Andrea Wiley

Phone:

812-856-4993

Email:

wileya@iu.edu

Department:

Department of Anthropology

Campus:

IU Bloomington

Research Interests

Human diet and nutrition and the adaptive significance of human dietary behavior; medical anthropology; biocultural perspectives and theory; biological normalcy – how population biology and ideas about “normal” human biology are related; human adaptability, particularly to stressful environments such as high altitude; demography; life history theory,

About Andrea Wiley

I have always had interdisciplinary interests and as an undergraduate I struggled to find a major that was a good fit for me–I was intrigued by everything from medieval history to animal behavior! I ended up in a major that combined anthropology, psychology and biology, which eventually led me to pursue a PhD in medical anthropology, exploring both the biological and cultural dimensions of human health (see also my textbook: Medical Anthropology: A biocultural approach 4th edition Oxford University Press, 2021).

I am interested in how biology affects culture, how culturally patterned behavior affects biology, and how these forces interact over time, and my current work develops the concept of biological normalcy.  Biological normalcy considers how population biology (that is, the distribution of a trait in a population) is related to ideas people have about what is “normal” human biology.  I ask how the observation of phenotypic variability (or lack thereof) influences cultural norms about biology, and then how those norms have the potential to influence population biology (for example, by privileging the health and well-being of some over others).

I make extensive use of an evolutionary perspective in both my research and teaching, which means that I consider how biology and behavior can be considered adaptive. I apply this approach to problems related to health, disease, demography, diet and nutrition, and human social behavior. My main area of current research broadly concerns human diet and nutrition; my earlier work focused on maternal-infant health in the high-altitude Himalaya.