide renowned Russian anthropologist, doctor of history sciences, head of the Center for evolutionary anthropology of the Institute of ethnology and anthropology RAS.
The working language of the seminar was English.
The report compared the two traditional tribes in Tanzania - Hadza (hunter-gatherers) and Datoga (pastoralists and warriors). Hadza egalitarian hunter-gatherers today managed to survive, being surrounded with more advanced cultures; their culture undergone various transformations over historical time; and their culture is of high adaptation potential and behavioral plasticity. Datoga – herders and warriors preserved traditional way of life: patrilocal, patriarchal, male dominance; modern transformations in their society correlate with pacification, decrease of raiding threats from the side of Maasai and Suhuma. In a society of Datoga, in contrast to the Hadza, polygamy is common, although the Hadza men spend with their family longer than datoga. Caring father of the family positively related to the number of surviving children.
Good hunters and camp-owners (leaders) have more children, and children survived better. Nonaggressive men have more offspring survived. Good fathers provide better conditions for living (both for wife and offspring). Intelligence and humorousness are also those qualities which women in Hadza society value in men. Researchers found also that the level of testosterone in men of traditional societies remains the same level nearly all life in contrast to Europeans whose level of testosterone decreases since they are 30 years old.
The researchers discovered two evolutionary stable strategies providing reproductive success in men in traditional societies (mating efforts and parental efforts). The first strategy consists of the following components: A) high physical activity, success in hunting, intelligence; B) attachment to children and paternal care (Hadza); С) wealth (lot of cattle), presence of sisters, kindness, low neuroticism (Datoga). The second strategy includes: А) aggressiveness, braveness in raiding as a way of acquiring wealth; В) ability to protect the family and provide family members with resources under the constant threat of raiding from the side of Maasai and Suhuma (Datoga). Reproductive strategies in men from traditional societies are also associate with morphological complex (BMI, 2D/4D, shoulder size).
Olga Pavlenko