Publications

Digital Scholarship

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2023). Forager Folklore Bibliography. Open educational resource.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2021). Talking Stories: Encyclopedia of Traditional Ecological Knowledge. Open educational resource.

Scholarly Articles & Chapters

Reprints are provided for scholarly use only. For scholarly fair use law, click here. Permission to reprint any article must be sought from the holder of the copyright.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2024). Oral storytelling: Humanity’s first data management system? Evolution and Human Behavior. In press.

Scalise Sugiyama M. & Reilly, Kieran J. (2023). Cross-cultural forager myth transmission rules: Implications for the emergence cumulative culture. Evolution and Human Behavior, February 12.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2022). Imaginary worlds pervade forager oral tradition. Behavioral and Brain Sciences, 45, 45-46.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2022). Animal Story Songs: A Hunter-Gatherer Pedagogical Strategy. In J. Friedmann (Ed.), Music in Human Experience: Perspectives on a Musical Species, 183-205. Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2021). Co-occurrence of ostensive communication and generalizable knowledge in forager storytelling: Cross-cultural evidence of teaching in forager societies. Special issue of Human Nature on teaching and learning in foraging and transitioning populations.

Davis H, Crittenden A, & Scalise Sugiyama M. (2021). Ecological and developmental perspectives on social learning: Introduction to the special issue. Special issue of Human Nature on teaching and learning in foraging and transitioning populations.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2021). The fiction that fiction is fiction. ASEBL Journal, 15.

Scalise Sugiyama M, Mendoza M, & Sugiyama L. (2020). War games: Intergroup coalitional play fighting as a means of comparative coalition formidability assessment. Special issue of Evolutionary Behavioral Sciences on “Sports, Games, and Athletics in Evolutionary Perspective,” R. Deaner and A. Gallup (Eds.). Advance online publication.

Scalise Sugiyama M, Mendoza M, & Quiroz, I. (2020). Ethnobotanical knowledge encoded in Weenhayek oral tradition. Journal of Ethnobiology.40(1): 39-55.

Mendoza, M. (2019). Toba (Guaicuruan) hunter-gatherers in the Bolivian Chaco. Hunter Gatherer Research 4(1): 51-79.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2019). The relevance of popularity: Ecological factors at play in story pervasiveness. In Evolution and Popular Narrative, ed. D. Vanderbeke & B. Cooke. Leiden: Brill, 245-263.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2019). Art production, appreciation, and fitness. In T. Shackelford & V. Weekes-Shackelford (eds.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer.

Mendoza, M. (2019). The Bolivian Toba (Guaicuruan) expansion in Northern Gran Chaco, 1550-1850. Ethnohistory 66(2): 275-300.

Scalise Sugiyama M & Mendoza M. (2018). Las narraciones orales como una forma de enseñanza en sociedades cazadoras-recolectoras. Folia Histórica del Nordeste 32, 35-55.

Scalise Sugiyama M, Mendoza M, White F, & Sugiyama L (2018). Coalitional play fighting and the evolution of coalitional intergroup aggression. Human Nature 29(3): 219-244.

Kniffen K & Scalise Sugiyama M. (2018). Toward a natural history of team sports. Human Nature 29(3): 211-219.

Carpio MB & Mendoza M. (2018). Tobas occidentales del Chaco boreal (Sudamérica): evidencia de contactos etnohistóricos y lingüísticos.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2017). Cultural variation does not preclude cognitive universalityThe Literary Universals Project, University of Connecticut.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2017). Narrative. In T. Shackelford & V. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2017). Literary prehistory: the origins and psychology of storytelling. In B. Evans (Ed.), Critical Approaches to Literature: Psychological. Ipswich, MA: Salem Press, 67-83.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2017). Oral storytelling as evidence of pedagogy in forager societiesFrontiers in Psychology.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2017). Distant Time: A possible typological literary universal. P. Hogan (Ed.), The Literary Universals Project, University of Connecticut.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2016). Gossip and grooming hypothesis. In T. Shackelford & V. Weekes-Shackelford (Eds.), Encyclopedia of Evolutionary Psychological Science. Springer.

Mendoza M. (2016.) Juegos de combate entre varones de grupos etnográficos cazadores-recolectores. Instituto de Investigaciones Geohistóricas-CONICET, Universidad Nacional del Nordeste.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2015). Carving art behavior at the joints: symbolic behavior, aesthetic responses, and artification. Commentary on “Evolutionary aesthetics, the interrelationship between viewer and artist, and New Zealandism” by Anthony Lock. ASEBL Journal, April 27.

Sugiyama L. (2015). Physical attractiveness: An adaptationist perspectiveThe handbook of evolutionary psychology, 2nd ed.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2014). Fitness costs of warfare for womenHuman Nature, 25(4), 476-495.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2014). Teaching consilience: A course design templateInterdisciplinary Literary Studies, 16, 30-56.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2012). From theory to practice: Foundations of an evolutionary literary curriculumStyle, 46, 317-337.

Scalise Sugiyama M & Sugiyama L. (2012). “Once the child is lost he dies”: monster stories vis-à-vis the problem of errant childrenCreating Consilience. Ed. E. Slingerland and M. Collard. New York: Oxford UP.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2011). Forager oral tradition and the evolution of prolonged juvenilityFrontiers in Evolutionary Psychology.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2009). The plot thickens: what children’s stories tell us about mindreadingJournal of Consciousness Studies 16, 94-117.

Scalise Sugiyama M & Sugiyama L. (2009). A frugal (re)past: use of the oral tradition to buffer foraging riskStudies in the Literary Imagination, 42(2), 1-28.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2008). Information is the stuff of narrative. Commentary. Style 42, 254-260.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2008). Narrative as social mapping. Case study: The trickster genre and the free rider problemOmeteca XII, 24-42.

Mendoza M. (2007) Human trophy taking in the South American Gran Chaco. The Taking and Displaying of Human Body Parts as Trophies by Amerindians, ed. R. Chacon & D. H. Dye. Boston: Springer, 575-590.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2006). Lions and tigers and bears: Predators as a folklore universalAnthropology and Social History: Heuristics in the Study of Literature, ed. H. Friedrich, F. Jannidis, U. Klein, K. Mellmann, S. Metzger, and M. Willems. Paderborn: Mentis, 319-331.

Mendoza M. (2006). Skulls collected for scalping in the Gran Chaco. Skull Collection, Modification, and Decoration, BAR International Series1539, ed. M. Bonogofsky. Archaeopress, 13.

Sugiyama L. (2005). Physical attractiveness: An adaptationist perspectiveThe handbook of evolutionary psychology.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2005). Reverse-engineering narrative: Evidence of special design. The Literary Animal, ed. J. Gottshall and D. S. Wilson. Chicago: Northwestern University Press.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2004). Predation, narration, and adaptation: “Little Red Riding Hood” revisitedInterdisciplinary Literary Studies 5, 108-127.

Sugiyama L. (2004). Is beauty in the context-sensitive adaptations of the beholder?: Shiwiar use of waist-to-hip ratio in assessments of female mate valueEvolution and Human Behavior25(1), 51-62.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2003). Cultural variation is part of human nature: Literary universals, context-sensitivity, and ‘Shakespeare in the BushHuman Nature 14, 383-396.

Sugiyama L & Scalise Sugiyama M. (2003). Social roles, prestige, and health risk: Social niche specialization as a risk-buffering strategyHuman Nature 14,165-90.

Mendoza M. (2003). Converted Christians, shamans, and the house of God: The reason for conversion given by the Western Toba of the Argentine Chaco. The Anthropology of Religious Conversion. Lanham, Maryland: Rowan and Littlefield Publishers, 199-208.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2001). Food, foragers, and folklore: The role of narrative in human subsistenceEvolution and Human Behavior 22, 221-40.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2001). New science, old myth: An evolutionary critique of the oedipal paradigmMosaic 34, 121-36.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (1999). Of woman bondage: The eroticism of feet in The House on Mango Street. The Midwest Quarterly XLI, 9-20.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (1997). “Feminine nature: An evolutionary analysis of Hemingway’s women characters,” dissertation, University of California, Santa Barbara.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (1996). On the origins of narrative: Storyteller bias as a fitness-enhancing strategyHuman Nature 7, 403-25.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (1996). What’s love got to do with it? An evolutionary analysis of “The Short Happy Life of Francis Macomber.” Hemingway Review 15, 15-32.

Talks and Posters

Scalise Sugiyama, M. (2023). A Storied Past: Storytelling and the Emergence of Cumulative Culture. Plenary talk presented at the annual meetings of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, May 31.

Scalise Sugiyama, M. (2022). Cross-Cultural Rules for Oral Story Transmission: Implications for the Evolution of Cumulative Culture. Annual meetings of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, June 24.

Scalise Sugiyama, M. (2021). Playing with Fire: Use of Storytelling to Encode Pyrotechnological Knowledge. Annual meetings of the Human Behavior and Evolution Society, July 2.

Scalise Sugiyama, M. (2020). Contar Cuentos: Otra Manera de Enseñar. Pensando La Alteridad en Diversos Espacios y Tiempos: Una Mirada Interdisciplinaria, Panel II. IIGHI/CONICET. Resistencia, Argentina, August 20.

Scalise Sugiyama, M. (2020). To Build a Fire: Fire Knowledge Encoded in Forager Oral Tradition. Cognitive Science Society workshop: How Stories Shape Us. Co-hosts Raymond Mar and Angela Nyhout. Toronto, Canada, July 29.

Dieni, C & Scalise Sugiyama M. (2020). Transmission of Ecological Knowledge through Star Myths. Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of Oregon, May 21.

Sugiyama L, Scalise Sugiyama M, Mendoza M, & Quiroz, I. (2019). Ethnobotanical Knowledge Encoded in Wichí Oral Tradition. Human Behavior and Evolution Society, May 30.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2019). Etiological Animal Tales as a Typological Universal. Literary Universals Workshop, University of Connecticut, May 24.

Quiroz I, Scalise Sugiyama M, & Mendoza M. (2019). Transmission of Ethnobotanical Knowledge Among the Wichí. Undergraduate Research Symposium, University of Oregon, May 16.

Reviews

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2013). An appetite for fiction: A review of Jonathan Gottschall’s The Storytelling Animal. The Evolutionary Review.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2008). How an interest in fiction could have evolved—a review of Comeuppance: Costly Signaling, Altruistic Punishment, and Other Biological Components of FictionEvolution and Human Behavior 29(5):370-372.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2006). The nature of literature: A review of Madame Bovary’s Ovaries. Enteleky, vol. 8 (November).

Scalise Sugiyama M. (2004), Review of Glen Love’s Practical EcocriticismHuman Nature Review. Ed. Ian Pritchford and Robert M. Young. http://www.human-nature.com.

Scalise Sugiyama M. (1996). Darwinian literary science? A review of Evolution and Literary Theory by Joseph Carroll. Skeptic 4, 94-96.

Blogs

Side Tracks

Scalise Sugiyama M. “Sound knowledge.” Talking Stories: Encyclopedia of Traditional Ecological Knowledge. University of Oregon. July 18, 2021.

Scalise Sugiyama M. “Games as adaptively structured learning environments.” Talking Stories: Encyclopedia of Traditional Ecological Knowledge. University of Oregon. April 14, 2021.

Scalise Sugiyama M. “The logistics of cultural transmission.” Talking Stories: Encyclopedia of Traditional Ecological Knowledge. University of Oregon. February 2, 2021.

HBES Newsletter

Scalise Sugiyama M. “High fidelity: How forager myth transmission rules scaffold faithful transmission of accumulated cultural knowledge.” April 28, 2023.

This View of Life

Scalise Sugiyama M. “Why do we watch and what are we watching? An evolutionary perspective on the Olympics.” August 7, 2016.

Huffington Post

Scalise Sugiyama M. “Krampus and other kid-crunching cannibals.” December 21, 2017.

Scalise Sugiyama M. The Handmaid’s Tale: A Literary Civics Lesson.” February 12, 2017.

Scalise Sugiyama M. “Why every society needs a Cartman.” June 25, 2016.

Scalise Sugiyama M. “This Valentine’s Day, try Outlander.” February 12, 2016.

Scalise Sugiyama M. “TV tells a new story about sexual assault.” December 10, 2015.

Scalise Sugiyama M. “Ingroup/outgroup biases at play in police-community relations.” Sept. 1, 2015.

Scalise Sugiyama M. “Rousey v. Correia and the science of female combat.” July 30, 2015.

Scalise Sugiyama M. Fury Road and the evolution of the hero.” June 19, 2015.

Scalise Sugiyama M. “Did fire spark storytelling?” April 24, 2015.

Scalise Sugiyama M. “Women and warfare in human evolution.” November 19, 2014.

Interviews

“The Desirability of Storytellers.” The Atlantic. December 5, 2017.

“Stories + Narrative.” Episode 55, Here We Are podcast. Hosted by Shane Mauss. Aired November 17, 2015.

“Vestigial Tale.” Ideas, CBC Radio. Aired May 26-27, 2015.